How will Richland School Board voters rebuild after a long, controversial recall?

Richland School District voters will charter the next four years of leadership this Nov. 7 election.

Three of five seats on the school board are up for reelection. One incumbent hopes voters will place her back on the board after being ousted during the Aug. 1 recall.

School board directors are elected within school districts to represent the interests of voters, students and parents. Their core responsibilities include hiring and supervising the superintendent, setting the strategic mission of the district, adopting policies, and passing annual budgets.

Richland School Board members, who serve in their positions unpaid, are elected to four-year terms.

The Richland Education Association teachers union has endorsed Chelsie Beck, Katrina Waters and Jill Oldson in the three races.

And the Benton County Republican Party Central Committee has endorsed Nino Kapitula, Kari Williams and Gene Nemeth.

Director No. 4

The biggest question this fall will be whether or not voters put incumbent Kari Williams back on the Richland School Board after removing her over an illegal vote to defy Washington COVID mandates.

Williams said she’s learned some lessons from the COVID era, but stands by her decision.

“I will always stand for kids,” Williams told the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board. “I’m a staunch advocate for local control. Would I do things differently? Yes. But I would still want the same things — I would still want families to choose whether they have to send their child (to school) with a medical device on their face or not.”

Williams said she served as something of a consensus-maker between the pro-mandates and anti-mandates sides over the past two years, and helped to bring people together collaboratively.

She is a former elementary school teacher who holds a master’s in education from the University of Utah. Williams is now a stay-at-home mother with five kids who attend class at almost every level in the school district — from elementary to high school.

On Aug. 1, a majority of Richland voters — roughly 54% — chose to remove Williams, as well as fellow board members Audra Byrd and Semi Bird, from office over their February 2022, vote to go “mask optional” in schools.

The seat is being temporarily filled by Brianna Watson.

Katrina Waters, a mother of three Richland graduates, says Williams’ choices are a liability for the school district.

“I do think it could be troublesome for the community to have a recalled board member put back on the board because of that lack of certainty of where their allegiances are going to lie, the public agendas that were spun last time, and the potential to defy state law if there’s something they disagree with or if they think the needs of the students override what state law dictates,” Waters said.

A chief scientist of biological sciences research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), who serves on several science-related advisory boards, Waters says she can bring a balanced voice and urgency to collaborate to the board. She believes “personal agendas and personal politics” have no place on the board.

Waters said not all board members need to have a background in education.

But Williams argues her time in the classroom was imperative to the board’s success.

She said her background in education helped inform her advocacy for structured literacy. After Richland and districts around the state implemented policies requiring science-based reading intervention for students with dyslexia, Williams championed a grassroots movement by teachers to expand structured literacy in their schools.

This school year, 600 students in all 11 Richland elementary schools are piloting new reading curricula, with implementation of a new K-5 structured literacy curriculum expected next fall.

Now that they’ve focused on reading, Williams said her focus for a second term would be to focus on math scores and curricula.

“Our kids deserve to have board members that can just hit the ground running, already knowing what’s going on,” Williams said.

The next school board will make some key decisions to build Richland’s third comprehensive high school.

The school district currently plans to ask voters next year to pass a bond measure to fund the construction, but discussion is already percolating about a likely delay.

The construction cost for a third high school in West Richland could be upwards of $183 million, but that’s not including other projects the district will likely seek funding for.

Both candidates agree that waiting to pass the bond will only benefit the process.

Waters said Richland students’ struggles with mental health didn’t just start during the COVID pandemic — they’ve been going on for a long time. It’s about time the school district does more to address this issue, she says.

“My oldest son attempted suicide when he was in high school. School administrators were sympathetic, but didn’t provide a lot of resources,” Water said. “I think this is something within our district that we really need to be more prepared to provide resources... The school counselors were frankly no help to my family at that time.”

Williams said she’s heard student concerns around mental health disparities. She said the board has done a lot to help, including creating the Mental Health Assistance Team.

Director No. 3

A new face on the Richland School Board is guaranteed in this race.

Nino Kapitula and Chelsie Beck will go head-to-head for the Richland School Board’s No. 3 seat.

Instead of seeking reelection to his seat, Semi Bird — one of the three recalled school board members — says he will run for governor in 2024 instead.

Bird has endorsed Kapitula as his successor.

The seat is being temporarily filled by Lindsay Lightner.

Kapitula is a small business owner and former insurance professional.

She was born in the country of Georgia and raised by her single mother in Moldova — one of Europe’s poorest nations — during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. At 13, her family immigrated to the U.S.

“It’s very important for us to go back to teaching kids civics,” Kapitula told the Editorial Board. “Parental rights are essential for the success of our children. My mother came because of the rights of this country. “

Her three children attend a private Christian school and do not attend public school.

“It’s not personal to me,” Kapitula said. “Being an outsider, and not making it personal, I can see things a little more clear and I have something I can compare (public school) to.”

Chelsie Beck, who works as a chemist at PNNL, has two children, 11 and 9, who attend Richland schools.

Beck says she’s running to return focus of the school board back on education.

“I just want to make sure we’re doing what’s best for all kids, to make sure we continue to give everyone the opportunity to succeed and not just certain kids,” Beck said.

Beck and Kapitula differ on whether or not controversial topics, like the George Floyd protests, should be discussed in the classroom.

Kapitula says it’s a good thing to talk about controversial issues in the classroom, but warned teachers against pushing their own opinions on students. That can be divisive, she said.

“The safe place to talk about these topics is always going to be the home,” she said.

Beck says that schools have an obligation, especially in high school, to listen to others’ opinions.

“We have to teach them how to talk about these things, understand them, have an opinion on them,” Beck said.

Director No. 5

Incumbent Jill Oldson is defending her seat against challenger Gene Nemeth.

Oldson, a former marketing executive, is running for another term to bring some continuity to the board.

She’s been involved with the district for about 18 years and helped form the White Bluffs PTO in 2008. She raised two students who graduated from Richland High School.

“I believe the parent-guardian has the ultimate say in their child’s education,” Oldson said in the Voters’ Pamphlet. “My experience, willingness to listen, objectivity, and open-mindedness will help lead the district to set high standards in education for all kids.”

Nemeth, a retired 26-year Navy captain, currently works in PNNL’s facilities and infrastructure operations department.

He’s a parent of four children, all with special needs, and says student achievement has declined under Oldson’s leadership.

“The district lost focus on student outcomes, resulting less than half of today’s students being proficient in core subjects,” Nemeth wrote in his pamphlet statement. “Gene’s vision to reverse the trend is to transform our district into an academic center of excellence.”

Gene’s also led nuclear facility operations and readiness at the Waste Treatment Completion Company, a Bechtel subcontractor at the vitrification plant, for seven years.

He’s also a member of the district’s special education task force and a PTA member.