League Representative: See all of you made it here. Welcome to the League of Women Voters Seattle King County candidate forum for the Highline School District School Board.
How’s that? Okay. Again, welcome and joining the League of Women Voters of Seattle King County Highline School District School Board Forum. The League is an organization that works in communities to empower voters and defend democracy. This evening is our work in action right here. You, the constituents, get to hear from your candidates, ask questions, and listen to one another as we work through the issues. Other local candidate forums in our community that are being planned with one next week for the Burien City Council and then the following week is the Des Moines City Council and then the 33rd Legislative District Representative Open Seat. Information about these forums can be found on the League of Women Voters website. This forum would not be possible without our partners which include King County Library Service. There’s Thomas, like the ACE librarian which is hosting the event, the Highline special needs PTA who is recording the event for us and then the American Association of University Women who has been supporting our volunteer staffing for tonight. A recording of this forum will be available on the league website.
The League wishes to acknowledge that we are on the traditional ancestral and unseeded territory of the Duwamish people who have stewarded this land since time immemorial. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and we recognize their ongoing relationship to this land. Now I will turn the microphone over to your incredible moderator Vicky Green who will take things from here. Thank you again.
Vicky (Moderator): Thank you. Good evening everyone and Nick, thank you for your comments and thanks to the Burien Library for allowing us to use this location tonight. My name’s Vicky Ruden and I’ll be moderating this evening’s forum for the Highline School District board of directors. I also want to thank our co-sponsors of this forum which have already been introduced. Our timers this evening are Diane Benino and Carrie Lure. They’re here in the front row. They will hold up cards—you want to wave them—to help speakers stay within their time limits.
Please note that it is League of Women Voters policy to not allow any video or audio recordings of our forums unless it’s been authorized in advance by the league. And thanks to Matt, our videographer, who is recording this event. We’ll have a link to the recording on the league’s website within the next few days. The website is www.lwvskc.org.
I think that’s probably on your agenda as well. Did everyone get an agenda when they came in? Anyone need one? Okay. Let me say a further word about the League of Women Voters. The League is a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose purpose is to promote the informed and active participation of citizens in government. Our goal for tonight’s forum is to provide school district residents with the information which will help them be informed and knowledgeable voters. You can find more information about the league at the membership table in the back of the room or by going to our website. And I’d encourage you to start exploring the league’s website. It’s a tremendous source of information. There’s local, state, and national information. These are posted weekly by our local organization and a little less frequently by the state and national, and it also provides links to lots of good information.
Now, let me ask you to turn off your cell phones, including cameras and any other devices that you may have in your pocket that make noise. The League of Women Voters is committed to fostering civility in public discourse. Civility begins with openness to listening to points of view which may be different than yours and respect for others’ rights to hold opinions that differ from ours. With that in mind, we ask that everyone be respectful of the candidates, our timers, and our volunteers. Please remain silent unless you’ve been recognized to ask your question and hold your applause until the very end of the forum.
In case you didn’t notice, there are restrooms located on both floors adjacent to the elevators. And in case of emergency, please exit using the stairs. A few words before we begin about the Highline School District. The district serves more than 17,500 students in grades K through 12 in the communities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac, and White Center. There are 34 schools, and the district employs more than 2,000 staff members within the school population. And this is what amazes me—89 languages are spoken. Imagine the challenge for the schools.
Now, onto our panel of candidates. The Highline School District Board of Directors consists of five members elected in staggered years for four-year terms. School board members take office in December after the election is certified. Key responsibilities include employing the district superintendent, formulating the budget, developing and approving policies, and setting instructional and learning goals for students and staff. Board members attend two regular meetings each month, plus occasional work study sessions or board retreats. Board meetings are available via live stream for members of the public unable to attend in person.
Three seats are up for election this year, all of which are contested. We have four of the candidates here but obviously two are not. For those unable to be here, we have offered them the opportunity to send a representative. The representative would not take part in panel but could read a statement. However, I have not seen or heard from representatives for the two that are not here unless you missed us. Now we will handle this in the order of their district number. That’s how I will ask the candidates to make an opening statement of no more than three minutes.
Following the opening remarks, it will be your turn, the audience. Audience members may pose questions for one or all of the candidates. You’ll have 30 seconds to ask your question and the candidates will have one minute to answer. I’ll then offer each candidate the opportunity for a rebuttal. Rebuttals must be no longer than one minute. If you didn’t get them when you came in, our volunteers have note cards and pencils for you so you can write down your questions in advance if you like. You will still read your own question, but often it helps to organize your thoughts and be concise. Does anyone need a card or pencil? Raise your hand if you do. Okay.
Candidates, we’ve asked you to introduce yourself in your three minutes or less opening statement. Please tell us why you’re running for office and what are your qualifications to be on the school board. In our invitation, we also asked you to indicate the top three critical issues you would address if elected. So we will be looking for that. And let me remind you again candidates to keep your eye on our timers so you can gauge your time as you speak.
The candidates running for district two are Suanne Hohheimer and Angelica Alvarez. Miss Alvarez was unable to attend and unless someone in the audience has been contacted by her to read a statement—apparently, we have no representative from her. Okay, Sue, your opening statement.
Sue Ann Hohheimer: If I get off, there you go. Hi, thank you very much and again thank you all for being here on this dark and stormy night. My name is Suanne Hohheimer. I was born to parents who were both teachers. My mother and my father were each single—teaching in the Bay Area in California—and like the second grade teacher married the third grade teacher. So that was like big news, big news. And so public education has always been really an important thing in our family. My sister and I were both educated in public schools. My family moved from the Bay Area to a very very small town in Oregon and I lived there till I was 11 years old. It was very rural and just got an opportunity to experience hunting and fishing and lots of outdoor activities in this tiny town in Oregon of 500 people.
We moved from there to a building of 500 people at the end of Lakeshore Drive in downtown Chicago. So from the age of 11 on through my master’s degree, which is in education, I attended school and lived in Chicago. It was a phenomenal awesome place to be a teenager and it afforded me a lot of really adventurous and wonderful opportunities. I met my husband in high school and I’ve been married to him for 34 years. And we have four sons and I raised all of them here in the state of Washington.
So we live in Normandy Park and I’m currently serving as the deputy mayor of the city of Normandy Park. I’ve done two terms as mayor and in that time on the council, it’s really been a privilege to see the Highline area as a whole ecosystem. So I’ve worked on projects for raising the $10 million needed for a brand new ER back when Highline Medical Center was before it was St. Anne. And I’ve done lots of work at Marvista Elementary School as the PTSA president for many years. And being in public service now and having an opportunity to interact with the mayors and deputy mayors of our other Highline cities has really helped me see that we’ve really got to focus on having the strongest schools that we can have.
This area is such a draw for other businesses, people coming to the area and we want to be able to represent the South King County area, the area that we love as Highline, with all the best that we possibly can and our schools could really use the help. So looking every night during filing week to see if anybody else was going to run for this position, I thought, well, no one else is doing it. I would love the opportunity. It’s my joy to be in public service and so I’m really looking forward to it. Thank you.
Katie Kresly: Good evening. My name is Katie Cresley and I am running for district 3 for the Highline School Board. And my story is a little different than perhaps than Miss Suann’s. I am also from the Midwest. I grew up in Wisconsin. I’m the oldest of five children. I am married, but I moved out here—it took me three times, but I moved out here and finally married an Evergreen graduate. So he is—it is. So I am tied here. I’m stuck. That’s it. We’re not going anywhere. He made sure of that.
