It was a relief to read [Northshore School District] Superintendent [Larry] Francois’ update of the NSD’s priorities, many of which the district has been aware of for the past ten years. These issues consume both psychological and economic tolls on the community, students and employees in the district. In all likelihood, the district will ask the community to pay substantially more taxes to help it resolve these problems. I hope the district is mindful of costs to the community, as several projects ran over their proposed budgets or were not completed as the community had expected, e.g., Woodinville HS renovations.

The election of two new school board members will be critical to directing these projects. As such, it’s important to be aware whether candidates have potential conflicts of interest toward achieving these goals. In District 2 John Hammond is faculty at another school district and it is not clear whether he will feel pressured to conform to the WEAs policies and practices as a board director. Ken Smith teaches at a university and does not have any ties to local K-12 public education based unions.

In District 3 both Berta Phillips and David Cogan have spouses who work for the district. Mr. Cogan has stated that he does not intend to automatically recuse himself from district negotiations with the NSEA – the largest union in the district and whose membership along with certificated staff consume about half of the district’s general budget. In contrast, Mrs. Phillips has explicitly declared that she will recuse herself in any negotiations that involve her husband’s union (NNRAP), which represents some administrative personnel.

I am certainly grateful that these candidates want to serve the district. However, I also want to ensure that their decisions are to the best interests of our students, and not influenced by personal interests.

Lying Wong, Bothell