Vashon School District Board Candidate, Position 5, Toby Holmes

Published 3:54 pm Tuesday, October 6, 2015

My name is Toby Holmes and I’m running for Position Number 5 on the Vashon Island School Board. I believe that a healthy school district is critical to protecting our vibrant community on Vashon.

I was born on Vashon and raised by teachers who worked at the high school. I went through the Vashon schools from Kindergarten through my senior year, graduating as a Pirate from the class of 1989. Now I’m a parent of two kids, one at Chautauqua Elementary School and one at McMurray Middle School. I believe this experience provides me a unique perspective on the value of schools on the Island. Now is my opportunity to serve in a public roll and give back to the community that is so important to my family and me.

While the schools navigate new state and federal requirements I will work to resist the culture of standardization. This means that we need to remember that teachers are highly trained professionals and deserve our respect and trust to do the best for our kids. They understanding what our kids need and how they learn and can communicate best to parents on what we can also do at home to help our kids be engaged, excited, and successful.

As a district, we have some difficult decisions to make about capital improvements to buildings and facilities. They are difficult because there’s both a great need and demand, but there are limited funds and we can’t do everything on the wish list. Through greater transparency and communication from the administration to student’s families and the larger community, we can work through the challenges of improving the schools and meeting capital construction needs while being fiscally responsible.

As an active and engaged community we can make the best choices together. As a business leader with experience in financial analysis, organizational strategy, and project management, I have the technical chops to support our district.

More importantly, I am patient and thoughtful, and recognize the benefits and commitment to working with others on the board in a civil and productive fashion.