The reason I’m here is that I’ve been watching the Highline schools for the past four years and I’m seeing things that are concerning because I see one things being said and another thing being done. This is a problem. Our kids deserve better. I started paying attention four years ago and it’s funny because we don’t even have any kids. So people are like, “Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait. Why why are you running for the school board?” And I asked myself the same thing. And then I remember I’m a big sister. I’m a protector. I’m the oldest of five kids. I have a heart for children. I went to school. I have a psychology degree. But it really doesn’t make any sense because I was actually going to pay attention and be a child psychologist. But that didn’t happen. I became a mechanic at Boeing instead.
I have a little different background because I turned into a reporter for the Highline reporting and discussing the Highline schools. So I’ve been paying attention for the past three years and writing about it. We’ve been talking to the board members. We’ve been talking to the schools. We’ve been talking to parents. We’ve been talking to teachers and there is so much happening and there’s so many things that people want to say and they’re not being heard. And I’m watching sadly as the board directors sit on the board and not listen. I’ve watched as they’ve figured out how not to pay attention and how not to respond. And this breaks my heart.
We are spending $25,000 per student per year and only one in three is actually meeting grade level standards for reading and writing. We have an 84% graduation rate. How is the Highline Promise actually working? We say that we’re going to know every student by name, strength, and need, preparing them for the future they choose. That promise is hollow. I intend to help bring back the promise as well as a vision and a mission that will bring us back in line with things that are actually equitable. We view ourselves as equity leaders. I’m going to bring robust academics, safety, and transparency back into this community. Instead of a cruise ship drifting along with an empty promise, I want to be the rescue boat. Thank you.
Vicky: Thank you, Katie. As I indicated earlier, the other candidate for district three, Joel Van, has not is not here, nor have we heard from him. The candidates for district 4 are Ken Kemp and Damarys Espinoza. Damarys, your opening statement.
Damarys Espinoza: Yes, thank you. Hi everyone. I’m Damarys Espinoza. I was appointed to the school board in March. I won the primary and with the public’s vote I will win in November. It’s an honor to be here with you today and I want to tell you a little bit about myself, but I really want to focus on my vision for Highline Schools and my three priorities.
I’m the mother of three children, two of whom are students in Highline schools, a fifth grader and a second grader, and a five-year-old who will enter Highline schools in the next year. I am an educator, a lifelong educator. I teach at the University of Washington. I started my education career as an instructional assistant as a paraeducator. I’m also employed with Mary’s Place as a nonprofit leader. Mary’s Place is the leading organization in our region supporting families who are experiencing homelessness, many of whom are families with children in the Highline School District.
My vision for Highline is that every child, every student thrives regardless of their socioeconomic condition, the conditions that their families are faced—that every children, that every child and every student thrives. And to do that I really want to focus on in-class support, whatever learning path that they have, focusing on reading, writing and math. We have done growth. We have experienced growth in the past years, but we want to see more growth. And also in order to do that, we really have to focus on educators, on teachers, the incredible staff in schools that make it possible for students to thrive, building the systems, the opportunity, the power and the voice for educators to be able to innovate in the classroom and inform their instruction.
And lastly, the third point is really connecting schools with communities. Test scores and assessments are good, but they’re not going to get us to sustained achievement and get students to graduate ready and prepared for the future that they choose. When we connect communities with schools and opportunities, all families, all students, and our communities thrive. Thank you so much.
Ken Kemp: Yeah. Ken Kemp. I’m going to start by saying that I have four generations in the Highline School District from my grandparents down to my children. I’m a Highline High School alum. Go Pirates. That may be a bad thing for some people. Yeah. My qualifications are—my entire family has been immersed in education for my sister, my grandfather, my father. My dad was a teacher at Highline High School. My sister is a teacher in Arizona. I teach at the local 26 Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union Hall. I teach advanced math and science. I’ve been doing that for eight years now and I’m starting again another rank of classes coming through this winter.
The three things I was standing on is academics. I really think that the numbers in our for our academics aren’t showing progress at all. And that’s to me a problem with my children being in these schools. They’re fortunate enough to have my wife and I as helicopter parents over their shoulder every day and making sure that they’re doing their homework and they’re understanding what they’re doing, but that doesn’t help the rest of the 18,000 students that are in our school district. And so I want to make sure that we’re focusing hard nose to the education academics part of our school district.
The second thing is community. I really feel the community doesn’t feel like it has a voice. This comes from meeting 3,500 people so far out canvassing and knocking door to door and speaking to the people in our community. A lot of people don’t feel like they have a voice and I think that we should have transparency and I believe that our school district should be open to communicating with the parents and the children to build a community of people who have a direction that’s going correctly.
The third thing is the teachers. The teachers that I’ve talked to so far—I think 98% have said that they feel like they’re managing their classes, not teaching their classes. And that’s a bad place for a teacher to be in. I know from teaching classes that I don’t want to manage my class. I want to be able to teach my subject and be able to reach out to my students on a personal basis and make sure that they’re understanding the curriculum so I can get them through my class with a grand understanding of what we’re talking about. And that’s not happening right now. And so I think we need to put a greater focus on academics and on teacher support with better classroom outcomes. Thank you.
Vicky: Thank you. We have received a statement from one of the missing candidates. She just sent it via email and [someone] will read that to you. Sorry about this disorder here. This is from Angelica Alvarez who is in position [District 2].
Reader (Megan?): I’m a proud mom of four amazing children who graduated from the Highline School District and five grandchildren who are currently in the Highline School District. Born and raised in San Luis, Arizona to migrant field workers, I learned the values of hard work, perseverance, and the community at a young age. After graduating high school in Los Banos, California, I began my career in social services and education, dedicating 10 years to the Merced County Office of Education. My husband, Reverend Reiso Alvarez, and I moved to Burien to start a bilingual church to serve the Hispanic community. For more than 20 years, I have worked in education and social services, always with a focus on equity, education, opportunity, and community voice.
Why I serve? I first joined the Highline School Board because parents in my community encouraged me to step up. They saw the need for a bilingual, bicultural leader who could represent their voices. At first, I wasn’t sure I had the expertise, but I quickly realized that my lived experience was expertise. 16 years later, I’m completing my fourth term, including two terms as board president. My service has been driven by one belief: Every child, regardless of language, culture, or background, deserves the opportunity to succeed.
What drives me? Equity in education—ensuring all students, especially those from immigrant and historically underserved families, have access to quality education. Family and community voice—creating spaces where families feel empowered to speak their own language and advocate for their children. Early learning pathways—building stronger bridges between preschool, elementary, and beyond to set every child on a path to success.
Achievements: Supported the seal of biliteracy to honor multilingual students. Advocated for out of school suspension reforms limiting suspensions to cases involving safety concerns. Supported the adoption of a family engagement policy that ensures community voice in decision making. Supported financial aid completion initiatives and partnerships with community-based organizations to expand opportunities for all students, especially our students of color, so they have access to the future they choose.
Core beliefs: Family and faith first. My family and my faith ground my work. Partnership matters. True progress comes from authentic collaboration, not transactional relationships. Relationships build change. Long-term systemic change happens when we work together with trust and honesty.
Why should I be reelected? I bring both lived experience and proven leadership. As a first generation daughter of immigrant parents, I know what it means to navigate systems not built for us, and I’ve made it my life’s work to ensure no family has to do that alone. I believe in celebrating small wins while always keeping a long-term strategy for systemic change. This balance of vision and persistence makes me an effective advocate for our students, families, and schools.
