School Board primary

Hey folks, did you notice those letters from the Island County Auditor? Yep, they’re ballots. There’s an election coming up. Deadline to vote and mail in your ballots is August 3.



If you don’t want to spend $0.46 to mail them, you can drop off your ballots in special boxes at:

Trinity Lutheran Church, Freeland, in the parking lot

Ken’s Corner Shopping mall, in the parking lot

County elections office, 400 N Main St, Coupeville

Oak Harbor City Hall, 865 Barrington Dr, Oak Harbor

If you miss the post office on August 3, the drop boxes will be open until 8:00 pm.

Here on South Whidbey there is only a single item on the ballot, but its an important one: South Whidbey School Board. There’s a primary because there are 3 candidates for a single position. An embarrassment of riches.

 The candidates are:
Betty Bond
Rocco Gianni
Miriam Coates

You can find their statements at: https://wei.sos.wa.gov/county/island/en/Elections/Pages/OnlineVotersGuide.aspx

 All 3 have impressive qualifications as educators. All 3 have experience as teachers. All 3 have done a lot of community volunteering. I read their on line statements and felt like they were all saying pretty much the same thing. Hard to choose.

 Rocco Gianni has been on south Whidbey for many years, a bit of an institution. He retired from teaching here.

Betty Bond is relatively new to the island. She’s working on integrating into the community.

Miriam Coates has been on south Whidbey for years and has children currently in the schools.


I will admit that I was going to sit this one out but I got a call from Miriam Coates which resulted in a long conversation. She convinced me that this is important, and that she has a lot of valuable ideas to contribute.

In order to be fair, I emailed both Ms Bond and Mr Gianni. Ms Bond never responded. Mr Gianni sent me his profile and at my suggestion posted same on the county’s voter’s guide.

Without going into the details of educational philosophy, I’m going to vote for Miriam Coates because:

1.     She took the time and energy to ask for my support and to explain why she was running.

2.     Everything she said about the schools, administration, education, and kids rang true for me.

3.     She’s young. Traditionally only retired people (as both Gianni and Bond are) are able to take the time to sit on such boards. Retired people have had a whole lifetime to get their minds set a particular way. I like the idea of someone who is young and not yet cast in concrete on the school board.

This point is the one that won me over. She says she wants to represent the students. She contends that school boards pretty much represent administration, oversight, faculty, operations – everybody but the kids. I’d like to see the kids have a voice.