Who are these school board candidates?
When I opened my voters pamphlet today I saw that three out of four of the positions on the La Center School Board had no candidate statement nor background information. It’s hard to be an informed voter when candidates don’t bother to submit a statement and background information. While they are running for school board, they have failed to turn in their essays, not a good example for the students they will be serving. Is it disregard for their constituents, is it laziness, is it arrogance or do they have something to hide?
Then I looked further and found this pattern rampant in north Clark County school board races with information absent for 100% of Mt. Pleasant, 66% of Woodland and 25% of the Ridgefield positions. In north county only Green Mountain and Hockinson school board slates provided the expected information. Yes, most if not all of the candidates not providing information are incumbents, but that is no excuse as there are new voters as well as returning voters who want to better understand for whom they are voting. In dramatic contrast, zero candidates for school board, neither incumbents or challengers, in the Vancouver, Evergreen, Camas and Washougal districts failed to provide a statement and background information. What does that say about the responsiveness and transparency of north county school boards?
I, for one, will only vote for those who provide information that comes to every voters’ mailbox in the voters pamphlet.
Judy Weber
La Center