Looking ahead, my hope is that one day every student and family in Highline will feel empowered to speak their truth, share their passion, and know that their school board is listening. This is more than a role for me. This is my calling, my life’s journey, and my commitment to the children and families of Highline. Thank you.
Vicky: Thank you, Megan. We’ve now heard from five of the candidates. Next we will take as many questions as possible from you, the audience. Once again, all candidates will have an opportunity to respond to all questions, even those that are directed to a specific candidate. Candidate responses will be limited to one minute per question and I believe we’ve got ample time in our schedule to hear all of your questions. So I encourage you to ask what is on your mind. You may have 30 seconds to pose your question and the candidates will have up to a minute to answer. The timers are down here in front and they will hold up a card so that you will know.
The microphone is a portable one. So I think Sue is going to walk to wherever you are but come to the aisle so that and she will hold the mic for you. When I recognize you please give your name before you ask your question. If you are unable to come to the mic you may write down your question and pass it to a forum volunteer. Be sure to put your name on the card if you opt to do that. And please write legitimately. One of our volunteers will read any questions that come in on cards, but we won’t read questions without names.
We’ll give everyone in the audience the chance to ask a question before taking followups or multiple questions from the same person. If we do run out of time before you get your question answered, we encourage the candidates to remain after the forum so that you may speak with them directly.
I’ll kick off this part of our forum with the first question and this is for all of you. What would you personally do to increase family involvement or develop family relationships with the schools particularly with those families for whom English is not their primary language? And we’re going to start at that end for these.
Ken Kemp: Okay. Yeah. I mean, opening up lines of communication with the community, that’s kind of our job as a schoolboard member. Being available and transparent in the things that you do, the things that you say, and being open to being able to answer questions. That’s the most important thing for opening to everybody, regardless of language they speak. I mean, that’s that’s what we’re supposed to do. We represent the community. When we go up there on the board, we’re elected by our community, and we should represent them equally.
[Pause for timer reset]Damarys Espinoza: Thank you. So I think the question was very specific. Would you like me to repeat it?
Vicky: No, I I I do remember.
Damarys: I’m just saying that the question was very specific to building relationships and outreach with families whose English may not be their first language, which I didn’t hear a response from Mr. Kemp about that. So I’m going to speak as the daughter of immigrants, first generation college graduate, and a Spanish speaker myself. My kids are Spanish speaking too and they’re in dual language. So what I would do is be present in community, build upon the existing leadership that is out there in communities. I see a room full of family parent leaders here. So I would go out there, be in relationship with them, learn about their priorities, bring those voices back to the board, and implement action policies that are reflective of their work.
Katie Kresly: Thank you. That was a question that’s important because parents really need to be involved in their children’s education. Parents are the primary stakeholders in their children’s upbringing. So the importance of making sure that that parental link stays involved, the involvement stays in the schools. What I would see is that especially when it comes to non-English-speaking families, I would recommend that we make sure that we have translators available and that the translators are within the same room as everyone else because I’ve seen the current school sometimes what they’ll do is they’ll separate families by their identity, by their language, by their color. And I think that having everyone in a room together understanding and learning from each other as families and teachers and having that community come together is the biggest part that we can help to cultivate and have a culture that’s ready.
Sue Ann Hohheimer: Yes. I’m a networker. I love people. I love networking and just figuring out who needs to meet who and what kinds of opportunities may exist that people are unaware of. I love just connecting people to those different opportunities. So for sure, each school community is going to is really different one from the other. I think it’s important to understand each school community, kind of learn who the various leaders are within those communities, and then make sure that we’re lending as board members some real assistance to those leaders in helping them connect.
But one thing I do want to touch on is this next year, 2026, is the semiquincentennial of the United States of America. So our country is turning 250 years old. And I think that there would be some really incredible opportunities to reach out to all of our various families in our communities that do speak different languages primarily in their home and come from different cultures. I’d love to look for opportunities to incorporate them into all kinds of things that they say they would appreciate about America and about being in the United States together. Thank you.
Vicky: There is the opportunity if any of you wish to rebut or add to your original statement. You will have another minute to do that. Anybody?
Sue Ann: I don’t like to give up an opportunity to talk more. No, but but I actually don’t like to give up an opportunity to listen more as well. And I really do feel like there’s a lot of communities out there that are very, very proud to be living in the United States of America. And I’m not sure that we always give them enough opportunity to talk about what makes them proud to be living in the United States. And I just feel like I want us to be absolutely—I think our diversity is all kinds of wonderful things that benefit us. I just have a feeling that maybe over the last 10 years, we’ve spent a lot of time on that. And I’d like to see us see what we could do to make a shift and bring us all under the American flag at least for that one year. And just really see what kinds of things we have in common and what is inspiring people to to be part of this great fabric of the United States. Thank you.
Vicky: I have one more question that I want to ask you before we go to the audience.
Audience Member: Why do you get two?
Vicky: Yeah, that’s why I’m up here.
Audience Member: You’re no better than anyone else. Sir, one question, sir. If you—you lose your rules with one question. Go by your own rules.
Vicky: You’re taking a—I’m sorry. You are taking time from the rest of the audience.
Audience Member: And so are you.
Vicky: Would you like to leave?
Audience Member: So are you.
Vicky: [Continues with the question] We will have Katie take this first. Do you have anything to say concerning Proposition One, the Highline Education Renewal Levy, which is also on the November ballot—whether you wish to support or oppose it or have other information to share?
Katie Kresly: Thank you for the question about the levy. The levy is an interesting proposition. Proposition one is a levy that is—it’s called a replacement levy. It is definitely increasing the amount of money that is being asked of the taxpayers and that’s something to be paying attention to. I think that I definitely support a levy. I also want to make sure that whatever money is passed or whatever money does come into the schools is well used and goes into the classrooms and goes into the student learning. I think during COVID—I would heavily prioritize—during COVID we had major loss of education academic outcome and I would recommend that because $84 million was not spent well spent towards tutoring that we actually play catchup with those extra funds that we will be getting that I anticipate we will be getting.
Damarys Espinoza: Yes. So, can you repeat the exact question, please?
Vicky: Do you have anything to say concerning Proposition One, the Highline Education Renewal Levy, which is on the November ballot?
Damarys: Yes. So as a parent of Highline students, I know that the school district needs to have all the resources that it can have to make sure that students succeed and thrive and meet their academic goals. I do support the levy. It’s a renewal of a past levy. I know that this event is co-sponsored by special education PTA. The levy supports the support of students who receive special education services and support. It supports athletics. It supports dual language. It supports inclusion work. It supports the foundational resources that teachers need to succeed in the classroom. So when public education is underfunded, a levy needs to be taken into account to make sure that our school district is thriving.
Ken Kemp: Proposition one. Any levy is good. We always need more funds for our schools. However, I believe that we should be fiscally transparent with what we’re spending our money on and we should be focusing on the education and having that go directly to educating our children. We have a large budget—$321 million budget right now and as Katie alluded to earlier, $25,000 per student. We need to make sure that if the levy goes through, we’re being transparent where those funds are going and how they’re being spent. And if it doesn’t go through, we also need to be fiscally responsible with the budget that we’ve been given and show that we can make significant academic change with the funds that we do have so that we’re being responsible with the funds that were given. So to steward our funds wisely is one way that we can make sure that the levies that go through—the taxpayers that are having to take the brunt of the resources—that their money is being spent wisely on the education of their children.
