Election guide: School Board primary

Voters will soon take to the polls for the 2023 primary. The start of the 18-day voting period is July 14. The deadline to deposit your ballot in the official drop box is 8 p.m. on Aug. 1.

The top two-vote getters will advance to the general election.

The Eatonville Dispatch is giving candidates for District At-Large Position 4 from the Eatonville School Board a chance to introduce themselves to the community:

Corey Ackerman 

Occupation: Journeyman Machine Tool Mechanic

Age: 37

Contact: coreyackerman33@gmail.com

Experience/service:

I currently serve as School Board of Directors position #4. I have held many positions of service in my life. I have volunteered for many years in the EYSA program as a coach, assistant and have stepped in to referee when there was need. I have led many projects for Eatonville’s 9/11 day of service. I have been involved in Boy Scouts of America, serving as a Cub Scout leader and Varsity Scout leader. My wife and I have taken many youth groups on high adventure trips that include 25-mile back packing trips, white water river expeditions, summiting mountains (Mt. Elinor) as well as many camping and wilderness survival outings. I was in charge of roughly 35-50 volunteers in a 3rd world country (Vanuatu). Working with their Government so our volunteers had proper Visas and work permits. I helped find housing, allocated funds and organized their travel between islands. I am blessed to have had many opportunities to be in a leadership position in order to serve others.

Education:

Bingham High School (2004)

SLCC 9 credits short of Associates of Science

Renton Technical College, CNC Milling and Lathe Certificates

Washington State Apprentice graduate as Machine Tool Mechanic (2019)

A brief statement about your platform and the challenges the position you are running for faces:

My goal as a Board member is to make sure our families feel empowered to do better and to be better. The success of our School District starts in the home.  There is always room to improve. Since being on the School Board I have learned where our focus needs to be. Covid really put our children in a tough situation. If covid taught me anything it is that our students need consistency! When there isn’t consistency in leadership, regulation or expectations we tend to “do our own thing” just to survive. Lack of consistency has brought about learning loss, mental health, safety concerns and financial constraints on our families.

Many of our children have experienced learning loss in the recent past. Our test scores speak for themselves. In order to raise these scores, we need to be vigilant in creating new ways to learn. We need to show our children how to navigate their own learning. To help them find what works for them. To empower them for success. With ongoing consistency, we will bridge the gap of learning and surpass what is considered acceptable.

Our children face many obstacles. Feeling safe at school shouldn’t be one of them. I have been part of our district’s safety team in revamping procedures and protocol to keep our children safe. We must do better in our examples of showing kindness and empathy. We are all going through something that can’t be seen. We need to focus more on what we have in common and celebrate it. If we are striving to serve each other, we will find our own situations improve.  When our situations improve, we are more likely to perpetuate that cycle. We will start to see people as friends instead of enemies. Our perspective will broaden and our anxieties will lessen.

One of the questions I asked the board when I applied was what is being done to teach financial literacy? I feel this is paramount in preparing our children for a successful future. There are multiple ways of furthered education. Traditional college might not be an option for some. One of my platforms is pushing the Trades education. Our students NEED to know what their options are. They need to be taught short term as well as long term financial education.

Our children see our examples more than they hear our words! I implore us to try a little harder. To reach a little further. To push ourselves to be a little more uncomfortable. I promise as we apply these principles with in our homes, every aspect of our student’s life will be better. We are not just developing Eatonville’s next generation but we are showing them how to teach the generation after them. I would not ask anything I am not willing to do myself. Know that you are not alone! Please join me in SHOWING our students the tradition that is Eatonville!

Karen Carr

Occupation: Real Estate Broker

Age: 44

Contact: karencarr@johnlscott.com; facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093005418594

Experience/service:

With 24 years in Real Estate and finance and diverse teaching roles in four of five of our schools in Library, Technology, STEM, and Special Education, my unique expertise promises to effectively enhance our district and community.

I'm actively involved in our community; I've coached youth sports, taught in church, and mobilized youth for the unhoused, providing care packages. I collaborated with initiatives like Yarn Bombing for Lunches and spearheaded Giving Forward, addressing local child hunger.

