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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2017)
Appeal Tribune Wednesday, March 29, 2017 3A Board Continued from Page 1A tel Corp., and he now farms blueberries and works part-time as a farm safety adviser and project manager in Hillsboro. His educational back- ground includes engineer- ing classes at Chemeketa Community College and George Fox University. He’s happy with the district’s graduation rates, its “high expecta- tion of kids” and its teach- er-to-student ratio. On the other hand, he’s extreme- ly concerned that Silver Falls’ standards-based grading system is unclear and ineffective, and he’s unhappy with unfunded mandates being handed down by the Oregon De- partment of Education. Among them, he said he’s worried the mandat- ed Next Generation Sci- ence Standards could wa- ter down science educa- tion. He’s said he’s personal- ly invested in improving safety at the district’s campuses, which requires fencing, locks, security cameras and other changes. He’s a regular advo- cate of local control of community schools. Rath- er than centralized bud- geting, he appreciates the district’s practice of let- ting each principal set his or her school’s budget. At the state level, Lier- man said revenues are up, and the legislature has the money to fund public edu- cation adequately if it chooses to. Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed budget would cut $1.7 from the Silver Falls School Dis- trict, an outcome that he said can be avoided if the legislature allocates mon- ey to schools instead of other programs. Jennifer Traeger, 42, is a longtime public school teacher with deep connec- tions to Sil- verton’s Traeger Montessori communi- ty. She teaches at Lincoln Elementary School in Woodburn, where she co- ordinates the 800-student campus’ programs for students who are talented and gifted, and also for those who are learning English as a second lan- guage. In 2008, Traeger start- ed and operated Bluebird Montessori Preschool to serve her daughter and other students; she closed the school in 2015. She also helped establish Commu- nity Roots Charter School, a public charter school in the Silver Falls district that instructs its students using the Montessori method. “School choice is a real strength of this district,” she said. “I’m a personal fan of the K-8 system also. It presents challenges, be- ing spread out in so many locations like that, but I think each school brings something unique to the district.” Traeger said she’s not a politician but wanted to run for the school board because she can bring a teacher’s perspective to its decision-making. After working with students for 20 years, she said she knows how day-to-day op- erations go in public schools. She also has ex- perience with what she calls “special popula- tions,” such as students who are homeless, gifted or non-native English speakers. While she’s never held public office, she does have experience budget- ing – for her preschool business and at a local school. Personally, she also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in edu- cation, from Portland State University and Wil- lamette University, re- spectively. “I want to be a voice for every child, and I think I’m in a good position to do that,” she said. “People ask me for advice about education, and they’ve trusted me with their chil- dren. Now I’m asking them to trust me in setting policy.” Jim Newkirk also filed to run against Lierman and Traeger but didn’t re- spond to calls from the Sil- verton Appeal. Zone 5: Central/Southern Aaron Koch, 39, is cur- rently vice chairman of the board. He’s been on the job less than two years and said he’s just Koch “hitting my stride” when it comes to school district business. After running and secur- ing a vacated position two years ago, he’s earned a level of expertise in bud- geting and setting policy that he wants to continue offering to voters. “I want to bring conti- nuity to the board,” he said. “I hope that people see that I’ve stepped up and provided leadership to the board. I’d like to do that for at least another four years.” Koch is former NFL football player – he played three years for the Jack- sonville Jaguars – who is now a regional sales man- ager for a division of Johnson & Johnson that specializes in orthopedic equipment. He’s the mar- ried father of three chil- dren who attend Silverton High and Evergreen School. “We have so much good going for us in this school district,” Koch said. “When you put things in perspective, you see we have such great teachers and staff. We can always do better, but we really have something special here.” Koch is also tracking legislative activity re- garding public schools. He advocates the state legislature adopt a budget between $8.40 and $9 bil- lion to maintain or in- crease public school of- ferings, rather than the $8.02 billion currently be- ing proposed by the gov- ernor. He said voters made it clear they want to fund education with last No- vember’s passage of Mea- sure 98, created to fund vocational training and dropout prevention. He is encouraging vot- ers to contact their legis- lators and then getting ready to make decisions for the upcoming school year based on budget pro- jections. “My passion is to stand for what’s right – and stand for what’s right for kids,” he said. “The kids need to be our No. 1 moti- vation.” Koch’s academic train- ing consists of a psycholo- gy degree from Oregon State University, where he also played football. Shelly Nealon, 45, of- fers voters five years of experi- ence as a classroom teacher and a lifetime of volunteer- Nealon ism in schools and children’s programs. She and her husband, a surgeon, own Nealon Medical Proper- ties, a private practice in town. The couple has lived in Silverton since 2001, ex- cept for a two-year period when they moved back to Nebraska to be with fam- ily from 2011-13. Two of their children attend Abi- qua Academy in South Sa- lem. Their son is a junior at Silverton High School. Nealon has already started visiting Silver Falls schools; a personal, hands-on approach is something she promises to keep up if she’s elected to the board. The district’s practice of inviting prin- cipals to report to the board every few months isn’t enough, she said. “I want to be present in these schools,” she said. “I want to be able to go to the school, talk to the princi- pals and the teachers … just to be an engaged lis- tener.” Nealon has a bachelor’s degree in education from Creighton Jesuit Univer- sity in Omaha, Nebraska, and was an elementary school teacher and tech- nology coordinator in Kansas City, Kansas. Since coming to Silver- ton, she said she’s been “extremely fortunate” to be able to work a mini- mum number of hours for her family business. Rath- er than opting to work full-time, she’s spent the past years volunteering at her children’s school and in the community. Locally she’s served as treasurer, board member and concessions coordina- tor for Silverton Junior Baseball, as well as help- ing the YMCA develop a program for K-2 children to play soccer at Eugene Field. She also served on the committee