Sue Ann Hohheimer: Yes. I would like to say that I have toured some of these brand new high school buildings and they are absolutely stunning. Just phenomenal. I love that Highline Schools is known for coming in on time and on budget with these beautiful school buildings. I am aware of like the—I don’t know what the property tax levy is percentage wise in the other cities but I know in Normandy Park every single dollar that people pay in their property taxes has 60 cents that goes towards our school related items. That’s a lot. 12 cents goes to support the city. 60 cents goes to schools. And so I think if you—I’m a very resourceful person. So I’m like, if you vote me in, I’m the kind of person that will really just make sure that we’re spending the money to get the absolute biggest bang for our buck that we possibly can. And like I said, the buildings are gorgeous, and I just want to make sure that what we’re doing on the inside of the building is just as fabulous as what we’re doing with the outside of the building.
Vicky: Now, if those of you who have questions you wish to ask would get to one of the aisles.
Alex (Audience Member): My name is Alex. Since there’s only one incumbent on the panel, my question is for Director Espinoza. As you know, over 50% of the students in the district are three years and more behind academically. I’ve heard from parents who have their children come home from elementary school bruised and bleeding. They talk to the vice principal who says it’s not his job to enforce discipline. So I’ve been to 50 board meetings and this is never talked about and it’s not reflected in the budget. So what will you do about all these students that are behind and what will you do about the students that are being assaulted and the teachers that fear being assaulted at work specifically?
Vicky: I assume that was you wanted that addressed to the only incumbent. Is that correct?
Alex: First to the incumbent but then the others can say what they would do if elected.
Vicky: Fine. Okay. Damarys, will you start?
Damarys: Okay. So I think there was two parts to that question. What would I do about bullying? Is that—
Alex: Well, what have you already done since you’re already in office?
Damarys: So I was appointed in March. So what have I already done to address bullying?
Alex: And three years behind for half the students.
Damarys: Yes. So I’m going to start with the point about bullying. Since I was appointed in March, we affirmed our commitment to inclusion and belonging. That means that every student in the school district in every classroom is included. Schools and principals are the leaders of building that culture of belonging and inclusion and they are mandated by our strategic plan to live up to that ideal and to live up to that mandate. And so our strategic plan tracks that and we have communicated since I took the seat in March, we’ve communicated our progress in our strategic planning. I have to stop. I don’t have time to ask.
Vicky: So that’s one minute per question, correct? Okay. However, after the others have spoken, if you wish to rebut, you can. Okay.
Ken Kemp: So when it comes to the three years behind, that statistic is is not good and we need to make sure that we’re focusing on the academic part of our schools. When your child goes to school, you would like them to be getting educated. And when 50% of our kids are 3 years or more behind, which is the statistic, that’s unacceptable. As far as the bullying goes, there’s already policies in place that guard against bullying and they’re well seated. They need to be acted on and that needs to be attention for the superintendent and for the principals. And as a board member, that would be my goal would be to make sure that those policies that we already have set in place for academics and for bullying would both be acted on with with a lot of vigor. Those things can’t be accepted in our schools. No bullying for anybody. When those kids step into our schools, they belong in a safe environment to learn and grow academically to succeed their best achievement.
Katie Kresly: This two-part question. The first thing is that with students being—half the students being at least three years behind. That means three, four, five years behind. I spoke with a parent who was ecstatic that her child was only one year behind in the fifth grade. She thought that was a success because the other ones are at first grade level. There are processes in place to number one help kids who are behind to catch up. We have programs in the schools in place that are not being used. They are dwindling down to nothing and they are being let die on the vine. So without having that in place, I think that’s a problem. So we’re not catching the kids up and we’re not helping prepare them.
The other part is kids are being told they don’t have to try too hard and I’ve heard that from dozens of people as I’ve been talking to. The second thing is that we need to uphold the law. We need to uphold the policies that are in place with regards to bullying and also keeping weapons out of the school and actually holding children accountable for their actions.
Sue Ann: I’ll just add that this is the first time I’m meeting Ken Kemp and and hearing some of these other responses and Katie Cresley’s. I’m just thinking wow we have an incredible opportunity here to elect some new people into this system and be able to say you know what we could really change things in a very short amount of time. I think we’ve had some very well-intentioned people who have led with a desire to really help children and they have empathy and compassion and they want people to feel welcomed and I think maybe in some ways we’ve gone a little too far and we’ve become a little bit too laxidasical about things. I think we could hold a really high standard and with brand new people on board, we could we could just say, you know what, things have changed and here’s how we’re going to do it now. And all those rules that we haven’t been enforcing, they’re going to be enforced now. And all that time that we’ve taken that has brought us far behind in our education, we’re going to all work together and we’re going to bring academics back and we’re going to show people that South King County and this Highline area has everything that we need to succeed.
Vicky: Our next question. Oh, I want to rebut. All right. Correct. Yes.
Damarys: Thank you. Yeah. So I didn’t get a chance to answer the second part of that question about being behind. So as a parent I don’t agree with that. I want to see consistent growth over time. I think we need to be critical thinkers here and we need to see beyond the statistic that is in front of us and consider also growth over time. The academic journey of students is long and we need to see what the outcomes are year after year. As an educator I know that learning is a muscle that you have to exercise and you have to feel that you belong and are included in your curriculum and in your classroom. And so by growing inclusion and belonging, we’re also growing academic growth in the long term. And I would really encourage you all—if we don’t have time to stay after we can talk more specifics.
Vicky: Do others wish to add?
Ken Kemp: Yeah, I mean, I’ve heard that a lot of times that statistics don’t mean what we think they do, but I’m a math guy and I believe the statistics mean exactly what they say. And that to me is not good enough. And that’s where I stepped into running for this position was because I saw the way the numbers look. And the one way that you can get children to be able to feel comfortable and adequate in their classrooms is by educating them and getting everybody on the same page. There’s nothing more equitable we can do for our children than educate them to the best of our abilities so that everybody graduates on an equal playing ground.
Katie Kresly: One of the things that the school board has decided that it’s going to measure is consistent growth over time. And for those of you who don’t understand what that means, that means that they’re not actually going to pay attention to how many students are achieving standard. It means that they’re going to say for example two years ago they found out kids were three years behind or more—50% of them. They set a minimum goal, a tiny tiny little goal and they said 40% of our kids, 40% of the students have in English language one year’s growth over time in one year—one year they’re making one year’s growth from third to fourth to fifth. That was 40%. A year ago it bumped up to 45, 44%. Their goal was 45. All right, good job. This year it dropped right back down. The tiny little goal they made for growth meant nothing.
Sue Ann: I was just going to have a little rebuttal to the comment that the academic journey is long. Like actually the academic journey is pretty short. 13 years is not that long to teach humans how to have a thriving amazing wonderful life. There’s a lot of stuff we got to get to in those 13 years. I think we need to focus on the things that are the most essential and really get to them and get to them with fun and enthusiasm and innovation. And I really think that we could take great advantage of this whole 2026 thing to just get everybody on board under kind of a whole new banner that we’ve got this big fancy word semiquincentennial. But I think it takes sometimes, you know, milestone moments like that. And I just feel like every kid deserves an opportunity to know what it’s like to really be thriving academically. And I think we can raise those standards and see some achievement. Thank you.
Vicky: The next question. State your name please and to whom you’re directing it.
Sandra Leger (Audience Member): Hi everyone, my name is Sandra Leger and I taught in the Highline School District for 22 years and we had to adhere to state and federal academic standards and I’ve been watching a sad decline of the kids graduating not at grade level. So here’s my question to all of you. Will you commit to supporting—to finally writing instead of a generic promise to get to know each child by name, strength, and need and prepare them for the future? Instead, will you commit to finally supporting a mission vision statement that specifically incorporates traditional academics, reading, writing, and arithmetic and bringing the students up to grade level and graduating them at grade level. So seniors are not graduating at the ninth grade level. That is my question. Will you support the writing of such a mission statement?
