Randy Carmony and Kurt McKnight defeated their opponents to retain their
positions on the Oregon Trail School District’s (OTSD) board of directors in the
May election, while three others won uncontested races.

Vote totals through Thursday, May 25 showed McKnight defeating Travis
Brewster for the Zone 3 (Welches) position by a vote of 2,507 (70 percent) to
1,097 (30 percent), while Carmony won his race for the Zone 7 (At Large)
position with 1,657 (46 percent) votes, compared to 1,297 for Scott Stuart
(36 percent) and 621 for Paul Elmore (17 percent).

“It is an honor to be reelected to serve another term on the OTSD board,”
Carmony wrote in an email to the Mountain Times. “I take pride in ensuring
the district provides the best learning opportunities for all of the students in
the district and preparing today's youth for their future following school.”
McKnight noted that he will work to support the district’s theme, “Children
Thrive Here,” while adding that there is work to be done to continue
improving student outcomes.

“I look forward to continuing the efforts to reposition our career and technical
education offerings to better serve the students and business in our
community,” McKnight wrote in an email to the Mountain Times. “Being part
of a fiscally sound district is something I am very proud of and will continue to
help be the best stewards of our tax dollars. At a time when most districts are
making cuts and growing class sizes we at OTSD are growing our offerings
and staffing from K-12.”

Robert Lee won the Zone 5 (Cottrell/Bull Run), held by retiring board chair
Terry Lenchitsky, with 2,517 votes; Marie Teune won the Zone 2 (Boring) with
2,650 votes and Marjan Salveter won the Zone 1 (North Sandy) with 2,646
votes. The Zone 2 position is a two-year term, while all others are four-year
terms.

The Oregon School Boards Association noted that according to a survey they
conducted, 1,018 individuals ran for school board positions throughout the
state, the highest number since 2009. The number of candidates is up from
the 817 that ran for school board positions in May, 2015, but this year’s
election also saw 68.5 percent of races with just one candidate and another
six percent with no candidates.

In other local election news, three positions on the Hoodland Fire District’s
board were determined: Ron Partlow was elected to Position 3, Darcy Lais was
elected to Position 4 and Cliff Fortune was elected to Position 5. All three races
were uncontested and all three positions are four-year terms.

Measure 26-190, a general obligation bond for Mt. Hood Community College,
was defeated in Clackamas County by a vote of 3,757 against and 2,740 for
the measure, and defeated by an overall vote of 21,108 against to 17,084 for
the measure.

Countywide, 55,355 of 271,779 (20.37 percent) registered voters voted in last
month’s election.