Derek Sheppard writes:
When looking at the county-wide elections filings list, the thing that strikes me are how few school board races are contested. As much flak as school boards around the county get, you’d think more people would run for office. Out of the 14 board positions in Kitsap County, four are contested.
Why do you think that is?
If you want to see the county-wide list, go HERE.
Steven,
After attending several Bremerton School Board Meetings and Planning Sessions this past year here is what I think. It is a huge time commitment for starters. You could spend your life going to meetings both school and community related and still not make them all. Also, these people take a lot of criticism from all fronts and the rewards and compliments are few and far between.
Overall I have been very pleased with the Bremerton School Board. I feel they are serving the community well. We got off to a little bit of a rough start about how the announcement of changes to Naval Avenue Elementary was handled, but they do listen when you take the time to address them and speak up. They have made it very easy for me to contact them with suggestions and ideas and have encouraged me to continue to do so. I am happy to see that several of the existing members are running again. They are good people. Keep up the great work.
Colleen Smidt
Vice President
Naval Avenue PTA
Collen is right , the time and commitment required is huge . In the north end from experience there is defintely a political litmus test . When I ran my opponent filed a PDC report that was a who who in the Kitsap County Democratic Party . From Inslee to South Kitsap Democrats , pcos ,and elected people donating on political party support only . In any case , the conservative bent candidates have had some real problems in the media , one candidate who ran once told me he did not want to win , just get his reputation back . I recall running on community organizing and support , attacking the meth and other drug issues , basic support for kids regarding newer text books , I answered questions regarding Evolution for crying out loud .
Needless to say , the pool of candidates is shrunk when you put a litmus test on parents . In fact , you only have one parent on the NK School Board .
I wish we got back to comunity representatives , perhaps interest would come back if folks felt like we awere all in this together !