[Vision2020] School Board voting/candidates

Tue May 16 10:36:58 PDT 2006

Tim and Vision2020 folk,
Here is the story covering the MCA's forum with the four candidates, followed by profile stories on the Zone 2 and Zone 5 candidates, all of which articles were published by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and written by Kate Baldwin.  

>From one of the stories, the following helpful information appears: "For more information on the race or the precise location of the zones, contact the district office at (208) 882-1120. Polls will be open May 16 at the district office, 650 N. Cleveland in Moscow."   

Hope some of this helps.  Bruce Livingston

Moscow School Board candidates speak on hot issues 

Questions and answers reflect priorities

By Kate Baldwin Daily News staff writer 
Published: 05-11-2006 

Moscow parent J.D. Wulfhorst thinks the strong interest in this year’s school board elections is evidence of a changing time for the district. 

“The level of interest to get involved is an excellent indicator and a hopeful sign for the community’s future,” he said. 

Wulfhorst was one of about 20 residents to attend the Moscow Civic Association’s candidate forum Wednesday — and he can’t even vote in the Tuesday election. 

He lives in a zone other than 2 or 5, which has seats up for election. But that doesn’t stop him from still knowing who he’d like to see win seats on the board, he said. 

Moderator Kenton Bird gave the four candidates a chance to offer opening statements before he broke into the question and answer phase with tough questions like: how many school board meetings have you been to? 

Zone 5 incumbent Margaret Dibble swept that answer as she had not missed a meeting during her three-year term and she also attended a majority of the facilities meetings. 

Zone 2 candidate Mark Hubbard joked that the closest he had come was chaperoning his children’s junior high dances. But both he and his Zone 2 opponent, Jennifer Watts, had been somewhat involved through Parent Action Team meetings and some facilities meetings. Zone 5 challenger Larry Woodbury said he had not been to school board meetings but had been a part of his children’s activities. 

Bird covered more robust topics, including the State Board of Education’s proposed high school curriculum redesign that would require more math and science for students. 

He asked the candidates for their thoughts on how they would address this massive change. 

“If the state board and the Legislature passes this, we have to expand our capacity to teach science and math. We’ll have to follow it to meet the law,” Watts said, acknowledging the inability of a school board to ignore a state mandate. 

The others agreed, all saying they hoped for sufficient funding and incentives to meet the need for more teachers and better science labs if the redesign becomes law. 

“In the business world we talk about leveraging key people,” Hubbard said. 

He said he’d get creative and try ideas like slightly bigger class sizes with more aides to help. 

Bird also led a question and answer series on facilities. 

“This is the $64,000 question,” he said. “Are you in favor of a new high school, and, if so, where?” 

Woodbury was in favor of a new school. 

“At first blush I think a new high school would make more sense than trying to remodel one,” he said, though his final decision would depend on what the finances and budget allow. 

Watts and Hubbard also favored a new high school. 

“I went to this high school,” Watts said. “I think I thought back then that we should have had a new high school.” 

She favored something that would have appropriate science labs and other school facilities to help attract strong teachers to the district. 

Hubbard wanted a location that would provide easy access. 

Dibble said she is in favor of whatever 67 percent of the people of Moscow want. 

Bird asked what approach the candidates would take to improving facilities. 

“We got the answer to that loud and clear a couple years ago,” Dibble said. “We had a comprehensive (plan) but it went down in flames.” 

Zone 5 candidates share commitment to education 

Margaret Dibble, Larry Woodbury want to put their ideas to work for students

By Kate Baldwin Daily News staff writer 
Published: 05-09-2006 

Voters will choose May 16 between two Moscow School Board candidates to fill a three-year term representing Zone 5. 

The zone covers a large territory of the district that forms a dog-leg to the right: by starting in the southwest corner of the district, extending north in a narrow strip along the border with Washington, and then stretching east across the northern portion of the district to include Moscow Mountain. 

The election will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Moscow School District office, located at F and Cleveland streets. 

The Moscow Civic Association is sponsoring a public forum with the candidates at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 1912 Center. 

Margaret Dibble 

Incumbent candidate Margaret Dibble wants the opportunity to put what she’s learned over her three-year term into practice. 

“It takes a while to learn what’s going on, and I’ve learned a lot,” said the Moscow resident of more than 20 years. “I’m not starting from the beginning.” 

She joined the Moscow School Board in July 2003. Dibble has served as vice chairwoman of the board and the chief negotiator for the district in contract discussions with its teachers’ union. 

