When Michelle Giovannozzi resigned from the Vancouver school board in the middle of the election campaign season, it created a unique opportunity for the remaining four board members. By appointing an acting board member to fill her seat, they can bestow a powerful endorsement — and grant the advantage of incumbency — to one of the candidates running for that office.
They shouldn’t do it.
Certainly the board needs to appoint someone before their August deadline. Should it fail to do so, the appointment would fall to the bureaucracy of Educational Service District 112. That’s what happened in 2015, when Giovannozzi was appointed by the ESD after the school board deadlocked.
But that temporary board member should be an outsider. The ideal candidate is someone who can bring a fresh perspective, ask good questions, and leave the board at the end of December with some new ideas for 2020.
Here’s why: The last few years have been very difficult years for school board members in Vancouver and in every other public school district in Washington. The McCleary lawsuit over education funding ended with a great deal more state money for local schools, but also a teachers’ strike and budget shortfalls. It’s still not clear whether all of the aftershocks have been fully absorbed.
Certainly it’s led to increased interest by the public in its local schools. That’s healthy, and it is evidenced by the 12 people running for three board positions up for election this year. Only one candidate, Dale Rice, is an incumbent. So there will be a minimum of two, possibly three, newcomers on the five-member board beginning next year. They’ll bring their own ideas and perspectives, which will be examined and then endorsed by the voters, first in the August primary and then in the November general election.
By appointing a person who is not a candidate for office, the school board will allow the public to consider these newcomers on an equal basis. Is there public dissatisfaction with schools? Voters can elect an outsider. Do voters think teachers should have more say in school board policy? Several candidates for the office are career educators.
Choosing a caretaker has worked before. In 2014, Democrat Ed Barnes served for approximately seven months as a Clark County commissioner after Steve Stuart resigned to become Ridgefield’s city manager. Barnes said from the outset he wouldn’t run for election, and in his time in office served as an effective foil to Republicans David Madore and Tom Mielke, the men who appointed him.
On Tuesday, members of the Vancouver Education Association, the union that represents district teachers, urged the school board to follow that precedent and choose an outsider for the board.
The majority of the candidates say the same thing. Caressa Milgrove, who is running for Position 1 on the board, organized a meeting among the candidates at which seven of the 11 agreed not to seek the appointment.
“It’s essential … that this is the community’s choice. Not the board’s,” she said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
Others candidates who have joined her in agreeing not to seek the appointment are Tracie Barrows, Lindsey Luis, Jennifer-Hawks-Conright, Scott Dalesandro, Lisa Messer and Kathy Decker.
Already school board member Wendy Smith has said she’s in favor of appointing a caretaker to fill the seat through the end of the year. The other school board members — Rice, Mark Stoker and Rosemary Fryer — should follow suit.