that over- saw the remodeling of the Silverton Pool. Her time and availabil- ity are commodities that she’s offering to Silverton voters, pledging to visit local schools and outside districts to gather ideas for doing business here. Her concerns about Silverton schools range from the upcoming bud- get shortfall to classroom populations. (Full classes are the reason she didn’t put her kids in school here, she said.) She also is concerned about the turn- over among school admin- istrators. (Both the high school and middle school principals are resigning this year.) “I will be a different kind of board member,” she said. “I offer my time, my drive and my research skills.” Zone 2: Northeast District Ervin Stadeli, 54, has served on the school board for eight years. He’s a long- time Silver- ton resi- dent; his an- Stadeli cestors came to the area in 1902, and he’s lived here his whole life, except for a two-year stint working in North Dakota during the Great Recession. One of eight children, he started his first busi- ness at age 19, one year af- ter graduating from Sil- verton High School. While attending classes i n heavy equipment op- eration, he started a Grade A dairy on his fam- ily’s farm. He sold the dairy after four years and bought 40 acres of his own while still in his early 20s. “Those were some ex- hausting years,” he said. “On my way to class in the Portland area, I’d have to hang my head out of the window to stay awake.” In 1995, he started his own excavating business, Stadeli Underground, which he operated until last year, when he sold to K&E Excavating. He now works as a superinten- dent. His current project is the new highway inter- change in Newberg, which is scheduled for completion this fall. Stadeli said a lifetime in the construction busi- ness prepared him to help the board oversee its own construction projects. There have been many in the recent past: the new high school, the old high school’s transition to a middle school, and seis- mic improvements to K-8 schools. “My daily tasks have involved money and per- sonnel, hiring and firing, and evaluating con- tracts,” he said. “In the next four years, we’re go- ing to be making big deci- sions about our facilities. I’ll help make sure we get the best deals.” Stadeli’s children came up through Silverton schools, and they’re all young adults now. But he still wants to serve on the board. Along with being able to discern the details in contracts, he said he wants to “empower staff, not micro-manage them,” because he’s convinced teachers are often the big- gest influence in kids’ lives. “You see so many kids today who don’t have sta- ble homes,” he said. “School might be the only structure these kids will experience.” Michele Stone-Fin- icle, 41, is the develop- ment direc- tor for NWV Habi- tat for Hu- manity with past experience in educa- Stone-Finicle tion. She and her husband, a high school science teacher in Stay- ton, moved to Silverton from Idaho four years ago. They have a first- grader in Silverton schools. Stone-Finicle has the distinction of being the first college graduate in her family. She grew up “extremely poor” in Wim- er, where her parents ran a gas station. Later she moved to the Willamette Valley, where she gradu- ated from high school. She attended Chemeketa and Portland State, earning a bachelor’s degree in Eng- lish and a teaching certif- icate. She first put her de- gree to work in Tillamook, where she taught expelled and suspended students for two years before mov- ing on to teaching English at the high school. She and her husband left Oregon for Idaho to take on the task of helping expand Sandpoint Char- ter School – an alternative Science Technology Engi- neering, Arts and Mathe- matics (STEAM) school – into a high school. The couple returned to Oregon to be closer to family after the birth of their daughter. Now, in her job for Habitat, she writes grants, finds fund- ing and connects local businesses to projects re- lated to affordable hous- ing. Stone-Finicle wants to join the school board to start making the kinds of business connections for the district that’s she’s ac- customed to making for Habitat. State-level funding problems aren’t going away anytime soon, she said, so she’d like to part- ner with local businesses to round out hands-on edu- cation offerings. She said Silver Falls could be more aggressive in its pursuit of grants, from the Meyer Memorial Trust and others, to fund technology training, PE, music and other things. Silver Falls is doing a lot of things right, she said: “I love the communi- ty and the teachers. They work hard, and they do a lot in the classroom.” But she’s anxious for the district to make a clearer plan for meeting the mandates now being handed down by the state. Next Generation science standards are due to be adopted now, wants Silver Falls to spell out a plan to make that happen. For example, she said brand-new curriculum isn’t necessary; teachers can simply get trained or be given supplementary curriculum that lays out experiments that go along with existing curriculum. “I would like to be elected because I think we need someone who’s been in the classroom making decisions for our kids,” she said. A new player The school board election is non-partisan, but the race has taken a new turn with involvement from a brand-new political action committee. Silverton Opportunity – created by women, for women – is actively supporting Traeger, Nealon and Stone-Finicle. Founder of Silverton Opportunity, Naseem Rakha, said she and the two other women who registered the PAC with the state are “upping the game a little” because they want to see more women in leadership positions in the community. Their financial involvement is beginning in this race for school board, where all seven members currently are men, but their intent is to fund and support female candidates for other community roles in the future. “We just thought it was a very good opportunity to bring some balance onto a board that obviously is dealing with a lot of issues of diversity in our schools,” Rakha said. “Our formation also came out of a national election that was incredibly sobering for women … we are looking for ways for women to have a voice in politics.” The three incumbents expressed general frustration over the organized political committee but didn’t speak directly about Silverton Opportunity. Lierman, who’s been on the board for 20 years, did say he’s never before seen local PAC involvement in a Silverton school board election. All three expected to spend less than $750 each, according to their campaign filings. Politics notwithstanding, the candidates all said they’re running separate campaigns, and they hope voters will make decisions based on each person’s merits. “I love the community and the teachers. They work hard, and they do a lot in the classroom.” MICHELE STONE-FINICLE NORTHEAST DISTRICT CANDIDATE Invest in something that matters to you Tax-free municipal bond % 2.85 Oregon St. lets you invest close to home. That means you can watch civic progress and still enjoy the tax-free income from a quality bond. 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