She also has attended state school board association meetings where she learned that other districts look at Moscow with envy. 

“We’re way ahead of other districts. We’re on top of things,” she said. 

Dibble referred to a number of legislative policies and changes, like the new health and wellness policies, that the district quickly adapted to in advance of state and federal guidelines. She also pointed to the new job-sharing policy for teachers and new hiring practices as signs of progress. 

Her list of goals include: 

* Improving the district’s academic achievement; 

* Securing a permanent facility for Paradise Creek Regional High School, the alternative high school; and 

* Passing a bond to upgrade aging school facilities. 

“The buildings are getting old and they were built for a different style of education,” she said. But she appreciates the challenges that surround a facilities bond, including the fact that any bond proposal requires an approximate 67 percent approval from voters. The school board can talk to the people and the people can talk to the board, but everyone has to understand where people on the other side of the issues are coming from, she said. 

Dibble said facilities are not something the school board can fix alone. 

Likewise, she also wants to expand the offerings in the district by coordinating with other programs like Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. 

Dibble wants to develop more paths for students’ diverse educational needs, including students at the alternative high school and in the professional-technical education classes. 

“It’s a real mix of kids there,” she said. “I see them (at the school) fulfilling a need and I seem them misunderstood.” 

CANDIDATE BIO 

* NAME: Margaret Dibble 

* RUNNING FOR: Moscow School Board Zone 5 trustee as
incumbent 

* PERSONAL: 55, married to Martin, a 
self-employed farm equipment mechanic who also shears sheep and alpacas; three children, one a senior at Moscow High School and two graduates 

* OCCUPATION: Research 
support scientist in the University of Idaho’s Department of Plants, Soils and Entomological Sciences 

* INOLVEMENT: Volunteer with 4H, Girl Scouts and church 

Larry Woodbury 

Candidate Larry Woodbury knows he has a tough fight against the Zone 5 incumbent. 

“It’s good she has support for her, but I don’t know if it’s good for me,” he joked. 

Woodbury came to his decision to run for the board through an unexpected accident. He suffered a serious injury on the ski slopes this winter, breaking vertebrae in his neck and back. The recovery period left him in the hospital with a lot of time to measure the impact of his life. 

“It’s why I decided to get involved and give back to the community,” he said. 

Woodbury said facilities are one of the biggest issues that need addressing. It seems like the community is divided between maintaining community schools and building new, he said. 

“The board needs a package to get the majority of both parties on board with a solution we can live with.” 

If elected, he said, he plans to learn the issues and make things happen. 

“When we decide we want to do something, my wife and I, we jump in with both feet and make it successful,” he said. 

Woodbury moved to Moscow with his wife in 1984. They started their family business, Four Seasons Lawn Care, as a way to pay for their education at the University of Idaho. He received his bachelor’s degree in education but decided to continue developing his small business. 

He believes that his focus on customer service can be a tremendous help if he serves on the school board. 

“A lot of my job is trying to please people, finding their needs and meeting them,” he said. 

Before moving to Moscow, he also served as a U.S. Marine for four years. 

“I traveled the world, but this is the place for me,” he said. “I’d like to see it maintain its charm and hometown feel.” 

Woodbury grew up in family that also supported education. His father served on a school board, his oldest brother is a retired teacher and his sister has been a librarian. 

“I always planned on going into teaching,” he said. “Maybe one day I’ll go back to that.” 

He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do when he was a young man just handed his degree, which is how he landed in the military. 

“Being in a college town, everyone thinks that everyone is going to college,” he said. 

He wants to know if the students in nontraditional tracks are succeeding too. 

“I wonder if needs are being met, if something more can be done,” he said. “More professional-technical programs, that’s what I’d like to see.” 

CANDIDATE BIO 

* NAME: Larry Woodbury 

* RUNNING FOR: Moscow School Board Zone 5 trustee 

* PERSONAL: 48; 
married to Pat, a co-owner of Four Seasons Lawn Care; five children, one at McDonald Elementary School, one at Moscow High School and three graduates. 

* OCCUPATION: Owner and president of Four Seasons Lawn Care; owner of a 10,000-piece tree farm; and owner of rental properties 

* INOLVEMENT: Volunteer with the National Ski Patrol, Boy Scouts troop leader and church 

Zone 2 Moscow School Board candidates share a dedication to education 

By Kate Baldwin Daily News staff writer 
Published: 05-03-2006 

Voters will have two Moscow School Board candidates to choose from for a three-year term in Zone 2 on May 16. 