Education:

24 years of real estate education. Paraprofessional certification, my unique expertise bridges property management, community development, and education, ensuring comprehensive school improvement.

A brief statement about your platform and the challenges the position you are running for faces:

Hello Eatonville! As a proud mother of four boys who attended Eatonville schools, I am excited to run for our School Board. I aim to create an environment where every child's potential is realized, and all stakeholders work collaboratively for our students' success.

Top-level decisions, including budget allocations, academic program approvals, and the effective use of our tax dollars primarily shape public education's quality. We need to bridge the gap between OSPI (state)/administration, teachers, students, and parents to foster a supportive, all-inclusive system.

I aim to fix what is wrong and improve the challenges I see within our district. Each child, irrespective of their background or circumstances, deserves our full support. As a board member, I commit to closely scrutinizing behind-the-scenes decisions, understanding and advocating for your children's diverse needs, and pushing for policies ensuring the highest equity level for all students.

We have a responsibility to prepare our students not just academically but also emotionally and socially for the world ahead. With your support, I pledge to work tirelessly to ensure Eatonville School District provides an enriching, inclusive, and high-quality education that equips each student for their future. I am the best suited for this position and will fight the good fight.

Kim Williams

Occupation: Media producer; documentary filmmaker; educator

Age: 49

Contact: KimWiliamsWA@gmail.com; KimWilliams.US

Experience/service: For six years I was a public education teacher, first in Nevada, then Virginia, and for one year in YongKang, China.

Education:

MFA, Film and Media Studies, American University, Washington DC

BA, Secondary Education, English and Theater, University of Nevada-Reno

Film Technology and Practice: Lighting, Directing, and Camera, FAMU, Prague, Czech Republic

A brief statement about your platform and the challenges the position you are running for faces:

I’m grateful to the Eatonville Dispatch for an opportunity to introduce myself to the community as one of the candidates running for Eatonville School Board. I’ve just recently moved to Eatonville, yet I’ve been coming to the Ohop Valley for as long as I can remember. Four generations of my family have been here as my great-aunt founded the Pioneer Farm Museum. Many of my extended family members have gone through ESD and now two of my own children are as well. I came back to Eatonville to produce a film about Hungarian horses and help take care of my dad. But I feel a lot of similarities between Eatonville’s small town values and traditions and where I went to school in Pacific County. My dad was a teacher and athletic coach for 25 years with the Ocean Beach School District. That time in my life was spent loving going to school, playing sports, riding horses, and being connected to a strong-knit community of hard working people; much like it is here in Eatonville.

Coming from a long line of Washington State educators and being a product of the public education system myself, my desire to be of service as a School Board Director for ESD is further inspired by our Founding Fathers’ ideals to make quality public education available to all. Inspired by my teachers, I became a public education teacher myself, which I found immensely rewarding. However, my professional trajectory took a turn as my love for the arts and nature evolved into a second career as a documentary filmmaker. As an educator and media producer, my focus will always be to foster the love of learning. My varied life experiences and life-long-learning enthusiasm is modeled by digging for the truth, taking action and working hard to achieve my dreams.

Our nation’s public education system is at a crossroads due to extenuating factors that affect how our children are learning. There’s a youth mental health crisis, the achievement gap has widened, and our kids are in a “great technology experiment” where we don’t really know the outcomes of too much exposure to social media, gaming, and artificial intelligence, especially on young brains. Getting “back to our roots” is about peeling back the layers of complexity in figuring out what is working and improving upon what is not. After sitting in on the ESD’s Superintendent search committee’s open forum and listening to the community's concerns, I hear the desire for better communications, transparency, accountability, reliable transportation and most importantly continued support for all of ESD’s learners. I desire to reach across the table and have conversations about how the Eatonville community can come together for the well being for all of our youth. The way to do this is by listening, but also offering a new perspective and figuring out how we can provide opportunities for our youth to not only succeed but become healthy contributing members to the Eatonville community and society as a whole. Vote for me.