Vicky: I assume you’re addressing that to all of them?
Sandra: All of them.
Vicky: Okay. We will start with Katie on this one.
Katie: Oh yes. And oh yes and oh yes. We are on a cruise ship of feelings right now. What we need is that rescue boat, that rescue vote of five school board directors who can help steer the ship with a mission and a vision for making sure that every child is going to succeed to the best of their ability. And there are some that are a little bit slower and some that are way advanced. And what that means is that the mission for the ones that are a little slower have special needs, they’re being accommodated right now. What I see is that students with IEPs and special needs—they may know what their needs are, but they’re not being met. And I see students over here that could succeed that are bumping up against a ceiling and saying, “Don’t try so hard.” Those needs are not being met, and everyone in the middle is kind of losing it. So I really 100% with you, Sandra.
Sue Ann: Like there’s so many questions. I want to get to all of them. I know from working with the city how challenging it is to come up with those mission and vision statements and how you work and work and work and change every word. And I would definitely like to see the city have a really—or sorry the the the school district have a really strong academic focus. And if that were showing up in words in the mission statement, I think that’s great. I did notice that it has changed over the years. We used to promise that we would know every student by name, strength and need and prepare them for career, college and citizenship. And that somehow changed to prepare them for a future of their choosing. And I just get concerned like if there are kids who are choosing to spend their adult years in their parents’ basement dressed like in their pajamas, I’m thinking I don’t think we want to prepare them for that. And so I want to make sure that what children are prepared for and are choosing are things that are valuable to all the rest of society so we can keep up with that social contract that we make to one another.
Damarys: So I would support strengthening, revisiting our promise or our mission as a school district if it reflects the vision, the needs of students and families. And I want to center us into the creation of the Highline Promise is informed by student voice, educator voice, family voice, and community voice. So I cannot say that I would change something without talking to my constituents, without talking to my families. And I do want to specify that the importance of saying that we will graduate students ready for the future that they choose is an act of empowerment. It’s not choosing to live in a basement—it’s choosing to attain the career that is right for them in the trades, in vocation, in union jobs, at the university or at colleges. Thank you.
Ken Kemp: Yes. Looking at a mission statement would have to be a complete board agreement. And so whether or not I agree with it, it doesn’t have any bearing. But I do believe that the mission statement now isn’t being acted on with making sure that we know every student by name and strength. And the things that we need to do is really focus on making sure that we do know every student and by their needs and by what’s going to drive them to become academically successful because until you know each and every student and know their heart and where they’re coming from you won’t be able to write an accurate mission statement. And so I think that we should really uphold the community involvement with the parents, with the teachers, and with the community that’s wrapped around these kids to help them grow and achieve their highest ability because really our vision for our children is great, but our children’s vision for their community is going to be much stronger, I think. Thank you.
Vicky: Because of the number of people in line, I’m going to say no rebuttals so that we can get to a variety of questions. The next one, please.
Jennifer F. Champa (Audience Member): Good evening. My name is Jennifer F. Champa. I just started my 22nd year as an educator. This is going to go to the left. This is about immigration customs enforcement. Last week, Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts of the largest—superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa was detained by ICE. Monday, he was put on leave without pay by his school board. Dr. Duran has stood 10 toes down to protect our immigrant community and our families saying that he would not allow immigration custom enforcement into our school buildings, which I applaud. How would you support him if this happened to him? And how are you supporting our families?
Vicky: We’ll start this one. That’s everybody. I want to hear it all. We’ll start with Ken.
Ken: Yeah. I mean, we have to support Dr. Duran in his decision and his policies. We also have to follow federal and state laws to the best of our abilities. And so that would be something that we would have to do as a board as a culmination of the entire board would have to come together and figure out how we’re going to react to a situation such as that. However, that’s a hypothetical that was mentioned and we would have to really just support our superintendent and we would have to support the local laws that are being enforced.
Vicky: Let’s just go down the line.
Damarys: Thank you. Highline is unique in that it encompasses five cities. Our student body overwhelmingly comes from Spanish speaking families, immigrant families, working class families. And so protecting students, families, and communities is an investment in student success and student future. So I would support keeping our students, our children, our families safe. One of the paramount duties of a school board director is to supervise and support the leadership of the superintendent. And having a superintendent that is backed by his board is paramount to fulfilling any mission or any promise that we have as a school district. It is not worthwhile or beneficial for anyone, especially our students, if the board and the superintendent cannot collaborate and work well together.
Katie: That’s an excellent question because right now with regards to immigration and enforcement, we have a very high number of people who—as Dr. Damarys said—there is a lot of immigrants and refugees in our community and right now there’s a lot of fear. So that is something that we need to make sure that people understand what is real and what is imagined and we have state law and we have federal law and it’s important to support our superintendent. It is also imperative that the superintendent adhere to what his board directs him to do. And right now if that is not the case—if right now it’s the case that the board and the superintendent have a very good relationship, it’s really important that whatever the board says, the superintendent realizes that he is the single employee of the board. So we want to adhere to the law and we want to make sure that students feel safe and that everyone in the schools feel safe.
Sue Ann: I’ll just add that we know it’s nearly impossible for students to learn well when they’re in fear. And so I think it is really important that we have clear dialogue that rests the—helps our students feel rest assured that things are going to be okay. And that yeah I just I feel like we need more communication around this kind of issue as adults and and not just not let fear be the thing that leads and guides in schools. I really want our adults and our leaders to to not lead with fear on some of these issues. It is really scary for kids to see the division in our country right now on so many different levels. And as a board member, I would definitely support our board superintendent and work well along with others to make sure that we’re coming up with the best plans. Thank you.
Vicky: The next question.
Jeb Bins (Audience Member): Hi, my name is Jeb Bins. I am a 23-year educator and a parent of a Normandy Park High School graduate and college graduate premed and a parent of a Highline High School senior who is also college-bound. My question for you all is what is your position on school vouchers?
Vicky: We’ll start this one with Katie.
Katie: School vouchers is an interesting topic because on one hand we have an opportunity for parents to make decisions about where their money goes, where the taxpayer money goes to support them as parents. On the other hand, if we have school vouchers, it takes away money from the schools. The argument that I have heard is that even though it gives—the argument that I’ve heard is that if we have vouchers, even though it works in Mississippi, which I really like the idea that Mississippi has turned around their literacy, because parents have more control, the argument for vouchers is that because there’s this belief that there’s not as much accountability if the vouchers, you know, depending on what the schools are. I like the idea of vouchers regardless.
Damarys: So I believe that public education should be fully funded and resourced well. I believe that when we invest in public education, we invest in future generations in a workforce that is thriving in critical thinking and future leaders and communities who could be involved in civic engagement. Vouchers are a challenge to fully funding public education. So I do not support vouchers. I think that it’s important to invest in your local community in the place that you call home and for all of us here we call Highline home. So really making sure that our schools are strong and that our students, families and communities have all the opportunities afforded to them to thrive in their choices in life.
Ken: So I’m not so arrogant to think that I have the answer to every single question. I agree with Damarys in the fact that we need to fund our public schools. I believe that every child deserves to go to a school that’s in their neighborhood and in their area and get educated to the highest ability. As far as vouchers go, I don’t have enough information to be able to make a claim whether I support them or don’t. I would have to see numbers and I would have to see a lot more information to make a wise decision. And on that topic, it would also come to the rest of the school board and a lot of deliberation. As far as for or against, I would have to see what the pros and the cons are and make a really wise decision on that. And I apologize if I don’t have as much information as you would like, but that’s an honest answer.
