School board seats open in all Grant Co. districts
Moses Lake School Board members, from left, Susan Freeman, Shannon Hintz and Kevin Fuhr discuss business at a 2022 board meeting. The seats held by Freeman and Hintz are among those on the ballot in the November 2023 general election.
File photo
EPHRATA — School board positions in all local districts will be open in the November general election. Filing week for all positions opens May 15 and continues through May 19.
All school board positions are nonpartisan. If a position attracts more than two candidates, it will be on the ballot for the Aug. 1 primary election.
Some school districts have maps outlining the borders of director districts available online; others do not. Descriptions are available by contacting the district office in the specific school district, or at the Grant County Auditor’s Office.
All seats on the Moses Lake School Board represent specific director districts, and candidates must live within that district to contest the position. Three seats are open in 2023; the incumbents are Shannon Hintz, Susan Freeman and Alana DeGooyer. Hintz represents Director District 1, Freeman Director District 3 and DeGooyer Director District 5. Descriptions of director districts are available on the Moses Lake School District website.
The Quincy School District also has five director districts; director district descriptions are available on the QSD website. Three seats are up for election in 2023. Chris Baumgartner, Jack Foglesong and Heather Folks-Lambert are the incumbents. Baumgartner represents District 2, Folks-Lambert District 3 and Foglesong District 4.
Two seats will be open on the Ephrata School Board. The ESD is another school with five specific director districts. Josh Sainsbury and Bill Correll are the incumbents. Sainsbury represents District 1; Correll represents District 2. Descriptions are available on the ESD website.
The Royal School Board will be looking for candidates for four of its five positions. Like Moses Lake, Quincy and Ephrata, each position represents a specific district. The incumbents are Nasario Soliz Jr. (District 1), Dan Miller (District 2), Craig Janett (District 3) and Ian Bergeson (District 4). A director district map is available on the district’s website.
The Warden School Board has three open seats. Warden’s board is constructed a little differently, with three director districts and two at-large seats. Candidates for at-large seats can live anywhere in the district. Incumbents in Warden representing director districts are Dave Whitney (District 2) and Rick Martin (District 3); the third open seat is at-large. Kasandra Campos is the incumbent.
The Wahluke School Board also has one at-large seat open for election. Craig Sabin is the incumbent. Two seats are open representing specific director districts; the incumbents are Maybeline Pantaleon, District 1, and Seth Weeks, District 3.
The Soap Lake School Board has three open seats in 2023, one at-large. Nicole Frazier is the incumbent for that position. Signe Knudsen, District 1, and Curt Dotson, District 3, are the incumbents in the remaining two positions. A map of director districts is on the SLSD website.
Two seats are open on the Grand Coulee School Board; both represent director districts. The incumbents are George LaPlace (District 3) and Alex Tufts (District 4).
The Wilson Creek School Board has three open seats, one at-large. Daryl Kimble is the incumbent for the at-large seat. Incumbents for the remaining two seats are Brent Finkbeiner, District 1, and Susan James, District 2.
Three seats are open on the Coulee-Hartline School Board; all represent director districts. The incumbents are Brian Isaak, District 2; Conor Jorgenson, District 3 and Joshua Wood, District 4.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.