PORT TOWNSEND — A retired educator and speechwriter was selected to fill an open position on the Port Town-send School Board on Monday, taking over the term of a member who is resigning for personal and health reasons.
Keith M. White was selected over Jeannie Ramsey after both applied to fill the unexpired term of the board’s longest serving member, Ann Burkart, who has been on the board since 2008.
“He brings a lot of great skills to the table that will benefit our students,” said Burkart, who made the motion to select White after a 20-minute executive session that followed interviews with both candidates.
“We have a lot of retired people in Kala Point [where both Burkart and White live] and he will represent the retirement community as well as anyone could.”
Board Chair Holley Carlson added White “will raise the bar for what we are trying to do for our students.”
Aside from Carlson and Burkart, board members Pam Daly and Nathanael O’Hara voted to select White.
Board member Jennifer James-Wilson was not present.
Burkart’s last meeting is Oct. 27, and White will be sworn in Nov. 10.
White was interviewed by speaker phone as he waited for a flight at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport while Ramsey appeared in person.
“Public education has been my life and I worked heavily at it for decades and then retired,” White said during the interview.
“I found the energy and the excitement and the involvement with the people who are trying to maintain quality public education wasn’t there anymore and I missed it sorely.
“I missed it so much that I wanted to get involved in it again in a way where I could do some good.”
Both candidates were asked the same 10 questions, which included why they wanted to be a school board member, how boards should make decisions and what could be done to improve the district.
The questions also included a hypothetical: how the candidates would act if approached by a school employee or parent about an individual problem.
Both answered they would maintain district confidentiality and refer the person to the proper channels.
“I would like to see our district improve our Common Core goals that would help our students get jobs,” Ramsey said.
“I would hope that when you have a board meeting, this board room would be filled, my thought is that it’s not.
“As important as these decisions are, the community is not there to take part, and I would like to come up with some way to get people to come to the meetings.”
“If you can figure that out we’d like to hear about it,” Carlson said.
White said he hoped to bring an active dialogue to the board.
“I find myself being uncomfortable when I’m in a situation where everyone agrees about everything,” he said.
“Different points of view need to be expressed because that’s how we find alternatives to standard thinking.”
This is the second vacancy to be filled by the board this year.
In February, O’Hara was selected to replace Bill LeMaster.
If White wants to continue serving on the board after the expiration of Burkart’s term, he will need to run for election in November 2015.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
