Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
When Leena Neuschwander learned that no one from the Cascadia area was running for the School Board last spring, she decided to make sure someone did. So she mounted a write-in campaign.
What prompted it really was Jeff Lynn,” Neuschwander said. “I’m really good friends with his wife.”
Jami Lynn told Neuschwander that her husband had decided to run for the board. Then Neuschwander saw in the paper that no one was running for the Cascadia seat.
Though she and her husband, Floyd, had talked about running for School Board when their own children were in school, Leena decided now was the time. The Neuschwanders have two daughters, Madelyn, 4, and Sicily, 2.
School District 55 has had difficulty keeping a Cascadia resident on the board since Kevin Burger resigned several years ago. Since then, with the exception of John Dundon, the seat has been held by Sweet Home residents appointed by the board. This has prompted talk of reducing the size of the School Board, one of two nine-member boards in the state.
The board includes two representatives from Sweet Home and one each from Cascadia, Holley, Crawfordsville and Liberty and is rounded out by at-large seats.
I like a nine-member board ? more opinions,” Neuschwander said. “I like having at-large positions, but yeah, I definitely like these districts.”
Once she started thinking about running, Neuschwander started paying attention to the School District and requesting information about the district.
She likes to be well-informed, so “they may start to hate me soon,” Neuschwander said.
The new board will begin establishing its goals on Sept. 12.
One of the topics Neuschwander anticipates will be a hot one will be what to do with Holley and Crawfordsville schools, she said. The board will likely talk about charter schools and home schools. All three of the topics are linked.
I’m opposed to closing any school,” Neuschwander said. “If I had to make a choice to close a school, I would support bringing a charter school in.”
A charter school is an acceptable alternative for Neuschwander, she said. “I think that’s going to be the big issue this year.”
Parents Involved in Education, which operates Sand Ridge Charter School in Lebanon, has proposed opening a charter school in the Sweet Home area next school year. The district and PIE are working on the details of the proposed school.
Among options to help reduce operating costs, a district committee and the board have discussed opening a charter school at Crawfordsville. The district would save money by not directly operating the school in Crawfordsville, and the charter school could provide additional revenue, although officials warn that it could actually reduce district revenues.
“I’m probably going to bring up things like the pregnancy issue,” Neuschwander said. Last year, Sweet Home High School had 13 pregnant students.
Neuschwander said she wants to find out more about the district’s policy ? whether it is “abstinence-only” or offers more.
“This is a big issue to me,” Neuschwander said. “This is a lifelong issue.”
“Funding isn’t something we have much control over,” Neuschwander said. “Even when you get it, we don’t know until two or three years later what we got.”
Her job as a board member is to be responsible with what the district does get.
“It’s more work than I thought, more work that I put on myself,” Neuschwander said of being on the board. She spent about three hours going over a facilities report before last month’s meeting so she could be ready to ask questions.
She said she is enjoying it though, “more so than I thought,” Neuschwander said. She said she ran more out of duty than anything else when she decided to run, “but now I’m getting excited about it.”
Neuschwander lived in Sweet Home until about age 3, when she moved with her family to Phoenix, Ariz. She returned to Sweet Home for high school and graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1994. She attended Oregon State University for one year.
“I wanted some adventure, so I moved to Alaska,” Neuschwander said. “My husband, he wasn’t at the time, was kind of surprised when I said, yeah, let’s go.”
They lived in Homer after driving up equipment for a new business. After living in Alaska for a time, they moved back to Oregon. They had a house in Redmond, and they split their time between Cascadia and Redmond.
They moved full-time to Cascadia in October and opened Neu-Flo Plumbing.