Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen Faces School Board Challenge

It’s a sign of the contentious fight around reopening school classrooms.

School bus School buses in Southeast Portland. (Mick Hangland-Skill) (Mick Hangland-Skill)

In a sign of the contentious fight around reopening school classrooms, Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen faces a challenger for his seat on the Sherwood School Board, which he has held since 2013.

Duncan Nyang’oro, an auditor with the workers’ compensation insurer SAIF Corp., is running on a platform to reopen schools.

“I’ve had enough,” Nyang’oro writes in the Voters’ Pamphlet. “When they refused to listen to science, they chose politics over our kids.”

Nyang’oro has outraised Allen this election cycle: $9,921.36 to Allen’s $5,473, with his two largest contributions, both in kind, from Protect Kids PAC ($1,174.50), which is controlled by John Swanson, chief of staff to state Sen. Chuck Thomsen (R-Hood River), and Oregon Right to Life PAC ($750.76).

While the seat is nonpartisan, Allen is a Democrat and Nyang’oro a Republican.

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