An Onalaska School Board member who has served for 12 years is looking to defend her seat against a new challenger during the Nov. 7 general election.
Mary Glenn is seeking to retain her seat for a fourth term as she runs against Dominique Damian.
Glenn, who works at Tacoma Power as a management analyst, said she hopes to continue to move the school district in a positive direction.
In the past, the district was dubbed a required action district and has since turned that around after an influx of government money, according to Glenn.
“The staff is very responsive to changes and the new directives and have done a great job with process improvement,” she said. “However, we do have so many children that need so much help. They’re not ready to learn sometimes and might have behavioral issues, home issues and so on. The biggest thing is coping with that and trying to get them all to move forward at a good rate to be educated.”
Another issue is state funding, she said.
If elected to her seat again, Glenn wants to ensure staff continues to receive good training as there is turnover in the district. She also hopes to increase communications with those in the district.
Glenn moved to Onalaska in 1992.
Damian, who has lived in Onalaska for about 11 years, has seen the district go through many changes — some of which she’d like to reverse.
If she is elected to the seat, she wants to see higher standards for the students attending the district.
“I just think as a parent, I greatly care about the education out there,” Damian said. “I think as parents and teachers, we’ve got to work together to ensure we have high expectations for all learning and I think that we’ve been out here for the past few years and it’s been focused on standardized tests. That’s probably the biggest challenge.”
Damian said she has a lot of specific goals, but overall wants to improve parent-teacher-student relationships to encourage kids to not only graduate, but to have plans for after they complete high school.
She has never pursued public office. Damian is on the parents, teachers and friends association. She is employed as a safety director through Washington Farm Bureau.
Heidi Howard is the only other candidate that will appear on the ballot for the Onalaska School Board. She is running unopposed for director district 3.
