The Oregon Trail School Board will feature two new members, as Candice Lindberg defeated incumbent Norm Trost for the Zone 6 (at large) position, and former Welches Schools principal Mike Sutton held a small lead over Tom Mack for the Zone 2 (Boring) position.

Both Sutton and Mack held write-in campaigns after no candidate filed
for the ballot. According to Clackamas County Elections (CCE), results are
expected to be certified sometime between June 4 and 8. Election numbers
from May 19 put Lindberg at 1,543 votes against 1,235 for Trost, who has
served on the board since 2006.

“I’m clearly happy,” said Lindberg, a Sandy resident. “I think parents have
made a statement that they’re ready for change and they want to be allowed
to be a part of their kid’s education.”

Lindberg hopes to help improve communication between the schools, district
and the parents, while also wanting to address the Common Core State
Standards and helping people understand everything they need to about
them.

“I’m excited that the people obviously liked my opinions and platform, so I’m
excited to serve them and be their voice,” she said. “But I still want to hear
their voices, I don’t want people to stop telling me what their issues are.”

The write-in race for the Boring position was close, with Sutton garnering 271
votes as “Mike Sutton” and up to 17 more votes with other potential spellings.

Mack earned 268 votes as “Tom Mack,” while “Tom Mac” had one additional
vote. According to CCE, variations of a name will be counted together when
they can determine that they were intended for the same person.

In Sutton’s case, 10 votes were cast for “Michael Sutton,” while a number of
other variations received a single vote, including “Michael B (Mike) Sutton,”
“Mik Sutton,” Michael Mike Sutton” and “Mike Shutton.”

A total of 794 votes had been cast for the position at the time of printing.
“I’m thrilled if I get it,” Sutton said.

Sutton noted he was on a missionary trip at the time of the deadline for
candidates to file to make the ballot, but when he returned he saw that
nobody had filed for the position. After consulting with his family, he decided
to run a write-in campaign, but he was pleased to see another member of the
Boring community step forward in the same way.

“It was nice that somebody else jumped in, too,” Sutton said of Mack. “I’m
sure he would do a great job.”

Sutton is a graduate of Sandy High School, spent most of six years as the
principal at Welches Schools and also worked as a teacher and administrator
in the Estacada School District for 29 years.

“People know what I stand for and how I deal with kids,” Sutton said. “I didn’t
do a lot of campaigning. If I did win, I would attribute it to people knowing
who I was.”

Sutton sees a number of issues of import for the board to deal with, including
state funding, what to do with the Pioneer Building (former Sandy High
School), the future of the Cedar Ridge property and pool, and Smarter
Balance testing.

More election results
The following election winners were the sole candidates to file for their
position:
D. J. Anderson was re-elected to the school board for the Zone 4 (South
Sandy) position, earning 2,063 votes.

Pat Buckley garnered 522 votes for Position 2 on the Hoodland Fire District
Board of Directors, while Ron Partlow received 525 votes for Position 3.

Hans Wipper won Position 3 on the Government Camp Road District board
with 24 votes.

Edward D. Rogers Jr., Brett Fischer and Andrew Tagliafico won Positions 1, 3
and 5, respectively, on the Government Camp Sanitary District board.

According to an Oregon School Boards Association survey, a total of 817
individuals ran for school board positions in this past election, the lowest

number in any election of the past decade. The number of candidates is
typically from 850 to 1,050.