School Board Seats Available

The five-member Bellevue School Board is primed for a power shift with three incumbents not seeking re-election, in what is shaping up to be an interesting Eastside school-board election year.

Phil Noble and Malcolm "Mac" Douglas said they do not plan to file for re-election during the filing period this week. Sherrie Mill resigned earlier this month, after discovering that her house was two blocks south of the boundary of her east Bellevue district.

The Bellevue board members join four other Eastside school-board incumbents who plan to step down at the end of this term. Longtime Issaquah board members Karen Taylor Sherman and Bill McGlashan, Mercer Island Board President Mary Anne Knoll and Northshore's Rosemary McAuliffe have announced they will not seek re-election.

The board members said they feel they have fulfilled their civic duty and are counting on citizens to step forward and take their places.

"My present position is I do not intend to file," Noble said. "I am sort of concerned about whether anybody is intending to run. It's going to be an interesting week."

Noble has served two four-year terms in his northeast Bellevue District 2. Mill and Douglas, who represents the northwest District 1, have each served one term. The Bellevue School District is also seeking candidates to fill the remaining five months of Mill's former school-board District 4.

Douglas, who was selected board president this month after Mill stepped down, said he would like to become more involved at the grass-roots level in the district, and likely would return to the board in the future.

"I feel like I need a break," Douglas said. "I wouldn't be surprised if I ran again in four years. I very much would like to get involved in it again."

On Mercer Island, two citizens have already announced their candidacies for the three at-large seats. Four-year resident Veronica Swift said she plans to run for the seat vacated by Knoll. Swift, who was active on the bond-election committee, has a daughter entering first grade and a son entering fifth.

Laurie Hirshberg Koehler has also thrown in her hat but said she has yet to settle on a position. Also up for re-election are seats occupied by one-term board member Rodney Hearne and Boyd Vander Houwen, appointed last month to fill the seat vacated by Tina Cowen.

Koehler, who graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1967, married and settled in Mercer Island in 1972, where she has raised two children, a daughter at Islander Middle School and a son at Mercer Island High School.

Jan Yalowitz, a 10-year Issaquah resident, has announced her candidacy for the seat held by Sherman. Yalowitz has two young children in Issaquah schools and is a part-time communication-disorder specialist in the Bellevue School District.

Sherman, who has served 12 years on the Issaquah School Board in her south Lake Sammamish area District 1, said she is seeking employment instead of re-election. Sherman also served as president of the Washington State School Directors' Association in 1989-90. Sherman hopes to land a job in an education-related field.

"I am simply ready for new challenges," Sherman said. "You get to the point where you can anticipate the questions, answers and rebuttals."

McGlashan, who has represented the Pine Lake Plateau area District 3 for 12 years, said his final decision to retire will depend on whether somebody else steps forward to file. Eight-year board member Darlene Haugen Mar Ron said she will file for re-election for her downtown Issaquah District 5.

On the Northshore School Board, 14-year member McAuliffe plans to step down from her downtown Bothell District 3 position when she completes this term, after sending all six of her children through the Northshore schools. Board Member Bob Williams said he will seek a third term for his Kenmore-area District 2.

All three Lake Washington School Board incumbents plan to seek re-election: President Catherine Bock, who represents the north Redmond District 5; Clare Cochran, who represents the Juanita area District 1; and Bob Hughes, who represents the Kirkland area District 2.

Four of the five board positions are open in the Snoqualmie Valley School District and all the incumbents plan to file for re-election: Rudy Edwards, southeast North Bend District 1; Richard Krona, city of North Bend District 2; Donald Gmazel, District 3, north of Snoqualmie and North Bend and along the Fall City-Snoqualmie Road; and Richard Sadler, District 5, the Fall City, Tolt Hill and Ames Lake areas.

The Riverview School District also has four positions open: Carnation area District 1, represented by Lee Ann Power; Ames Lake area District 2, represented by Jerr Mercer; District 3, the area between Carnation and Duvall, represented by Cheri Stefani; and the Lake Joy and Duvall area District 4, represented by Mike Sato.