Candidates forum tonight is for ALL school district residents
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October 2, 2019
This corrects and updates the Sept. 25 editorial: “School board candidates.”
All people living in the La Conner school district are invited to attend tonight’s candidates forum featuring District 1 candidates John Agen and Kate Szurek and District 2 candidates Marlys Baker and Janie Beasley. All school district residents will be voting for the four director positions on the ballot. District 4 Director Lynette Cram and District 5 Director Susan Deyo are unopposed.
The Sept. 25 Weekly News editorial stating that tonight’s forum was for residents in District 1 and District 2 and that only those residents would cast ballots for those positions was incorrect. The Revised Code of Washington mandates all residents of the school district vote for candidates for all director positions on the ballot. Directors are assigned a geographic district but represent the entire school district and are elected by all residents in the district.
Last week’s editorial relied on experience gained in other states, which use the term “at large” for candidates chosen by all residents, contrasted with numbered districts, where the candidate’s constituency come from within the district boundaries.
Tonight residents have the opportunity to hear from and question the District 1 and District 2 candidates. Skagit League of Women Voters volunteers have structured the evening for voters to observe and interact with Agen, Szurek, Baker and Beasley for 90 minutes.
The candidates
Agen volunteers as vice president on the La Conner Community Scholarship Foundation board of directors. He was territory manager for the Thrifty Supply Company. He is a 1974 La Conner High School graduate and has a granddaughter in ninth grade there.
Szurek was appointed to the board in 2014, elected in 2015 and board chair in 2018. She is a lawyer specializing in estate and tax law at the Skagit Law Group. She has three grandchildren in La Conner schools.
Marlys Baker is a registered nurse at the Swinomish Indian Health Clinic, serving as community health representative. She has five sons; four are in La Conner schools and one has graduated.
Janie Beasley is chair of the school board. She was appointed in 2004 and has served since. She is an enrollment assistance with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. Her two children graduated from La Conner schools. She graduated from there in 1970.
The forum is at 7 p.m. tonight at 17337 Reservation Road on the Swinomish Reservation, next to the Swinomish Youth Center/Recreation Gym.
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