COUPEVILLE: Merwine, Leavitt tout similar goals for schools (WNT)

Luisa Loi reports on the Coupeville elections for the Whidbey News-Times.

Transparency, mental health and safety are areas of need identified by two candidates who are making their debut on the ballot for the Coupeville School Board race — Leann Leavitt and Charles Merwine.

These candidates are competing for Christine Sears’ Position 1 seat, to which she was first appointed in 2014.

They Said It

Leavitt said her three children — all of whom have attended school in Coupeville — motivate her to serve the school that she and her husband also attended.

She believes her commitment to getting things done, along with being a young parent, are qualities that make her the right fit for the role.

“I think being involved with the schools as much as I have and connecting on a younger level with parents and staff members has kind of helped me see things in a different perspective,” she said.

Leavitt has also been volunteering for the school, serving on the board of the Coupeville Booster Club — a non-profit that supports athletic programs in the school and the Coupeville community — for seven years, and was the president of the PTA before the pandemic.

Leavitt emphasized her eagerness to ask questions and listen to make informed decisions rather than “going with the flow.”

“My goal is to shake it up,” she said.

Charles Merwine’s grandchildren are also students in the district. He first began teaching at Coupeville High School in 2000, retiring five years ago. After his retirement, he continued to serve the school by briefly working part-time as a tech support person until 2018 — a job he said also consisted of helping with decisions regarding how to spend tech levy funds and other resources. He joined the board of the Coupeville Schools Foundation in 2007, serving as president for nine years, and is currently its treasurer, working on grants, scholarships and providing help to students in need.

“With all this background I have a good understanding of the different lenses that teachers, administrators, staff, students, and community members use to see issues,” he wrote in an email. “This empathy allows me to appreciate all viewpoints when making decisions and to help others see things from different angles.”

Leavitt’s top priority is improving communication.

“It’s not a secret that the district has gotten a lot of negative feedback when it comes to certain things,” she said.

Had there been more transparency and stakeholder involvement in the budget process, she believes, the community would have been able to better understand why certain decisions were made.

Merwine shared a similar opinion on communication, saying that as a board member he would strive to keep stakeholders updated on the positive things the district is up to, and communicate what cuts are being made in the budget and why.

“This is actually a major role of a board member – to be a promoter of the district to the community,” he wrote. “Unless the state changes its school funding model, more budget cuts are in the future.”

Merwine acknowledged that school districts don’t control how much money they receive from the state, meaning that if the state doesn’t make changes to the way it funds districts, budget cuts will continue to happen every year.

Leavitt said the budget could have addressed more pressing needs, like teacher pay.

She wants to keep an open dialogue with the district’s educators to learn about their needs and ways she can help them. As the parent of a student with ADHD who has struggled in school, she believes teachers should be educated on how to support children with learning disabilities, while the district should ensure there are enough resources to meet the needs of its student population and safety measures in place.

Merwine said he was pleased to see the district hired a full time director of special education, a position he would make sure will remain.

“Special education requires a lot of administration and coordination and it is important to have someone who can focus their energy on that so that teachers and staff can focus on students,” he wrote.

Merwine expressed concern for the mental health of students and staff. He believes the district can educate students on how to minimize the impact of social media on their mental health.

Though Merwine acknowledged the efforts put into the elementary school building, he believes it is not modern enough and needs to be either remodeled or replaced.

“This is a hard task, but one we need to face,” he wrote.

Lastly, Merwine believes the school should increase school shooting prevention by adopting programs that would help students, community members and law enforcement be alerted about potential threats and remain updated.

“As much as I would like to believe that events like we have seen across the country just couldn’t happen here in Coupeville, I don’t think we can hold to that hope anymore,” he wrote. “I do believe they are less likely, but they certainly could happen here.”

On the Ballot in November 2023