North Beach School Board District 1
After breezing through a primary election in which he received nearly 60% of the vote, Jeff Albertson looks to defend the lead from challenger Rickie Day.
Albertson was appointed to the school board last September and a few months later nominated to serve as its president, his current role. He took on administrative duties at that time in the absence of a permanent superintendent, working with two interim superintendents.
Albertson lives near Roosevelt Beach and works as a project manager for Google, Inc, and serves as a board leader for several nonprofits.
In an email earlier this summer, Albertson listed his top three priorities as boosting academic achievement including the district’s ailing test scores, reversing a falling trend in enrollment, and fiscal responsibility.
“In recent years, the school district has eaten into its fiscal reserve annually, over-hired in some administrative areas, and raised compensation for some positions above the norm for districts of our size,” Albertson wrote.
Albertson has stood by his vote last January against allowing the city of Ocean Shores to use $8 million in state school seismic safety money to construct a tsunami tower adjacent to Ocean Shores Elementary, and has instead pushed to build a similar structure directly on school property.
Day has said his lack of recent involvement or history with the North Beach district will allow him to make the best decisions. He spent a 32-year career in the Navy, 17 of those as a supervisor, in which he “interacted with trade management to successfully maintain United States Naval vessels, using prints, technical drawings, Naval sea systems command requirements, thousands of signed, certified documents,” he wrote in an email earlier this year.
At a forum earlier this month, Day said his three core values are “integrity, respect and consensus.” He has emphasized the importance of the connection between home life and school life, writing in an email, “When I was in school, teachers held us accountable as did my parents. When in trouble or having difficulty, my parents knew when I got home.”
“The school belongs to the school board, the school board belongs to the people, and I represent your voice,” Day said. “Don’t look at me as a politician. I would like to take your voice into the school district. I would like to repair the damage that’s been done.”
“There’s been a wall built up between you, the taxpayer, and us, the people who are responsible for teaching our children how to become responsible in our society.”
North beach School Board District 4
The District 4 seat will see a fresh face in 2024 as incumbent Jessica Iliff fell short in the August primary, garnering 11% of the vote.
Challenger Joe Lomedico led the pack with 49% of the vote, and a few hundred votes behind was Halvar Olstead, with 40% of the vote. Those two are facing off on the November ballot.
Lomedico is the candidate with the most experience with the North Beach School District. He worked for several years starting about five years ago as an assistant football coach and paraeducator until he was fired by the former superintendent in 2022, which the school board later found to be an unlawful termination in a settlement with Lomedico.
He said he would work toward a “full rebuild” in the district.
“I’ve seen firsthand and experienced the issues the last five, six years have brought upon our district,” Lomedico said. “It’s no shortage of tragic. … We need people who are going to allow our district to right the ship and get us on the right track.”
Lomedico has four children enrolled in the district, owns a gym and jiu jitsu school in Ocean Shores, and is close to launching a nonprofit aimed at helping local kids afford sports expenses.
If elected, Lomedico said he would put a major emphasis on restoring North Beach athletic programs and “bringing accountability back to the district and start rebuilding the trust of the community,” he wrote in an email earlier this year.
“I love North Beach, I’ve been here my whole life,” he said at a forum this month. “But these kids need help right now. They need help badly. We’re not helping them like we need to.”
While new to the North Beach district, Olstead brings decades of teaching experience to the school board, including 30 years as an elementary school teacher in Whatcom County and another 10 as a substitute in Eastern Montana.
He currently works as a safety manager at Seabrook. Olstead, 74, said he would choose to serve only one four-year term if elected, but chose to run because of the poor public perception of the district he witnessed when he moved to Ocean Shores in 2018.
“I have no agenda, I’m not running against anybody, I’m running for the position,” Olstead said at a forum this month. “I’ve been to many school board meetings.”
To improve academic performance Olstead said he would work to get teachers the resources they need, and identify home life factors that could be contributing to poor scores.
“I understand schools,” he wrote in an email earlier this year. “I have also been in the private sector and small town government. I have been treasurer of many churches and community organizations and understand budgets with limited resources. I can relate to many populations.”
North Beach school board district 5
While not yet official, Robert Doering will likely retain his seat as North Beach School Board director for District 5 as his opponent, Susan Rogers, recently took a job as a teacher with North Beach after she filed her candidacy in May. Due to conflict of interest, school district policy does not allow board members to serve as teachers in the district. Rogers’ name and information will appear on the general election ballot, but she said she resign if elected.
In that case, the board would then appoint a new member to the seat.
Doering was appointed to the District 5 seat in early 2022. He holds a masters degree in sociology, and is a member of multiple sociology and psychology associations.
In an email to The Daily World, he wrote, “I think it is essential that the school system builds the core so the children can function and prosper when they become adults. Reading, writing, and arithmetic must be a priority. My secondary focus is the fiscal responsibility of the local educational institution, focusing on how the taxpayer money is spent in a frugal methodology, just as it all comes from my wallet. I will continue to monitor our children’s progress and help as a board team member in our public school institution.”
Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.
