Only 1 School Board Race In Primary

Only one South King County school-board race - in Kent - will appear on the Sept. 17 primary ballot.

It was the only contest to draw three or more candidates.

Three people who recently vied for former board President Ken Geisen's seat after he moved out of the district will face off again.

Randal Evans, 41, an electrical engineer for The Boeing Co. who was appointed to Geisen's seat last month, will try to hold on to his new position.

His opponents are Rick Muttart, 34, a food-service manager for Boeing, and Linda Petersen, 51, a former teacher and current administrative assistant to Rep. Bruce Holland, R-Renton.

In Renton, meanwhile, none of that district's School Board races will be on the primary ballot, but they are expected to be among the liveliest in the Nov. 5 general election.

Four of Renton's five board members are up for election. There is substantial disagreement on the board over whether Superintendent Gary Kohlwes, whose contract is up for renewal this year, should be retained.

Incumbents Joy Poff, Ken Hoben and Ed Lane, all Kohlwes supporters, are up for election, along with Nemesio Domingo, who opposes Kohlwes and has described the superintendent as unresponsive and controlling.

Poff, 44, former Renton Council Parent-Teacher Association president and district teacher's aide, will face Charles DeChabert, 44, past president of the Renton Black Parents Association and outspoken critic of Kohlwes and the board.

DeChabert has served on the Metro Council and is currently an affirmative-action and equal-opportunity-employment consultant.

Lane, 43, an insurance underwriting manager, was appointed to the board last November and seeks to complete an unexpired two-year term. His opponent is Bev Barfield, 48, a community-resource program manager for the Department of Social and Health Services. Barfield and Lane have served on several district committees.

Domingo, 45, a vehicle-maintenance supervisor for Metro, will seek his second term and face James Berwick Jr., 58, a flight-control engineer at Boeing and member of the Renton High School Booster and Alumni Association. Board President Hoben is unopposed and also will seek a second term.

In Highline, a race that initially attracted three candidates will be pared to two. Walter Edmiston, 58, a retired social-studies teacher in the district for 33 years, said he expected to withdraw from the contest today after a weekend of anxiety attacks.

"I filed Monday and by Wednesday my stomach was churning and I started not sleeping," said Edmiston, who had filed against board President Bill Viall so voters would have a choice.

When another candidate filed Thursday, Edmiston said he was ready to step out of the race.

Viall, 43, Normandy Park city attorney, will face Dean Smith, 44. Smith was a science teacher in Highline between 1972 and 1977. The Angle Lake resident also taught in Federal Way for one year and at Seattle Christian School for eight years before opening his own business. He currently provides job training for people with disabilities.

Of the 28 school-board posts available in the South End, nine are contested. One hasn't attracted any applicants. School-board members, who are elected at large, must live within the district they represent.

Other candidates besides those in Renton:

-- Auburn School District:

District No. 1 - Lee Singer, 44, part owner of Cochrane Northwest, a wholesale distributor of floor-covering products, will seek his third term.

District No. 2 - Board President Henry Blair, 49, who works in customer service for Boeing, also will seek his third term.

District No. 4 - Betty Smith, 47, a social worker in the Tacoma School District, will run for a second term. She faces Ed Howard, 44, a freelance court reporter.

-- Enumclaw School District

District No. 1 - Board President Daniel Ryning, 44, a dentist, will seek his third term.

District No. 3 - John Kacer, 47, a log scaler, will seek re-election.

District No. 4 - John Wise, an airline pilot, filed for retiring board member Fred Vinton's seat. Wise could not be reached for more information.

-- Federal Way School District:

District No. 2 - Helen Pepper, 40, second vice president of the Federal Way Parent-Teacher Council, will run for retiring board member Nancy Robertson's seat.

District No. 3 - Board President Jim Boldt, 41, a public affairs-government consultant, has filed for re-election.

District No. 5 - Orlando Trier, 46, pastor of the Light of Christ Lutheran Church, will seek a second term.

-- Highline School District:

District No. 1 - Tom Slattery, 41, co-president of Mount View Elementary Parent-Teacher Association, filed for retiring Shirley Farley's seat.

District No. 4 - Viall and Smith.

District No. 5 - Ed Pina, 59, will seek his second term. He faces Steven Burns, 35, an airplane painter for Boeing.

-- Kent School District:

District No. 1 - Bob O'Bryan, 69, a former teacher and principal, will seek his third term. His opponent is Susan Follmer, 40, a former social-studies teacher at Sumner High School in Pierce County.

District No. 2 - Evans, Petersen and Muttart face off in September.

District No. 3 - Carolyn Tolas, 52, a communications consultant and writer, will seek her second term.

-- South Central School District in Tukwila:

District No. 2 - Wayne Hammond, 52, an electrical engineer at Boeing, will seek his fifth consecutive term.

District No. 4 - Tavo Quevedo, 47, co-chair of South Central School District's Equity Task Force and video producer for Boeing, filed for retiring board member Tom Collier's position.

District No. 5 - Jeanelle Baldwin, 45, a reflexologist, will seek her fourth term.

-- Tahoma School District in Maple Valley:

District No. 2 - Chuck Hardaway, 58, retired chief of staff for the state Democratic Senate, will seek a third term.

District No. 3 - Kent attorney Jennifer Rydberg, 39, filed for retiring board member Keith Harding's position.

District No. 4 - Ravensdale resident Connie Methven, 48, a U.S. postmaster in Milton, Pierce County, filed for board President Arlene Schmidt's seat. Schmidt, who wanted to seek re-election, couldn't run because she has moved out of her district area.

-- White River School District in Pierce County:

District No. 1 - none.

District No. 2 - John Clay, 66, a structural-engineer consultant, filed to seek his fifth term.

District No. 5 - Ed Holm, 39, a mechanic who was appointed to the board in 1989, filed to keep his seat. His challenger is Buckley resident Kirk Johnson, 44, a Boeing software engineering manager.

The District No. 1 position became available unexpectedly after Julia Wentz resigned to move to California. Pierce County election officials will offer a special filing period for anyone interested in running to complete Wentz's remaining two-year term.