SOUTH WHIDBEY RECORD: School board candidates clash over approaches to issues
South Whidbey School Director Marnie Jackson is being challenged for her seat by Farrah Manning Davis, a local business entrepreneur. The two have different approaches to the challenges that face the school district.
For Jackson, she states that her priority is to promote educational equity and that she has worked to promote a culture of inclusion by doing things like updating policy language to be inclusive of students in a nontraditional living situation. Jackson said she she remembers from her days as a South Whidbey student “a textbook canon dominated by white, male authors and a curriculum that centered Western and European perspectives at the expense of other cultures.”
Manning Davis wants to engage with the community and listen to their voices. She said that “parents…don’t feel heard by, or support the decisions of, school administrators.” She referred to the poor academic achievement numbers reported by the Washington State Report Card as indicators that things need to improve and that parents “do not feel the public school is providing the educational opportunities they want for their children.” She also said she does not feel that students should be required to wear masks while in class.
Jackson stated that she thought the School District “is doing a great job of following the science” and that “if more recommendations come forward from governmental bodies and health departments” the district’s practices would keep up. For more details on the candidates positions, see the story by Karina Andrew.
On the Ballot on November 2 – South Whidbey School Board:
- Position 2 – Incumbent Andrea Downs vs Dawn Tarantino
- Position 4 – Incumbent Marnie Jackson vs Farrah Manning Davis
- Position 5 – Incumbent Ann Johnson vs Bree Kramer-Nelson
