The 2021 election season featured the opportunity for citizens to elect the next Camas School Board Members, and both incumbents secured their positions. Now Erica Cox and Corey McEnry are looking forward to furthering their positions on the Board. 

Although separate in many of their ideas, Cox and McEnry’s main agenda item is to find a new superintendent for the Camas School District (CSD). 

School Board Member for District II Erica Cox said, “The immediate task in front of us of finding and hiring the next Superintendent of CSD. That is the priority before the end of the calendar year.”

This is an action that holds a lot of weight to members of the board. 

School Board Member for District I Corey McEnry said, “One of our main jobs as a school board is hiring and overseeing the superintendent. And it’s probably one of the most consequential and far-reaching decisions that we will make as a board. We have an opportunity right now for our board and community members to really come together and decide who that next leader should be.”

The current plan is to hold interviews for the superintendent position throughout November, select finalists by the end of the month, and hopefully announce the final decision in late December. 

More is on the plate for them, with four years of planning ahead.

“We will need to continue to budget appropriately for the year ahead as well as planning out as we look to engage new ways to learn (an example is Camas Connect Academy) and imagine what can be with curriculum, buildings, and the arts,” Cox said.

McEnry has sights ahead with ways to further the curriculum. The Camas School Board spent time working towards equity in the school district, and McEnry plans to continue this teaching. 

“Who you are and your background should not determine whether the degree of your success in our district,” he said. “I am really looking forward to creating more programs and more professional development opportunities and training for our staff that is based on the latest brain research and effective instructional delivery models.”

In the past year, ravaged by a pandemic, the school board adapted quickly to new guidelines. This resulted in a silver lining: more people than ever participate in school board meetings.

“When our school board meetings went online, the amount of people that attended and listened to the business of school board meetings increased tremendously,” Cox said. “We had an increase in school board meeting participation from parents, teachers, and students and because of the accessibility of meetings being online, more people were able to view and understand the role of the school board.”

The Camas School Board continued to support this influx by setting up a second listening post with the purpose of feedback on characteristics wanted for the next superintendent.

“I think that these partnerships that we’ve created between the schools and families at home are valuable partnerships that we can we can continue working off of and growing as we go forward,” McEnry said. “I think that’s overall a net positive into the future as we emerge from this pandemic.”

An increase in political awareness and public participation means parents and community members who disagree with the school board’s decisions, especially those made by the directions of Cox and McEnry, have been more vocal than ever since the pandemic. 

“I believe that communicating and being accessible for dialogue is important for us to move forward with creating opportunities for all Camas students to be successful,” Cox said. “What is best for students is the focus of my decision making and I appreciate hearing from families and community members to answer any questions and/or listen to parents or students on their experiences, concerns, hopes, and joys.”

McEnry shares an extremely similar outlook on this.

“We a school board members do not run for these positions or act in these positions in some sort of a partisan way. This is not a democrat or republican issue. We are here because we love the campus, we care for our students and we believe in public education,” McEnry said. “I would hope that those who did not vote for me would see the while we might disagree on certain in certain areas we all care about what is best for our students. I hope there are some opportunities for people to stay involved in a proactive way. Keep talking with us, keep reaching out to us, keep engaging with us.

The incumbent Camas School Board Members see a bright future ahead for Camas, ready to set their sights on the next four years.