Skip to main content
A third candidate has jumped into the Zone 3 race for the Portland Public Schools board, and she comes from an unusual place: inside PPS's headquarters.
Gretchen Hollands, a project manager in the district's facilities department, has worked for PPS for seven years. Her husband, Walt, is a biology teacher at Grant High School. He's been there for 21 years.
Hollands is aware of her conflictsâor potential conflicts. PPS rules prohibit district employees from serving on the board, so Hollands would have to quit her job if she won.
She's entering a tough race, which could see the highest spending among school-board races. She faces Bobbie Regan, who's running for her fourth term, and challenger Amy Carlsen Kohnstamm, a well-connected parent activist who served on the board of All Hands Raised (formerly the Portland Schools Foundation).
Hollands' job with the facilities department involves space planning and dealing with overcrowded schools. It's work that's taken her to every school building, she says.
Perhaps surprisingly for a teacher's wife, she says she wants to make changes to the teachers' contract to make it more "flexible" for schools.
"I am running because the school board is slow to respond to issues that matter at schools," she says. "My experience inside PPS will help move the discussion and decisions in a more practical direction. It does worry me a little that my opponents are raising and planning to spend so much money. I believe voters will choose ideas over influence."
Hollands' two sons both went to Lincoln High School.
PPS board members are elected by all voters in the district, but board members must represent various areas. The Zone 3 seat represents Northwest Portland.
WWeek 2015