Voters will see three St. Helens school board positions on the ballot for the May 20 election, each one a contested race.

School board Chair Mathieu Douglass is up against Rochelle Russell for the Position 1 seat, which is currently occupied by outgoing board member Kellie Jo Smith.

Candidates Byron B. Brown, Reni Nowling and Christine Smith-Reed will battle it out for the Position 3 seat, which Douglass currently serves in after being appointed to the seat in January.

Candidates Reed Hjort and Nathan Tompkins are in the running for Position 4, where outgoing board member Trinity Monahan currently sits.

With Election Day right around the corner on May 20, the Spotlight asked the candidates for their thoughts on key issues facing the school district. Their responses have been lightly edited for grammar and spelling and are published in full below.

What do you believe is the most urgent issue facing the St. Helens School District, and what do you think needs to be done to solve it?

Mathieu Douglass, Position 1: Well, there’s a difference between the most urgent one and the most pressing one. The most urgent issue is getting a new permanent superintendent hired. We’re almost complete with that. The most pressing one is figuring out how next year’s budget can work. That can only happen with collaboration with unions, administration, committees and the public. It must be done with everyone’s input; it cannot be done by decree.

Rochelle Russell, Position 1: The most urgent issue in our district is financial mismanagement. During a budget shortfall, the district spent $1.3 million on a property without educational benefits. At the same time, we have seen cuts to classroom staff, unmet special education needs and underfunded student support. These decisions have real consequences for students and families. We need a forensic audit to track where money has gone, cancel nonessential property purchases and refocus spending on services that directly impact students. Financial choices should reflect student needs, not appearances or politics. Our priority must be the classroom, not real estate deals.

Byron B. Brown, Position 3: The most important thing the new board needs to do is to establish trust with the community. This will have to be earned, and it will take time. The new board will have to prove its transparency and accountability in every school board meeting. There is a distinct possibility we will have three board members associated with the previous board on the new board. There is no way they can rebuild trust with the community after what’s happened. Positions 3 and 4 will automatically feature new members. Position 1 is the key to a new school board.

Reni Nowling, Position 3: DEI — We are teaching our kids what to think rather than how to think, which can cripple them in their adult life. Do away with DEI and raise the SAT and other scoring criteria back to where it was before DEI/(Critical Race Theory). Challenge students and allow them to think outside the box. The second is truancy. We need to find ways to keep them interested in school. Reach out to businesses who are willing to be part of a mentoring program. Getting (Portland Community College) to offer classes in this area for our seniors would help the student and the local employer.

Christine Smith-Reed, Position 3: I believe the most urgent issue facing SHSD is student safety. I’d like to see the reintroduction of (a school resource officer) and cameras in all classrooms.

Reed Hjort, Position 4: The most urgent issue facing the St. Helens School District is restoring safety, trust and respect in every school. Our staff must feel protected to teach, and our students must feel secure to learn. We cannot ignore the harm done; we must face it head-on with decisive action. Safety is nonnegotiable. Respect is mandatory. We will strengthen policies, support victims, train our staff and communicate openly. We are committed to creating a school culture rooted in trust, dignity and learning — because our students and staff deserve nothing less.

Nathan Tompkins, Position 4: Where do I begin? Anyone who lives in the area knows about the worms and rot hiding beneath the surface. Just lift any rock here and you’ll get a small part of the picture. That being said, the most urgent issue is the safety of the students.

How many predatory teachers are we going to endure before we finally learn the lesson? They have infested our schools for decades. Even when I was a student, there were teachers everyone was warned about.

Why?

Because adults decided it was more important to protect other adults instead of the children.

What do you think the role of the school board is in keeping students safe in St. Helens schools?

Douglass: Four things: Provide policies that the district can use as both proper guidelines and guardrails against bad faith actions; Ensure there is financing for needed security; Connect to the community through collaboration and testimony to ensure no one falls through the cracks; Always making sure we have proper oversight over the superintendent for both support and scrutiny.

Russell: The board must protect students, especially when the system falls short. Bullying continues without effective intervention, special education staff are getting injured and the community is still waiting for answers about past abuse cases. We were told we would find out who knew what and when, but that transparency never came. The board must ensure mandatory reporting policies are followed, fully fund safe staffing levels and prevent retaliation against staff and students who report concerns. Safety should never be a talking point. It should be the foundation of every decision we make as a board.

Brown: School safety for students and staff is the single most important thing the district is responsible for. By law, students must be in school or home schooled. We can’t reasonably force people, especially children, to be in a place that isn’t safe. One of the board’s most important duties is serving as oversight of district administration. School board members have a responsibility to go beyond what they are being told by school administrators in school board meetings. They should get into the schools, talk to the staff, students, parents — sit in the classrooms, walk the halls, see for themselves what the school climate is. And we should have resource officers in every school — two at the high school.

