The special election in Jackson County was held Tuesday, May 16.

A Medford School Board member vying for his second four-year term and two working mothers with children in the Medford School District are running for Position 5 on the Medford School Board.

Incumbent Tod Hunt, who has been on the board since 2018; Michelle Atkinson, a nonprofit adviser; and Taryne Saunders, a caregiver, are on the May 16 election ballot. The winner’s term begins July 1.

Tod Hunt

Hunt, who filled a school board vacancy in July 2018, sees himself as a public servant, not a politician.

While the pandemic impacted education, Hunt said it did not slow some initiatives, such as implementing a new reading curriculum. A new math curriculum is also in the works, he said.

Hunt is also jubilant about Central Medford High School’s future move from Royal Avenue to Center Drive, where a new high school centered on project-based learning will open in the fall.

One of Hunt’s priorities is getting students more proficient in reading. He said student performance in this subject faced a deficit before the pandemic, but it was only “exacerbated by the pandemic.”

“So we initiated a whole new reading curriculum,” Hunt said. “In fact, we were leading the state in this initiative to recognize that we had a responsibility and a duty not just to look at it, but do something about it.”

Hunt also would like the district and the school board to look for initiatives that will improve the purpose of school.

“Kids are struggling because of the pandemic, being separated from their friends, so there’s a lot of social-emotional frustrations that have spilled over into the academic world,” Hunt said. “So I think we just need to re-focus; give kids a reason to come to school that excites their academic spirit — ‘Hey, this is your ticket to your future.’”

He would also like to make sure the district maintains “local control.” The term became a hot-button issue during the pandemic, when many Oregon school districts, including Medford, tried to convince then-Gov. Kate Brown to let school officials decide the proper protocols for instruction in schools during COVID-19.

In 2023, Hunt believes “the greatest threat” to local control is Senate Bill 1045. If passed, it would order the Oregon Department of Education to undergo a review to incorporate suggestions in the Oregon secretary of state’s “K-12 Education-Systemic Risk Report.”

“It’s making the case for a need for improved literature, and yet I think the risk is that the measure could provide the authority to the state to go beyond an initiative to the state becoming the de-facto school board for every local jurisdiction,” Hunt said. “It defeats the purpose of having a school board.”

Hunt, principal broker and owner of Hunt for Homes, has three children who attended the Medford School District, but graduated from St. Mary’s School, a private institution.

Michelle Atkinson

Atkinson said she is running for school board for her children, whom she poses with next to campaign lawn signs in pictures on social media.

Atkinson volunteers several times a week at Hoover Elementary School, where her two children attend. She believes being an active participant in school, including as president of the Parent Teacher Organization, gives her a first-hand look at what teachers need.

“There’s only so much you can do as a PTO; I would love to help them more,” Atkinson said. “I see that through the government, you can really make a difference.”

Aside from her role on the Medford School District Budget Committee, Atkinson points to her work on “Libraries for All,” which spearheaded the campaign to create a library district, as a prime example of when she made a difference.

“I didn’t want to raise my kids without the library,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson believes being seated on the school board is “not just about what I want; it’s about what the community needs.”

Her first priority would be trying to get more teacher aid or volunteer members into the classroom.

“(We need to have) an aide in every classroom,” Atkinson said. “That can also be volunteers, so I’m often encouraging people to get that background and then help in the classroom. You can even come and help sweep the place up; they just need more help.”

Atkinson’s second priority would be more collaboration between the district and parents.

“You have to meet the parents where they are in order to communicate with them so they know what’s going on,” she said. “I think a lot of parents and families, they want to help out, but they’re in the dark sometimes. You could say, ‘Oh, well, I emailed them,’ but they didn’t get that email.”

A third priority of Atkinson’s would be to provide more support for students.

“It’s always a top priority,” she said. “More support services in the classroom — behavior, mental health, special education. When I’m talking to parents lately, those are things that are being asked for a lot.”

Taryne Saunders

Saunders counts the fact that she is a mother of five — with four of them attending Medford schools — as the prime reason she is running for school board.

“I very much care about their education and their future,” Saunders said. “I also care about all of the other children in our district.”

Born and raised in Medford, Saunders attended Kennedy Elementary, Hedrick Middle School and North Medford High School.

Saunders believes that when children were sent home to learn during the pandemic, parents became more aware of “what our children were actually being taught.”

“Some don’t disagree, others do, and I believe there needs to be more transparency with the curriculum and parents,” Saunders said. 

Saunders says current school board members lack insight into what’s going on in the schools because they don’t have children in district schools. 

“My kids come home from school every day and tell me what’s going on,” Saunders said.

One of the stories she hears from her kids is what happens when the full-time teacher is out for the day and a substitute is not on hand to help.

“The vice principal goes to the classroom, splits the classroom into groups of three, and spreads them out into classrooms throughout the school,” Saunders said. “My sixth-grade daughter has taught a kindergarten class, she’s cleaned the shelves in a first-grade class. This is not learning.”

Saunders’ first priority would be to provide greater district transparency in providing the curriculum, which she characterized as “out of control.”

“I don’t believe the school district is doing their best,” Saunders said. “It would be awesome if they would just send a link to a website where you could look at the whole thing.”

As a second priority, Saunders would like to see more support for staff to avoid conflicts like a substitute teacher shortage. 

“We have amazing teachers in our district, and I don’t think that they are being appreciated as much and are stretched thin,” Saunders said. “We need more substitutes; we need more monitor staff; we need more help for our kids and our teachers in the classroom.”

A third priority for Saunders would be to “bring common sense back in the classroom.” When Saunders was in school, she said, she learned about basic history and how to write cursive.

“I think they have just added so much more to education than is needed, all in the name of inclusivity and equity,” Saunders said. “It’s more than our children need, at their age.”

Saunders is known to Medford School District officials. A letter issued to her last year by Superintendent Bret Champion said Saunders had been “extremely disruptive” during multiple school board meetings, with conduct that includes speaking over the three-minute time limit for public comment, threatening and intimidating body language and, using “inappropriate language … repeatedly” — at one point, stating, “You are a (f—ing) liar!” in front of children who attended a meeting. 

In an interview, Saunders defended her conduct.

“I stand by my actions, the way I represented myself,” Saunders said. “They didn’t like what I said. … I am not ashamed.”