This is About Competence and Integrity, Not Politics

School boards should be non-partisan, including the one in Newberg.

Prominent voices in our community have made divisions regarding public education into a left versus right, progressive versus conservative fight. Those opposed to the school board’s actions are regularly called sore losers who don’t have children’s best interests in mind; those critical of the Newberg School Board have been accused of being leftist shills, wanting to indoctrinate children.

This is a misrepresentation of concerns from those who oppose the current school board and its policies. 

In 2021, a Save Our Schools slate altered the school board’s make-up. School board elections were historically non-partisan and, in fact, the board pre-2021 had several conservative-leaning members among its numbers, people who voted in the interest of students and educators, and acted with integrity and transparency in their decision making. 

Our concern is not about the lack of progressives on the board.

It’s the lack of transparency. 

It’s the lack of accountability. 

It’s the lack of a willingness to listen to educators’ needs, and to parents who aren’t sufficiently loyal to the school board and its decision-making.

In this space, we plan to highlight the difference between a functioning school board and one that has ceased to function effectively. We want to note these differences not to score political points, but to show that our concerns are about Newberg’s children and their educational future.  

This week on What Should Happen with a Functioning Board: Board Committees

Here are the committees that should be meeting regularly when a school board is functioning normally:

• Personnel Committee: should be working on the superintendent evaluation.
• Facilities Committee: should be working on a long range plan to figure out the next bond/levy needs, deferred repairs, etc.
• Policy Committee: should be regularly reviewing law changes which require updates to policies. This board stopped a complete review/rewrite of Board policies in June of 2021 before it was complete. The most important (and largest) section of policies regarding students has not been reviewed for compliance with the law or had any updates for any law changes since 2021.

If you scour the Newberg School Board website, or look for any information about board committees, you will find information about these committees meeting:

[Nothing]

Like we said, our concern is about competence, not politics.