Nowling: As adults, we want to feel safe — so do our kids. We must take a hard line on bullying, sexual abuse and even biological boys in girls’ dressing rooms, etc. The school board should set an example for the principals, teachers and other entities to follow. The board failed to do this and continued to hide the truth. There cannot be one standard for some and not others. It must be a hard stand with safety in mind, and take swift action to avoid a recurrence if we are to turn things around and gain the public’s confidence again.

Smith-Reed: I think the school board is basically the governing unit to make sure the superintendent manages the district properly. So, we need to start with hiring and maintaining regular evaluations of the superintendent.

Hjort: The school board must lead with action to ensure student safety. We set clear policies, demand strict accountability, require thorough staff training and enforce immediate responses to any concerns. We must actively engage with students, parents and law enforcement to create a culture where safety is nonnegotiable. Without decisive action and a secure environment, learning and growth cannot happen — safety must always come first.

Tompkins: We need to ensure that students have more than one avenue to report problematic staff members and they know where to find them, such as links to anonymous reporting, as well as a list of phone numbers, including (the Department of Human Services) and police.

This is imperative.

We’ve seen too many times where a staff member was reported to administration and nothing was done. As sad as it is, it’s obvious we cannot trust administrators to do the right thing because of internal politics.

How do you plan to address communication and transparency between the St. Helens school board and the community?

Douglass: The transparency comes through how the board must operate by law. Public meeting laws are very clear. We have agendas that are posted, meeting minutes that are available (and) recorded sessions that anyone can watch. There are few things that can be excluded from public view.

This leads to why communication can be so difficult. It must, by and large, be made within the meetings themselves. That is the only place all of us can speak together. I haven’t found a satisfactory solution yet, but our individual emails are always open for direct one-on-one communication.

Russell: The district promised transparency after the abuse investigation, but has failed to deliver. We now face litigation involving up to 16 individuals with no clear explanation. Board emails included the superintendent without proper disclosure, and staff who raised concerns faced retaliation from administration and the teachers union, which some say worked to shield leadership. Instead of acknowledging years of poor financial planning, leadership blames teacher salaries and (the Public Employees Retirement System) for the shortfall, even though a board member warned this was coming. Fear and mistrust have kept people from serving on the budget committee, and leadership continues operating without accountability.

Brown: The new board will have to earn the trust of the community by constantly demonstrating in every public board meeting their commitment to the truth, transparency and accountability. It will need to truly listen and tolerate the opinions of people in the community. It will take time.

Nowling: The incident at SHHS gave a black eye to our community, and we lost some support from our businesses. We need to reach out to them for suggestions about what they can do to help us in our time of need. Developing a good relationship may help us financially and help our students, such as with a mentoring program. Listen more to the parents’ concern and perhaps pick a student who would serve as a liaison or student adviser who could bring concerns to the board and assist with writing about board meetings.

Smith-Reed: I think that people want to know that they’re being heard and seen. I won’t know just how transparent we can be until I’m there. I’m not sure (I) have a great answer for this yet.

Hjort: I believe strong schools are built on strong community partnerships. I will prioritize open communication by holding regular public meetings, creating accessible online forums and providing timely updates. I will invite families, students and staff to share feedback through surveys, listening sessions and direct conversations. Every decision should reflect the voices of our community. True transparency means working together, listening with respect and ensuring everyone feels seen, heard and valued.

Tompkins: I prefer keeping an open door, where people can contact me with their concerns and then we can look into them and see what can be done.

Transparency is very important. Especially these days when public trust in the district is at an all-time low. Everything we do needs to be above board and in public so people can see we’re not doing any shady backroom deals, or protecting embezzlers, predators and other slime infesting our schools.

What ideas do you have to address the St. Helens School District’s budget shortfalls?

Douglass: We’re likely going to be looking at a number of grants to shore up our capacity for growth. Some bills are currently being addressed in Oregon’s (Legislature), and some have financial support as well as built-in oversight. We’ve already had to make harsh cuts to make our books work out this year. And addressing the issue with kids not going to school will end up helping the budget as well, as our State School Fund is directly tied to how many students we are educating.

Russell: Scappoose is making no cuts; our district is laying off teachers and reducing programs. The district compared our situation to Portland Public Schools, which serves a different population and operates on a different scale. We are heavy on administrative staffing, spending $1.3 million on property and failing to provide adequate support for special education staff; some are injured due to understaffing. The district likely faces significant legal costs, and the public does not know how those expenses will be covered. We need a forensic audit and a complete shift in budget priorities to focus on student success.