Zone 2 is roughly bounded on the north by D Street, on the west by Van Buren Street, on the south by Sixth Street and the Troy Highway, and extends east to the school district boundary. 

Mark Hubbard 

Candidate Mark Hubbard said he’s ready to use his financial knowledge to help the district. No stranger to budgets, he said he enjoys making the most out of limited resources. 

One of eight siblings, Hubbard grew up on a large farm. “We were sensitive to the costs of levies and bonds but we were still proponents of education,” he said. 

“We’ve always supported bond levies,” Hubbard said. “But I think if we do it again we need to look at all the options, and the public needs to be apprised.” 

He expects many factors will come into play as Moscow’s facility needs are explored, including questions of location and whether to build or remodel. 

“I’m very analytical in nature, and as a credit officer I need to look at all the angles,” Hubbard said. 

“I have a wide parameter,” he said. “We don’t need a Taj Mahal … but we don’t want kids wearing coats in school because the buildings’ heaters are breaking down.” 

Hubbard said, if elected, he would want to assure the public that the district is being efficient with education dollars. 

Hubbard attended both Grace public schools and Bonners Ferry public schools in Idaho. He graduated from Bonners Ferry High School. He then went on to the University of Idaho to graduate in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics. 

A longtime Bonners Ferry resident, Hubbard worked with the school district’s facilities committee on a bond levy in 2002 for a new high school. Their effort faced problems similar to Moscow’s and also failed, he said. 

He returned to Moscow with his family in August 2003. 

“I’m hoping I can make a difference,” he said. 

Candidate Bio 

NAME: Mark C. Hubbard 

RUNNING FOR: Moscow School Board Zone 2 trustee 

PERSONAL: 50, married to Lisa, a full-time student at the University of Idaho who will begin student teaching this fall; two children, one Moscow High School graduate and one at Moscow Junior High School. 

OCCUPATION: Assistant vice president of commercial and agricultural lending, at FirstBank Northwest in Moscow. 

INVOLVEMENT: board member, Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry, Bonners Ferry school facilities committee. 

Jennifer Watts 

Zone 2 candidate Jennifer Watts said she believes education is one of the biggest investments people can make. “I’d like to see improvements in our facilities, especially the elementary schools and the high school science labs,” said Watts, who supported the failed April 2005 bond measure. 

“In the long range, Moscow does need to plan for more kids, maybe not in three years, but the town is growing,” she said. 

Watts decided she was ready to get involved after following the district’s efforts to run another bond levy this year. 

“I’m hoping to be a listener,” she said. 

She also has a strong interest in raising science literacy levels. She said she views the State Board of Education’s high school curriculum redesign efforts as an opportunity. 

As a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Watts wanted to share her interest in the field. She organized a workshop to inspire girls in junior high school to choose science and math electives in high school by introducing them to female scientists. 

“I grew up around people who support public education,” said Watts, whose father was a professor at the University of Idaho. 

She said the entire community influenced her, people like her former teacher, State Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. 

Watts attended Moscow public schools, graduating from Moscow High School in 1983. Then she spent a year as an American Field Service exchange student to the Netherlands. 

A bachelor’s degree in microbiology from UI followed. She returned to Moscow in August 1996 and has stayed close to home ever since. 

“I’d really like to see a board that works together and works well with the superintendent,” Watts said. “I think that’s happening now and I’d like to continue that.” 

Candidate Bio 

NAME: Jennifer Watts 

RUNNING FOR: Moscow School Board Zone 2 trustee 

PERSONAL: 40; married to Jan Boll, an associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Idaho; two children, one at Russell Elementary School and one at West Park Elementary School. 

OCCUPATION: Research assistant professor in Washington State University’s Institute of Biological Chemistry. 

INVOLVEMENT: West Park School’s Parent Action Team, Moscow Elementary School Science Fair volunteer, Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute member, Moscow Arts Commission summer band member. 

For more information on the race or the precise location of the zones, contact the district office at (208) 882-1120. Polls will be open May 16 at the district office, 650 N. Cleveland in Moscow. 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tim Lohrmann 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 9:37 AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] School Board voting/candidates

  All,
        Is there a detailed map of the School board zones online somewhere? I'm not even sure if I can vote or not. 
       Where are the polls?

       And sorry for asking this(I haven't kept up)--- what are the differences in the candidates for the board?  

       What difference will voting for one over another make?
       Thanks for helping out the ignorant!
        TL
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