By Jim Heffernan
A truism among mechanics is, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Many a mechanic has ignored this maxim and regretted it. I think we can apply this maxim to the special elections coming up this May.
Tillamook Bay Community College is most definitely not broken. It’s ranking as 8th Best Community College in the nation proves it. Board members Andrea Goss, Betsy McMahon, Mary Faith Bell, Mary Jones, and Shannon Hoff have served our community well and richly deserve to be re-elected.
The board for School District 9 (SD9) is a different matter and needs to be fixed. School boards should never put politics over merit and the board for SD9 plainly has.
In February of 2023, SD9 board needed to fill a vacancy on the School Policy Committee. Two women applied for the vacant position. One application was eight lines of qualifications only slightly related to education, the other was 28 lines that reflected extensive experience in education and mental health. (You judge, here’s the link for the public document v(https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TSD9Apps-Policy-Committee-02.03.23-1.pdf)
Board members Justin Aufdermauer and Kris Lachenmeier voted for merit and the woman with the 28-line application. They can be trusted to put our children’s welfare first and should be re-elected. Board members Matt Petty and Kurt Mizee voted politics first and for the woman with the 8-line application. We should remove them from the board and vote for Danell Boggs and Samantha Spratt instead. Our votes in May can fix the SD9 board.
You may not agree with me. Differences in opinion are what democracy is all about. Whatever your views, PLEASE VOTE by May 16th. In the May election of 2021, more than 2/3rds of registered voters couldn’t muster the effort to fill out and return the ballot that was mailed to them.
To me, that’s a great big, SHAME ON US!
