Skip to main content
This morning brings lots of little tidbits about upcoming Portland School Board elections.
Bobbie Regan, who's represented the Lincoln High School cluster since 2003, has filed to run for a fourth four-year term. That kind of longevity is common in the David Douglas School District, but it's unusual in Portland Public Schools.
Four seats are up in May, but Regan is the only incumbent to run again. Matt Morton told WW on Monday that he would not seek a second term, confirming what sources told the paper last month. Greg Belisle and Ruth Adkins also have bowed out.
Anti-incumbent sentiment helped push Morton, Belisle and Adkins off the ballot, and it's also brought Regan a serious challenger.
Amy Kohnstamm, a former board member with the Portland Schools Foundation (now All Hands Raised), filed Friday to run against Regan. "Bobbie has been a great public servant," Kohnstamm says. "She has served our area well."
But Kohnstamm says she laments the lack of activism on the part of the board and says it's time for elected board members to bring more accountability to the superintendent's office, including around budgets. "We have had a board that has not been very activist in the past few years," she says.
There's a lot of activity in the race to replace Morton.
Paul Anthony, a North Portland education activist, announced last December that he would run. He recently got a $1,000 contribution from Steve Buel, the board's most vocal critic of the status quo.
Emma Williams, a Metro employee with a background in funeral services, filed last week for Morton's seat. Williams is also a member of the class of 2015 with Emerge Oregon, a training program for female Democratic candidates. (The school board race is non-partisan, however.)
A third candidate plans to file for Morton's seat. José González, founder and executive director of Milagro Theater, says he will file this week.
WWeek 2015