Progressive slate poised to win seats on Oregon City School Board

Four of the seven seats on the Oregon City School Board were up for grabs Tuesday night and each seat drew several candidates interested in the job.

Partial election results as of 8 p.m. show the lone incumbent in the race, Pamela White, is poised to hold onto on Position 7 with 56% of the vote. Early results show Alex Halpern in the lead for Position 2 with 57% of the vote. Katie Wilson is in the lead for Position 5 with 64% of the vote. And Heidi Blackwell was slightly leading challenger Steve Riehl for Position 6 with 52% of the vote to Riehl’s 47%.

Halpern, Wilson, Blackwell and White ran on a collaborative slate called #Strong4OCSchools, advocating “progressive values and a firm belief that public education is essential.” The slate prevailed in early results with all four candidates edging out challengers.

White argued that schools should offer safe and inclusive environments, and said she would advocate for state of the art facilities where students can thrive and work to provide competitive employee compensation and benefit packages. She was endorsed by the Oregon Education Association and the district teachers’ union, as well as the Democratic Party of Clackamas County.

White faced a challenge from political newcomer and retiree Andy Holthouse who campaigned against comprehensive sex education, gay-straight alliance clubs, critical race theory and what he called “transgender ideology that promotes questioning gender assigned at birth by our creator.” Holthouse also said in a Voters’ Pamphlet that “political flags, banners and signs have no place on public school property.”

Halpern serves on the school board budget committee and is a parent-teacher association volunteer. His kids will spend the next 15 years in Oregon City schools, Halpern said in the Voters’ Pamphlet, and he believes it’s critical to recruit and retain the best possible staff to the district. He drew the support of the district’s teachers association as well as sitting school board members and the Oregon Education Association. His opponent, Jacqueline Arn, a former educator, said she wants to continue to be an advocate for parents and students. If elected, Arn said she would advocate for keeping politics out of schools, improving nutrition for students in need and supporting a parental “opt-in” options for certain curricula. She was endorsed by Oregon Right to Life.

The race for Position 5 saw communications professional Katie Wilson face off against Steve Masone. Wilson, who is endorsed by the state and local teachers’ unions, has a kindergartener in the school district and said that all students “deserve to attend schools that welcome and support them.” Wilson’s top priorities include dual language learning support and smaller class sizes for students. In the Voters’ Pamphlet, Masone described himself as a “tireless advocate” for the disabled and those who suffer from mental illnesses. He is the parent of an autistic child, the Voters’ Pamphlet said, and he has worked with national mental health organizations and trained in counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder. As of 8 p.m., Tuesday, Wilson was a clear favorite in the race with 64% of the vote to Masone’s 36%.

Early results were in Blackwell’s favor for the Position 6 seat, which was the closest of the contested districts. Riehl, a business owner, said politics and classroom disruptions are getting in the way of student’s education. As a school board member, he said that he would focus on district transparency, keeping politics out of the classroom and emphasizing the voices of parents and children. Blackwell has decades of experience as a public school teacher and administrator and said she will take a “collaborative approach” to solving the district’s problems. Blackwell said she would prioritize extracurricular activities, community involvement and making schools feel safe and welcoming for students of all backgrounds, according to the Voters’ Pamphlet. Blackwell was endorsed by both the state and local teachers’ unions.