Sue Ann: I mostly say ditto because I think there could be some benefits to a voucher system, but I’m just such a believer in public schools and I just really feel like we need fully funded public education. What I would like to see is lots of continued choice within our public school system. I think it’s one of the things that the Highline School District already does really really well is we’ve set up various—so our aviation high school, maritime high school, big picture academy, our dual language schools. We already know that our students need choice that we can’t just cookie cutter everything and expect to have a really unique and powerful, you know, thriving future for these kids if it’s all exactly the same. So I think our focus needs to shift from being concerned as to whether we’ve got voucher or not voucher and let’s just make sure that no matter—even if there was—kids would still pick schools in the Highline School District because they’re so fabulous. I don’t think there’s any reason that we can’t do that.
Vicky: Our next question.
Darla Green (Audience Member): Hi, Darla Green here in Burien. I want to give you guys—go rewind time just a bit. So given that there was a previous proven violation at the district top level of FERPA laws—for those of you that don’t know what that is, that stands for federal educational rights and privacy act that is supposed to protect students—sorry the text is really small here—protect their students’ information and their educational records. What specific steps will you take to ensure that private student and parent communications are not improperly shared again and that the individuals affected by a FERPA violation are lawfully notified and how will you enforce accountability if such a breach was to occur again?
Vicky: Sue, you can take this first.
Sue Ann: Sure. If I were elected, I would be the new girl on the school board. And I just feel like I would not want to be weighing in on something like that right out of the gate. My goal would be to build some bridges and really set a tone for someone that’s going to be collaborative and work with others. And certainly if there was something that came before me that I needed to deliberate on, I would do my homework, figure out what the different issues are and I would be able to come up with some kind of a deliberation as to how to answer that. But that sounds like something that’s held over from another time and being new and fresh on the board, I’d be so anxious to get things off to a really positive start that I’m not sure I have a good answer for that right off the top of my head because that sounds like something that would be not my favorite thing.
Katie: I agree that would not be my favorite thing to do. What I do know is that about a year ago there were some complaints filed that there were some federal violations from an administrator. The district didn’t really say much. They—when they found this person that was guilty of three federal violations, they said that they notified families appropriately, but that was extremely vague. What I would do is I would actually look at more accountability. I would look at more transparency and I would make sure that every person who was on that list or any of those emails that were transferred or shared outside of the district, I would make sure that every person who could possibly be affected would be notified appropriately and that that would be the accountability. That’s what I would do.
Damarys: So I think the incident was before my time so I don’t have that lived experience, that knowledge to speak from. What I would say is that by any means we should be protecting information from our students and our families and that we could strengthen our policies. We could strengthen our approach to do that. We live in a world where our identity, our information is constantly at risk and school districts are not immune to that. What we can do is that we can be prepared. We can stick by our policies and we can continue to invest in infrastructure and systems that protect our information.
Ken: Yeah, for me, I believe that accountability is everything and transparency in that position, especially as a school board member, you would have to be transparent in the way that you’re handling and making sure that anybody who violated any kind of federal law was taken care of in a professional manner. I don’t know because I wasn’t on the board so I don’t know to the extent but I think that making sure that our children and our families and our private information is kept private is of the utmost security and you should be doing that and making sure that we pay attention and that’s one thing that I would make sure I paid attention to as a schoolboard member would be to make sure that everybody feels safe and secure in sending their child to school with their information and that there was a violation within—that would have to be looked at for sure.
Vicky: Our next question.
Patricia Bailey (Audience Member): Hi Patricia Bailey. A big problem I experienced as a teacher was the constant roll out of new program methods and demands that infringed on teaching time. Most of these demands did not advance education to be generous. What is your position on who runs the classroom? Thank you.
Vicky: Does that go to everybody?
Patricia: Yeah. To everybody.
Vicky: Let’s start with Sue Ann.
Sue Ann: I was a Chicago public school teacher for a number of years. And my first class right out of college, they gave me 42 students and fifth and sixth grade split class with 12 kids with severe behavior disorders, no assistant other than just once a week for a few minutes. And so this would have been like 1991 I think. And so I took the whole—I had kids who could barely write their name and children who were ready for algebra. So I took the entire scope and sequence to my principal and said listen if I promise you that I will get every one of these scope and sequence dealt with throughout the year. Can I rewrite this curriculum and figure out how to do it? I was a gung-ho, you know, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, fresh college student. So I spent my entire summer rewriting the whole curriculum, taking everything and making it thematic. So all of the scope and sequence was there, everything the children need to learn in fifth and sixth grade. But we had a phenomenal year and the parents came and asked if they could have their kids loop for the next year because it was so good. So my answer would be, I’d love to.
Vicky: Ken, will you take this?
Ken: Yes. I’m an educator. I educate college age working students for the local 26. So this is people who haven’t really done any school since 8th grade all the way up to people who are proficient in algebra, trigonometry, and trying to blend those classes together is every bit as difficult as you could possibly imagine, especially with people who really don’t want to be there. They’re doing it because it’s part of their job. I think teachers in the classroom having control over the classroom and being able to teach the subject is very important. But I also believe that policies that are in place should take a lot of deliberation to make sure that it’s going to be feasible to educate the people in the classroom, the students and the teachers and to make educating directly to the students a lot easier. And so that way the teachers aren’t spending their time working on educating but actually educating. Okay.
Damarys: So today was the first day of class at the University of Washington. So today I have the lived experience to say that teachers should be able to manage, innovate in their classroom and support the students as they need. But I know as an educator that you don’t do it alone. You are in the classroom but you need the support of your administrators, you need the support of parents, you need support of PTAs, you need the support of community. So while the teacher is empowered to be the lead, we don’t do the job alone as educators. We do the work in community.
Katie: The question that you asked, which is who runs the classroom coming from a teacher—when a teacher is the only one in the classroom, they darn well need to have control of that classroom. And if they don’t have the control in that moment and they don’t have some tools that come from the administration, the support of parents, the support of parent teacher associations, if you don’t have those pieces in place, then how is a teacher supposed to actually connect with each child to teach them and to work with them as the educator in the room. So I support that teachers are capable, children are capable of learning and I think that we need to support and make sure that that parent and that teacher and that administrative relationship is strong because this needs to be a child-centered opportunity and teachers are the key. Thank you.
Vicky: We have time for three more questions and then we’ll have to cut it off because the library is going to be closing. Next question, please.
Sonia (Audience Member): Hi, my name is Sonia. I’m a parent, grade school parent. I for one am tired of hearing, well, your daughter’s below grade level just as other families in my school. And it’s okay because this year she’s only drowning 200 meters out versus 300 meters out. And then next year they say so she’s only drowning 100 meters out versus 200 meters out. I want my daughter on land by the time she leaves fifth grade. I want her on the beach. So anytime I try to get numbers, administration makes it increasingly hard to get real data about how our school is doing. It’s almost like they don’t want to admit what’s going on. I want to know how are you guys going to help with transparency? How are you going to help us parents get transparency?
Vicky: Mrs. Espinoza first, please. And then the others.
