The only contested school board race within the Centralia School District pits two new opponents against each other, both of whom hope to move the district forward in a positive direction.
Tim Browning and Lori Fast are running for director position five, currently held by school board member Neal Kirby who decided not to file for reelection.
Amy Buzzard, current chair of the school board, is running unopposed to retain her district position one seat.
Browning, a 1960 graduate of Centralia High School and former mayor and city council member, is running to address two issues he sees in the district.
“We have a school system that is not currently able to provide our students with the best skills and education. That is not necessarily a negative about the people who are doing it, it’s the system I'm addressing,” Browning said. “We can’t develop economic development in the community unless we have a quality workforce, so how do we solve our problem with a low income community? We get well qualified students graduating from school and then we can attract businesses that want to have a quality workforce.”
As vice president of the Centralia Community Foundation, Browning said that although the foundation is not directly involved with the school district, the ultimate goal is raise significant private dollars to enhance the educational programs in the district to create exceptional schools.
“Our goal is to make Centralia better and we believe the way to make Centralia better is to make the school district superior,” he said.
The largest challenges facing the Centralia School District, according to Browning, are the demographics of the community. Low income students and English language learners need to be a focus, as do robotics programs at all levels, the continued development of the STEM program, and summer programs that are aimed not only at remediation, but also providing enhancement opportunities to students.
If elected, Browning said he would like to play a role that helps spur economic development through partnerships with the school district.
“I would like to bring the business and professional community and the school district together in a unified effort to develop the whole community with the concept that education is not the sole responsibility of the school district and the teachers,” Browning said. “It is the responsibility of the whole community.”
Born and raised in Centralia, Browning moved to various states as a teacher and is currently an adjunct faculty member with the China Debate Education Network. He moved back to Centralia full time in 1983, opened several businesses, and now is involved on various boards in the community.
Fast, who currently has two children enrolled in the school district, believes her strengths and qualifications would be a good fit for what the district’s current needs are.
Her top three priorities include focusing on student learning and bringing up assessment scores, changing the current culture and perception of the district, and supporting social emotional learning.
The staff pastor at Centralia Community Church of God said challenges include working with the various subgroups of students, including English language learners and special education students.
“I think the district has started to address how we can better serve those students, but that area in particular we don’t tend to focus on quite as much,” Fast said. “The school district has a higher poverty rate than the average in our state that presents some unique challenges. I don’t see those as weaknesses but I see them as opportunities to do things a little bit different than we would were those factors not present.”
Fast has never pursued public office, but is very involved in the school district. She has been on the parent teacher organizations for both Fords Prairie and Oakview, has been a member of the instructional materials review committee and is involved in the Citizens for Centralia Schools Committee and Dollars for Scholars.
Outside of her volunteer efforts at the district, she is a guardian ad litem for Lewis County Juvenile Court.
Fast grew up in the East Vancouver area and moved to Centralia almost eight years ago. Her husband is a graduate of Centralia High School.
“I think it’s important for us to acknowledge our areas of growth, while also remaining positive and working collaboratively with not only the rest of the school board, but the administration, staff and school district,” Fast said. “A big proponent of that is collaboration and creating a culture of positive interaction where we can work within the relationships that we’ve built and make positive steps forward.”
