Monday, May 1, 2017

My May school board votes: Miller, Akers, Davis, Flores

Hopefully by now, you are all recovered from the shock (or joy?) of learning that I'm not running for re-election.   Ultimately, serving on a school board is a huge and exhausting time commitment, especially for someone with a full-time day job, and after four years, I'm ready to step aside and let someone else take a turn.   (You may have also detected some subtle hints about frustration with meeting efficiency in my April Fools post...)

So, since I'm not in the race now, I thought I would share my thoughts on who your should vote for in the Hillsboro school board elections.   It's a bit chaotic this year, with more candidates than at any time in the past decade, so the choices may seem a bit overwhelming!

In my opinion, my two incumbent colleagues, Glenn Miller and Monte Akers, both solidly deserve re-election.  Each has put hundreds of hours into serving our community over the past four years.  

  • Glenn Miller has devoted massive amounts of extra time (beyond normal school board duties) to the Technology and Long Range Planning subcommittees.   As part of this work, he spearheaded a boundary exchange with Beaverton that, by aligning populations and districts better, will save the region the need to build a new school-- saving us about $20 million over the next decade!
  • Monte Akers has also been exceedingly generous with the time and energy he devotes to the district, and has been a consistent voice of common sense on the board.   He has agreed with me on many controversial issues in this blog, such as the time he and I were the only ones to try to prevent tax favoritism for one well-connected group. 
For the other two seats, everyone running is a newcomer to the board.   My picks for these two seats are April Davis and Alexander Flores.
  • April Davis is a dedicated local parent who has been following school board issues for a while, speaking during the citizens' comment period at a couple of meetings last year, when we discussed the birth control issue.   She is a sensible conservative who hopes to improve educational equity by providing appropriate choices for every student.
  • Alexander Flores has an impressive personal background, as well as being seen as a leader in the local Latino community.  Starting out as a high-school dropout and young father, he has worked his way up to success in both the family and business arenas,  through his strong belief in family values and hard work.
So, if you like what you've been reading in this blog, and want the people most likely to vote in similar directions for the next few years, remember to vote for Glenn Miller,  Monte Akers, April Davis, and Alexander Flores.



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