Voting on 8/6/2024

[Nathalie]

Hello friends,

It's that time of the year again when I find myself scratching my head reading through the voters pamphlet. We have superintendent of public instruction on the ballot this time. It is clear to me that Mr. Reykdal absolutely needs to go. Mr. Saaris is young and being a teacher gives him an advantage of knowing things from inside out. He's acknowledging current nightmare and willing to fix it. His concentration, as I am getting it on the trouble schools/students. Also, according to his description, he's got the inspiration to run from Obama, or someone from his administration, I don't remember that exactly. And this name means a lot for some. Mr. Olsen, who has school board background and knows all the bells and whistles, is also aware of extremely poor situation and has his plan. His idea of giving more control to local school boards makes sense and recognizing parents as valuable partners is promising. I am not sure it would help our school district, but some perhaps would. Audit wouldn't hurt either, considering the amount of money mismanaged by the incumbent's office. He's the only one mentioning school cellphone policy which, of course, I wholeheartedly support. Like Mr. Saaris he's concerned  more with problematic areas. Mr. Blair is offering very interesting program, whoever he doesn't have any campaign and almost unknown and will most likely loose again for that reason. His ideas of educational freedom are worth looking into, but I am not sure if the head of the OSPI is the right figure to implement such changes. Perhaps it should start with the legislature? I don't know. These are just my impressions. What are your thoughts, folks?

[RayT]

Yes. Reykdal needs to go.  I liked Saaris too. But I excluded him because he is a teacher and would be beholden to the teachers union.  So more of the same. Ultimately went with Olsen.