School board positions open in two area districts

The Mountain View School District 244 and Cottonwood Joint School District 242 both have open positions on the school boards in the Nov. 2 elections.

Mountain View has two trustee positions open each for a four year term, one in Zone 3 and one in Zone 5.

Running for Zone 3 are Donald Alm, Bernadette “B” Edwards, Vincent Rundhaug and incumbent Rebecca Warden.

Alm was born and raised in Grangeville, and he works as a delivery driver for Idaho County Propane and serves in the Idaho National Guard. He wants transparency with district funds and more communication between teachers and the school board.

Edwards has lived in Idaho County for the last 20 years. She currently works as a Realtor with Professional Realty Services Idaho and has taught middle school woodshop, English, Spanish, science, math, computer science and reading. She also has a masters in education and school administration. She said the district needs more transparency and communication between the board, district administration and people of the district.

Rundhaug has lived in Idaho County for three years. He is a gemologist and jeweler at Walker’s Jewelry in Grangeville. After talking to people in the district, the main concern raised was financial transparency. He said students should be the priority for the district, and then accountability to the community.

As the incumbent and board chairwoman, Warden has eight years of experience on the board and understands budgets. She is currently the office manager for Stuivenga Vessey Drilling. She said one of the challenges the board faces is rebuilding relationships with the staff and trust with the community, as well as funding for the district.

Another position open on the Mountain View School District is in Zone 5. Incumbent Kaylana “Katie” Matthews, who was appointed earlier in the year, is running against Larry Dunn and Katrena Hauger.

Dunn lives in Idaho County in an unincorporated area west of White Bird. Dunn is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy. He has worked as a vocational nurse and histologic technician. He then worked for more than 20 years as a sworn peace officer and has since retired from the position. He said he wants to help the district provide excellent education to students to help them become responsible individuals.

Hauger was born and raised in Grangeville and returned eight years ago. She is a part-time physical education teacher online for iSucceed Virtual High School. In addition to her masters in education, she also has experience in Idaho Educational Code and knowledge of state and district funding. She said funding and employee retention are the two biggest challenges for the district.

Matthews moved to Grangeville three years ago. She is a stay-at-home mom with two kids attending Grangeville Elementary Middle School and two younger children at home. She has a degree in elementary education with a minor in English as a second language. She volunteers in her children’s’ classrooms helping students with math and reading. She wants to improve the transparency of the budget and the levy by showing people what the funds are paying for. She said it’s been difficult to not have the levy pass for the last two years.

Three candidates have filed to run in the Zone 5 position for a four year term on the Cottonwood Joint School District 242 board. They are incumbent Patricia R. Alfrey along with Casey Forsmann and Justyn Hanson.

Alfrey has been a resident of Ferdinand since 2003, returning to her hometown after moving from the area upon graduating from Prairie High School in 1981. She works for Daren Fales Law Offices, PLLC as an office assistant. As the incumbent, she has 12-plus years of school board operations. She said that a challenge for the district is keeping students in a happy learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forsmann was born and raised in Cottonwood and works as the general manager at Pacific Cabinets, Inc. in Ferdinand. He has worked on K-12 construction projects and has learned about the planning, budgeting and funding process in public schools. One of the challenges facing the district he said is the uncertainty of future demands while also ensuring the fiscal responsibility of the district and keeping unity in the community.

Hanson has lived in the area for 22 years. He is a general sales manager at Rogers Dodge. He has 12-plus years in management, monitoring budgets and enforcing company policies and procedures. He said a concern is the gray areas of certain policies in the district that aren’t enforced.