Anderson over Hyder, and Towery over Reyes

Four seats are up this year on the McMinnville School Board.

Last week, we weighed in on Positions 4 and 5, both featuring tried and true incumbents willing to continue their contribution. This week, our focus is on Positions 6 and 7, both destined to be filled by someone new to board service in McMinnville.

Our endorsements this week go to Lu Ann Anderson, who features one of the best school board resumes we’ve ever seen, and Doris Towery, whose public service credentials are less education-centric, but equally exceptional.

Anderson has devoted her entire adult life to public education, serving by turn as a teacher, administrator, professor and consultant in the field.

She’s worked for the Newberg, McMinnville and Salem-Keizer public school districts, Willamette Education Service District, Oregon Department of Education, and George Fox and Portland State universities. Now semi-retired, she is continuing to maintain an active educational consulting practice.

If all that weren’t impressive enough, Anderson put in seven years of distinguished service on the Yamhill-Carlton School Board before moving to McMinnville in 2003. In addition, she’s held gubernatorial appointment to the Oregon State Rehabilitation Council for four years, served four years each with Yamhill County’s System of Care and Family Well Being Council, and held a seat on the MV Advancements Board since 2015.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the State University of New York’s Empire State University system and a master’s degree in special education, her career specialty, from Portland State University. She earned her administrative credentials at Lewis & Clark College.

Anderson is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, which has given her valuable perspective from the parental side. She stresses the importance of “building a school district where your children can thrive,” and promises to be “a passionate advocate for McMinnville children and families.”

Anderson’s opponent, dentist Todd Hyder, is the son of two local educators. After completing his K-12 education in McMinnville, he completed undergraduate studies at Villanova University and completed his graduate studies in dentistry at Temple University, both highly regarded.

A fourth-generation Oregonian, he and his wife have three children, a 2002 Mac High grad, a ninth-grader at Mac High and a fifth-grader at Memorial Elementary.

“Public education is in trouble,” he said. We’re losing kids to privates.”

He said he’s dedicated to “helping our children achieve success” and “strengthening the district’s connection with the local business community.” He’s also an advocate for athletics and athletic facilities.

We think Hyder would make a solid contributor, and would have little hesitation supporting him against a candidate of lesser qualification. However, we think Anderson offers an unmatched record of knowledge, experience and achievement in public education, giving voters an opportunity not to be missed.

In the position 7 race, Towery, holder of a degree in speech communication from Indiana University, boasts a virtually lifelong career of public service.

She has served as manager of the Oregon Oncology Clinic, executive director of the Willamette Valley Cancer Foundation, development director with the Yamhill Community Action Partnership, vice president of development with Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, executive director of the Eugene Hearing & Speech Center, CEO of United Way of Lane County and president of the Lane Transit Board. Earlier in her career, she also served as a newspaper publisher.

Towery has spent 23 years in Oregon and six in McMinnville.

She is the mother of a pair of recent Mac High grads, and is currently hosting a foreign exchange student from Italy. So she has a current feel for the parental side of public education.

She bills herself as a “proven, positive, purpose-driven leader” — one committed to “building a path to success for all of our children.” She is particularly passionate about boosting local literacy and graduation rates.

Squaring off against Towery is marriage and family therapist Shellie Reyes, whose specialty is service as a school-based mental health specialist. She said she’s “ready to listen to parental concerns and ideas … and encourage parental participation.”

A former Sweet Home resident who has four bilingual children, she holds a bachelor’s from Western Oregon University and master’s from George Fox. She said she’s never attended a school board meeting in person, but has viewed some online.

Reyes said 90% of her close friends are homeschoolers, but she has three youngest at Memorial Elementary. Her eldest is currently at the McMinnville Christian Academy, she said, but will probably finish up at Mac High.

Among her endorsements is that of her pastor, former McMinnville police chief and state representative Ron Noble. But we think Towery’s wealth of administrative, health and nonprofit service would make her the best fit and strongest asset on the board.