As they say, all politics is local, and in Lane County, local politics gets heated when it’s school board elections.
The issues are huge in K-12 education racism and diversity, COVID, standardized testing and more. We are impressed by all the people willing to take on this tough and important duty. Good board members are simultaneously independent thinkers, willing to question how the board is voting and why, and yet also able to function effectively with other board members they may not always agree with to get things done.
It’s great when voters and candidates get fired up about the school board especially if it means positive changes for the kids. So knowing that Eugene and surrounding communities take their school boards seriously, our small editorial board Zoomed with as many candidates as we could, and sent surveys out to the ones who we either couldn’t squeeze in or who didn’t respond. Some candidates didn’t respond in time or at all.
Holli Johnson
Two candidates are challenging the newly appointed incumbent for the Lane Community College Board Zone 1 seat that represents West Eugene, Veneta and Florence. Holli Johnson was appointed March 3 to the board and is running to keep her seat. She is the first African American person on the board in the school’s half century of existence.
Johnson’s interest in community colleges began two decades ago, when she walked onto the campus at Santa Barbara City College and asked for help. “On that day,” she says, “I knew that I was going to work in financial aid and scholarships. So I went out in the community and helped every person I knew in my social circle apply for financial aid and taught them the ropes.”
Lane Community College s Board of Education has four seats up for reelection this May, with a total of five candidates vying for two contested seats.
Zone 1, which primarily represents western Lane County including west Eugene and Florence, and Zone 5, which makes up downtown and south Eugene, are both contested. Whoever is elected to Zone 1 will win a four-year term on the board. The winner of Zone 5 will serve for a two-year unexpired term.
The seats for Zone 3 and Zone 4 are uncontested with incumbent Mike Eyster for Zone 3 and newcomer Austin Folnagy for Zone 4.Each seat has a four-year term.
All of the candidates for the contested board seats are newcomers and shared their reasons for running, backgrounds and goals for the college in interviews with The Register-Guard.