Damarys: Yes, thank you. So of course, like we all do, I wear multiple hats—like a parent, a board director and an educator, a community member. I think what we can do as a board with what’s in the purview of my authority and my power as a board director is to communicate our benchmarks, to communicate our progress in ways that are meaningful, translatable to the community and to families. And that’s having open forums like this, having annual reports, hearing directly from families and students, and being honest and accountable to our opportunities for growth and then also celebrating where we’ve made progress. So we can’t do this alone as board directors. We really need the partnership and relationship of educators, students, families, and communities. So I would foster and nurture community forums and community relationships to really be able to tell stories that parents and communities want to hear.
Sue Ann: Sometimes the answers I think are just a lot more simple than we make them out to be. I think we could just be much more transparent even with the students and just say, “Hey guys, we are behind and we all need to catch up.” And so literacy is a huge issue. We’re all going to be on board. I think that the community should be on board. Library should be on board. Churches should be on board. Clubs should be on board. Everyone in the whole Highline area should understand this is a problem. We cannot be three years behind on reading. Everyone needs to get on board. So neighbor ladies, people, everybody needs to say, “Hey, how you doing? How’s reading coming along?” And we all need to be aware. There are only 44 sounds in the English language. 25 consonant sounds and 19 vowel sounds, give or take a few, if people have accents. But we can do this. It is not that challenging and not that hard. There’s literacy based approaches that are time-tested and proven. And we can teach reading. And if we’re all on board and everyone’s learning together, it’ll make it an easier thing across the whole district.
Katie: How do we change this? How do we turn it around? And thank you so much to Sonia for speaking up as the parent in the room who is seeing their child sinking lower and lower and faster just like basically almost all the children—more than half the children are sinking the same way yours are and they need to reach land. We need to have a lifeboat for these kids. What I see is a culture—from people I’m speaking with knocking on doors and I say kind of in a little trouble, huh? And they go—many of them are parents—their children. They don’t find out until the end of third grade that their children can’t read. Even though they were asking all the way through, they told their children. We need a culture of success. Belonging is wonderful. Academics has to come with it because that’s the first thing that the law says. Why else are we sending children to school for 13 years? It needs to be a thriving place.
Ken: Yeah, having a strong stance on academics is holding the superintendent accountable, making sure that he’s focusing on education. There’s plenty of programs out there to assist and catch kids up. And there’s plenty of curriculum out there where we could establish a really solid foundation. Starting a solid foundation from kindergarten all the way up through high school is really paramount in the early grades and making sure that those kids who are falling behind have the resources and the ability to get the help they need. And as I said before, there’s programs out there who are tried and true and has the numbers that can back getting kids caught up two to three grade levels in reading, which improves their math and which improves their science. And so I think we really need to be fiscally responsible and make sure that our funds and our money is going directly to educating, catching up our kids, and making sure that they’re thriving in the academic world.
Vicky: Our next question.
Lauren Schmidt (Audience Member): Hi, I’m Lauren Schmidt and I’m also a parent of a kid in Highline. My question is, OSPI has asked for school leaders to update cell phone policies by the beginning of the 25-26 school year and it was reported by OSPI that 75% of school districts in Washington state now have a district-wide policy in place. Highline School District does not. If elected as board director, would implementing a district-wide cell phone policy be a priority for you—for all?
Vicky: Suanne, would you take this first?
Sue Ann: Sure. Yes, it would be a priority for me. I think we’re seeing some good results out of the schools that have decided to ban cell phone use. I think the tricky part is figuring out exactly what we mean by ban. Like, is it going to be in your bag and not ever come out of your bag the whole time you’re at school? Do you get to take it out at recess? Do you get to take it out at lunchtime? Passing in the hallways. So I think there’s definitely some discussion to be had about the specifics, but I think in all my time working with youth, I’ve traveled with groups as large as 70 to other countries to do work and the very first day we take their phone and they’re just panicked and it just sounds horrible to them. And by the end here, we’re wanting them to report out on all kinds of other incredible experiences they’ve had. And the main thing they say is, “Man, it was so surprising how much I loved not having my phone.” And I think sometimes kids just need help from the adults in their life to say, “You know what? For right now, that’s not good for you.” And we can protect them and help them. And they’re going to have the whole rest of their life to be on their phone.
Katie: Yes. Cell phones. I noticed that there’s this strong policy from OSPI from state superintendent that says they recommend there’s a policy recommendation. And the thing about recommendations is that often times they’re just a recommendation. They’re just in the air. That’s the same thing that happens when there’s a recommendation for putting away your phone. Turn off your phone. Put away your phone. Don’t look at your phone. As soon as you say don’t—little minds, we can’t pay attention. That’s not something that has to happen. I went through a tour of Evergreen and Cascade a couple of weeks ago as part of tour and I saw that there were these pockets on the walls and so there were 30 little spaces for all the 30 little cell phones and we asked the student in the room, gee, is that being used? Oh, nobody pays attention to that. So yes, we need to be able to not only have a cell phone policy, but to enforce it.
Damarys: So Highline School District will be thinking through the recommendation from OSPI on cell phones in 2026. My stance as a candidate is that there needs to be interventions of cell phone use in schools. But I think what’s more interesting to me is to think about why there is cell phone use. What is the underlying reason why students are so reliant on cell phone use? Part of it is for learning, right? So we all use the digital tools, but I think there’s a mental health component to it, a need for social connection, a need to be seen. And so if we can incorporate those needs into our curriculum, into our reading, our math and instruction, and make students feel that they’re able to thrive in classrooms without excessive cell phone use, that would be really important.
Ken: Yeah. I support cell phone use restrictions for school. I don’t believe that the distraction of a cell phone is worth what everyone is saying it is. I think that really cell phones need to be put out of position and out of place, turned off when they’re in the classroom. I think each school should be adopting that if it’s a recommendation from the OSPI of Washington State and we should really take a look into making sure that that happens. I know that Mount Rainier where my son goes to school they have a cell phone policy there and it works out really good and the kids between classes have access to their cell phones but in the classroom they put it into a box and it stays there or in their bag turned off and if it gets seen during class it gets taken away. So I believe that that’s a great policy to have and I think we should enact it all over Highline High School or all over the schools in Highline because I think it really brings the kids back to an academic mindset.
Vicky: Thank you. The next question and that will be the last question.
Audience Member: You said that everybody who had a question would get to answer or ask a question.
Vicky: No, no, I did not say that.
Carlos Benhav (Audience Member): My name is Carlos Benhav. My wife and I bought our house in 1977 here in Burien about four blocks away. Taxes have been going crazy, going up and up and up and up and up. The product of the Highline School District is going down. Will you as an elected board member tie the entire staff salary and wage increases to the product—to the student body increasing not decreasing in proficiency for every grade starting with the administrator, the superintendent?
Vicky: Ken, will you answer this first?
Ken: Yeah. As much as I’d like to say that I would be able to do that, our purview rests with a board decision. I would support bargaining agreements with the teachers unions. That’s how we come across with our salaries and things like that. I would love to see academics skyrocket. That’s exactly what I want to focus on. But I also as a union member for 20 years, I believe that the union bargaining agreement is something that’s very very strong and it holds a lot of power and a lot of safety for the people who are within that bargaining unit and that’s why those things are put into place. I think that strong deliberation between the bargaining agreement, between the board and between the teachers unions and between the rest of the employees that are in there are strong and we should adhere to those things.
Damarys: So as board directors, the only employee that we supervise is the superintendent. So your question would not be one that I would be able to enact about educators. You said tying teacher salaries to outcomes. So the superintendent is the only employee. I think it takes more than a teacher to ensure student outcomes. It takes the entire school, the entire district, the entire ecosystem that we’re a part of. So I think working as Mr. Kemp said with the union is key. But then also working with families and communities to identify what those outcomes are, that word outcomes. What are we looking for? What are the benchmarks?
