Three seats on the Medford School Board were up for grabs in Tuesday’s special election, and a pair of levies were decided by voters for the Jackson County Rural Fire Protection District 4 —  which serves the communities of Shady Cove and Trail — and the Prospect Rural Fire Protection District.

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Medford School Board

Initial results in the race for a trio of seats on the Medford School Board Tuesday night showed an unseating of current Board Chair Cynthia Wright, who was running to retain her Position 3 post, with clear winners in all three cases.

In one of the most contested races for the 2025 special election, early results yielded three new faces for the embattled board. The past year has been marked by complaints between board members and the February resignation of Superintendent Bret Champion

With nine total candidates vying for a seat at the table, public special election forums in recent months centered on the hiring of a new interim superintendent, questions about communication with parents and staff, and concerns raised about academics and student safety.

Position 1

Unofficial results posted just after 8 p.m. showed Position 1 — to replace outgoing retired teacher Jeff Kinsella — going to Angela Zbikowski, a district parent and senior manager of supplier relations for Direct Travel.

Zbikowski garnered 65.4%, or 5,840 votes, of 8,929 cast. Challengers Curt Ankerberg garnered 18.5% (1,659) followed by newcomer Cheyla Breedlove with 15.8%, or 1,411 votes.

Contacted Tuesday night, Zbikowski, 43, said the election results were “just the beginning.”

“The real work starts now. We have so much ahead of us, but I’m so excited to do this along with these two candidates who were elected beside me,” she said.

“I’m ready to get to work and do great things for our kids and our community. It’s so gratifying. We worked so hard to get people to care — all of us did. … We want people to care about our schools and care about our community.”

For position 2, with 8,875 votes cast in total, some 66.7% (5,920) went to Jackson Care Connect community engagement specialist Sandra LaNier McHenry.

Challengers Donovan Donnally and Logan Leverette Vaughan trailed with 17.5%, or 1,556 votes, and 15.5%, or 1,376 votes, respectively.

LaNier McHenry said Tuesday’s initial results were “overwhelmingly positive” and that she planned to immediately get to work, learning the ins and outs of her board member duties.

“For me, right now, the next phase is the learning phase. I need to start understanding the policies and seeing where things can be adjusted and made better,” she said.

“The big thing is a new superintendent being hired. … And I think people want to be heard, so hopefully I can help be a bridge. I really want that. Even if I don’t know what we can and can’t say or do. … My hope is that Angela, Erik and I can bring a fresh perspective.”

Position 3

In the race for Position 3, consulting business owner Erik Johnsen, a former board president of Madrone Trail Public Charter School, was leading incumbent Cynthia Wright with 48.5% of the 8,915 votes cast (4,332), apparently ending Wright’s tenure on the board.

Johnsen said he ran to help the board focus on improving the district instead of being “bogged down in this internal conflict.” Wright garnered 30.5% (2,723) of votes cast in her reelection bid, and 20.65%, or 1,841 votes, went for Saunders.

“Honestly I’m just really excited to get to work and see how I can help the district,” Johnsen said Tuesday night, noting that his first order of business would be to help guide the current board in filling a recent vacancy created by the recent resignation of board member Michelle Atkinson.

“I think the first thing will be to help the current board find the best possible person to fill Michelle’s seat. … and we go from there.”

Rural fire district levies

Voters in a pair of neighboring communities served by rural fire protection districts turned out on election day to approve funding levies sought by both agencies to provide needed operating costs and prevent service reductions.

For Jackson County Fire District No. 4, which serves about 4,700 patrons in a 37.5-square-mile area between Shady Cove and Trail, a five-year local operating levy — $1.10 per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in 2026 — was approved by just over 58% of those who voted; 321 voters cast ballots in favor of the levy, with 227 voting against it.

Fire Chief Travis Crume expressed relief Tuesday night at the apparent approval for the needed funding boost. Crume said he hadn’t been able to get a read on the levy’s outcome prior to results being posted.

“It’s tough sometimes, because you like to have feedback from people, so you kind of know where you stand, but it just seemed like we didn’t necessarily have a whole bunch of feedback coming our way. … So we didn’t know what it was going to be,” Crume told the Rogue Valley Times.

“Some of the feedback was pretty positive, but those were folks we knew so that kind of makes you wonder if you’re reading the room right or not. When the election results came up, it was just like, ‘Wow!’ We’re very appreciative to those in our community who took the time to vote.”

Crume said he was happy for his own district but almost more so for the tiny rural community of nearby Prospect.

A request for that district’s first funding increase since the 1950s, raising a current 99-cent operating levy to $1.39 per $1,000 of assessed value, was leading by a more than a 30-vote margin.

In a bit of irony, both fire districts’ levies were passed by just over 58% of voters, unofficial election results showed Tuesday night.

Of 180 voters who cast ballots for the Prospect levy, 106 voted in favor, with 74 voting against. 

District supporters sought the levy to stabilize the district, which has functioned on a budget of $120,000 in tax revenues, as well as to cover increasing costs for training, insurance, equipment repair and maintenance.

Levy failure could have brought elimination of medical response and increased insurance rates — due to reduced protection — for the rural community.

Fire Chief Lyle Neville, who is paid for only a portion of the hours he works to run the 16-member volunteer department, said a volunteer levy committee was treated to a “thank you” dinner prior to results being released Tuesday.

“Those ladies pushed through long hours, dozens of meetings, mailers, fundraisers, lots of fact-finding and fact-correcting, community meetings, polls and so on,” he told the Times on Tuesday night.

“They pushed through some difficult obstacles, and even personal tragedy, and never stopped working for our community. Lots of stars had to align,” Neville said. 

“Some of those ‘yes’ votes were hard-earned — folks that called on us for medical and fire emergencies and folks we worked with for fuel reduction. … Our volunteers and that levy committee have earned the support of Prospect.”

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.