Brown: Difficult question without a detailed analysis of what we are currently spending money on. I do know there is a lot of waste. Keeping staff should be a top priority. Eliminate programs that haven’t proved effective. Delay or prioritize any necessary building projects. Seek public input.

Nowling: What happened last fall was, indeed, a black eye to our high school and its students. I believe it hurts the support we had from businesses. We need to fire those associated with the incidents immediately, address the issue head on and make changes to make sure it doesn’t happen again and get it behind us. Second, get rid of DEI and include life skills in our students’ curriculum like finance, home economics, etc., so they are more prepared to live on their own once they graduate.

Smith-Reed: I haven’t fully finished reading the budget yet. I know what has been proposed to address it (staff cuts and 12 furlough days) but beyond that, I need more information.

Hjort: We must begin with a full review of district spending to eliminate waste and ensure every dollar directly supports students. I support forming a budget advisory committee of parents, staff and community members to bring transparency and new ideas. We must aggressively pursue grants, partnerships and alternative funding. At the same time, we must advocate for stronger state support to address long-term needs. Every financial decision must prioritize students, classrooms and critical services first.

Tompkins: The budget is a daunting mess. It does not help that the Trump administration is cutting funding for anything and everything that does any good and helps people.

Honestly, there are no easy answers. We can beg for donations from organizations, but many of them are facing shortfalls as well.

There are a few little things that will help, such as people donating basic school supplies like pencils, pens and paper. We would need to take a look at the accounts and programs, and see what can be cut back on without negatively impacting the students.

How do you think the school board can help improve test scores, attendance and graduation rates in St. Helens schools?

Douglass: Most of those are going to be addressed by the recent rollout of PLC’s (Professional Learning Communities) where we’ll be able to gather data on our classrooms and their needs, struggles and triumphs. And those, in turn, translate into data from the administration level that then goes up to the superintendent level, and then that comes to us. And it not only gives us an updated map of where we’re at, but provides accountability and support for those that desperately need it — including accountability for the board itself.

Russell: Student academic success begins with supported teachers. When teachers are overwhelmed by large class sizes, behaviors and limited resources, it is harder for them to meet individual needs. To improve academic outcomes, we must invest in support staff, reduce administrative burdens and provide regular training in trauma-informed care and student engagement. We also need to ensure schools feel safe and welcoming so students want to be there. Attendance and graduation rates improve when students feel connected and confident. The board must work to create conditions where teachers can teach effectively, and students have the support to thrive.

Brown:

• Eliminate distractions and impediments in the classroom by banning cellphones. Teachers simply cannot get the students’ attention.
• Stop mainstreaming students with chronic behavior issues. It is a failed policy that cheats the teachers and the other students.
• Mentoring of new teachers by proven, experienced teachers, especially for classroom management and lesson planning.
• Focusing on academic basics.
• Support and expansion of Career Technical Education programs.
• Reforming professional development for teachers and staff — moving away from (Oregon Department of Education) recommended professional development to an in-school model.
• Raising staff morale. Low morale is a contributing factor in our declining academic performance and school climate.
• Focusing on our core mission — producing educated and mentally healthy graduates.

Nowling: Make school interesting again with things kids are interested in, like a robotics class as an elective. Enlist the parents’ help. Sitting down with (Columbia County Sheriff Brian Pixley) to get his input on what he might suggest could also help. I believe inviting him to meet with the board would provide us with feedback that we could use to reframe our current situation. Supporting youth groups such as Civil Air Patrol, Sea Cadets or Young Marine programs after school that provide structure and keep kids on a positive track to graduation would be a definite plus.

Smith-Reed: The school board can help by making sure that teachers have the training and curriculum (to) properly teach. And to ensure kids feel safe in their schools.

Hjort: The school board can help improve test scores, attendance and graduation rates by supporting early intervention programs like Title I, providing small group instruction and engaging families early. We must also address chronic absenteeism by building strong community partnerships and expanding student support services. By creating a culture of high expectations, early support and consistent connection with families, we can give every student the opportunity to succeed.

Tompkins: I hate society’s fixation on test scores; it’s a metric designated by politicians so they can pretend they’re actually doing something about education. The only thing they show is that a student studied and was able to pass a test, it doesn’t mean they actually know the subject.

There are many students who work hard and learn the subjects, but for some reason or another have a difficult time testing.

It’s possibly a driving force for a lot of attendance issues and drop-outs, especially among the neurodivergent. Our brains are wired differently, and the standard school experience can be overwhelming to us and make it difficult for us to maintain our interest.