Katie: Your sentiment, sir, is is absolutely what we are hearing from community members and people who are taxpayers and who are paying 60% of their household taxes. And while it’s true that we would love to tie it into the same way—if we’d be great if we could do that, but there is a bargaining agreement. One of the things that school board directors do vote on is the approving of different contracts. And so that is something that we have some—we have awareness of it, but but truly it’s just yes or no. What I can see that schoolboard directors do as a team is that they
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can create a culture and they can work on other policies within that actually will promote better outcomes and a better return on the taxpayer investment, especially as we are putting $428 million every year and $25,000 per student every year into our community.
Sue Ann: And I echo what others have said. I understand kind of how that works. But I wanted to just add that I think sir, your passion in that question is exactly what we need from our community. We need people to come to schoolboard meetings and to stand up and say, “Hey, I think we could do better and what could I do to help?” We need the community. It’s a big crisis that is in lots of ways it’s nationwide. It’s even been said that it’s global, but specific to the Highline School District. We absolutely could be doing better. We need to do better and our taxpayers deserve to have us do a better job of getting our kids hopeful and excited about their future. And so I think as much as—yeah, as much as it’d be great to tie that to tie teacher pay to the outcomes, you know we can we can work towards that with the union. Thank you. But yeah, thank you.
Vicky: All right, that’ll be the last question. Sir, I think you had misunderstood what I said, but please ask yours quickly.
Martin Barrett (Audience Member): Great. Martin Barrett from Burien. This is to Dr. Espinoza. The new success measure, which now includes students receiving a D, achieves two outcomes. It inflates the appearance of success. It also exposes that 50% of the students are failing literally. You were appointed by the board members Alvarez and Van who have overseen this failure for 25 years combined. How will you be different than them since you have voted with them 100% of the time?
Damarys: Yeah. So I have not voted along with them 100% of the time. That is inaccurate. What I would do if elected to the school board is that I would look strongly at our strategic plan. The strategic plan was created, co-created with students, teachers, families, and communities. That is a roadmap for how we ensure that every student is able to succeed. What we need to foster and strengthen in our strategic plan is to have very clear measures of success and accountability. So as the new voice or the new perspective on the board, I would lean into my experience as someone who is an educator and someone who has led strategic planning for student success across multiple organizations. So really focus on our strategic priorities, being very clear about our measures of success, and as we’ve been saying throughout this forum, communicating with transparency and clear communication to families and students about where we are.
Vicky: The question had been directed solely to you. Does anyone else want to comment or should we just go to our closing statements? I do want to say there was another question behind the gentleman and I think it’s a parent PTA member, correct?
Damarys: Yeah. So I do want to prioritize parent voice as well.
Audience Member: That’s not fair. That’s not fair.
Vicky: Excuse me, people. We announced that there would have to be a limit to the number of questions that could be asked due to the time constraints of being here in the library. I also encouraged anyone who was unable to get their question asked before the whole group to stay afterward. You may have to be down in the lobby or out in the parking lot, but the candidates will be there to answer your questions. So that is it. We’re going now to the closing statements from the candidates and these will be taken in the reverse order from their opening statements. They have one minute for their closing statement and we’ll begin with—
Audience Member: I’m sorry I didn’t hear it.
Vicky: It was the closing statement. Yes. One minute and you are to start.
Damarys: Yes. So I want to start with just thanking everybody for being out here today and being in community with us. It really takes a lot of engagement and care for our students and our public education to be here today and I appreciate your time. I am committed to working hard to making sure that every one of our students at Highline Schools succeeds and thrives and is ready and prepared for the future that they choose. That is what I want for my own children and I’m committed as a person who’s dedicated my entire career to public service and to education to seeing that be true for every one of our students. It doesn’t work with just the school board. We do have power and authority, but our work is only possible in relation in community with students, families, educators. So thank you.
Vicky: Ken, you’re second.
Ken: Yeah. If I’m elected to the board, I’ve already stated that I’m going to really concentrate on academics and making sure that our children are getting educated when they walk through the doors of a school. That I believe should be a high priority for any school board—that the children are getting educated. I also believe that the community should have a stronger voice. A lot of the parents I speak to feel that they don’t have a voice in the schoolboard when they want to go talk. And so I think that we should really open up lines of communication with our community and our parents so that way we can be transparent and make sure that we’re doing what we were elected to do by the people who elected us to be there. And I think that that’s a very important thing. The last thing is I really enjoy reading. Reading is one of my favorite things to do and I read a lot. Thomas Carlyle says that emotion without wisdom is a ship without a rudder and we should be a ship with a rudder. Thank you.
Vicky: Katie next.
Katie: Thank you so much for all the people that were here for this being an opportunity for people to actually speak and actually get real answers from people who are running for these positions. That is something that I see has not been happening at the board level, has not been happening at the school district level. And I believe that that’s part of transparency that I certainly see needs to happen. Transparency, prioritizing academics, making sure that the funds that the taxpayers are trusting us with are spent on the children in the classrooms, on the teachers, supporting the teachers. The teachers need respect. The parents need partnership. They are the primary stakeholders. There needs to be respect across the board. And our children need schools that prepare them for success that they choose.
Literacy is the most equitable thing we can possibly do for every one of the children in these schools. And I’m asking that—I’m asking for your vote and your trust that those kids can’t wait another four years.
Vicky: Suanne, thank you.
Sue Ann: I’m impressed with these other candidates. I hadn’t met Ken Kemp before and I’m just getting to know Katie Cresley and it’s making me realize we have a real opportunity in this community to make a big change if we so choose to how we’ve been operating our school district. I really think Highline schools do some great work. There are some things I’m very proud of and I come to this with a really hopeful and positive outlook about what can be achieved especially when we work together with our five cities. But what I would encourage you to do is just ask yourself if you like what you’ve been getting for the last 10 years and you’d like to just see Highline go along at the pace that it’s been going then you have some choices because all those incumbents are on the ballot again. And if you feel like this is a time in the history of the Highline area that you would like to see a real shift and some things taken in a new direction that offers innovation, creativity, enthusiasm, and a real sense of what can be achieved when we’re together, then I ask for your vote and I’m excited. Yeah.
Vicky: Before we close, are there candidates for other offices in the audience this evening? Okay. I wanted you to have a chance to introduce yourselves if you were. I want to again thank our timers. That’s a tough job as you observe. Many thanks to our videographer and to all the volunteers who helped put on this forum and to you our audience for your informed and informative questions. If you have friends or family or neighbors who were unable to attend this forum, give them the link for viewing it on our League of Women Voters website.
And I do want to encourage you all to vote. I’m sure you intend to since you came to become informed tonight. Election day is November 4th. You can register to vote up to and including that day, assuming you do it online. You can also sign up for voter verification on the kingcountyelections.gov/elections website. So I encourage you to be as informed as you can. Ballots will be mailed out to all voters on October 15th. Voter pamphlets will be mailed the day prior to that. Remember, you must have your ballot dropped in a dropbox or postmarked by November 4th. And if you have anyone in your family or neighborhood who is not a registered voter and eligible to vote, please encourage them. We as the league have done some studies about voter turnout in our immediate district and it’s poor. So please encourage people to vote. Thank you all for coming. Thank you.
[End of transcript]1This is a machine-generated transcript generated on the fly by Google/Youtube/AI. Accuracy totally not guaranteed. Provided only as a convenience and to help people with disabilities. Caveat lector!