EDITOR’S NOTE: We are excited to welcome Irene Barajas to the Tillamook County Pioneer. Irene will be reporting on the Nestucca School District Board meetings as well as other happenings at Nestucca School District and South County.
By Irene Barajas, South County Correspondent for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Nestucca Valley School District is starting the 2025-2026 school year with an almost entirely new Board of Directors. After a contentious election cycle, twenty-year board veteran Diane Boisa is now joined by Kayla Cole, Jason Hagan, Sherry Hartford, and Greg Woods. Rather than wait for the already scheduled meeting on July 14th, and despite July being a historically slow month for school business, as it’s the only month that most of the staff has off in it’s entirety, the incoming Directors demanded they be sworn into their new positions at a Special Meeting at the first day possible, on July 1st. Twenty-six community members witnessed as the new members took their oaths and then appointed Mr. Woods to be their Board Chair, and Mrs. Hartford to be their Vice Chair. Additionally, attorney Nancy Hungerford took the board through their Legal Orientation slideshow, which can be found in the recording of the meeting.
Once the training was complete, Chairman Woods called for an additional Special Meeting on July 3rd to “review policies, go over the college credit discussion for the high school kids, and go over the new committee members for the policy, hiring, and budget committees.” By their reactions or lack thereof, Directors Cole, Hagan and Hartford appeared to already be aware of the request Chairman Woods made, while Director Boisa clearly had not been informed by her fellow board members that the request for a Special Meeting was going to be made, and suggested they go over the mentioned topics at the regular meeting on the 14th. Regardless, even after being advised by Attorney Hungerford to speak with high school principal Emily Chadwick directly about the college credit concerns, it was still decided to go ahead with a second Special Meeting just two days after the first.
The second Special Meeting ended up being postponed until July 10. Superintendent Misty Wharton was present, and Principal Chadwick joined the meeting via Zoom, answering questions and concerns Board Members had about the high school’s college credit program. A few dozen people attended, in-person and via Zoom. Multiple community members used Public Comment time to voice their concerns about the mostly brand-new Board making important and complicated policy changes prior to receiving trainings on the matter, such as how policies often interact with various Union contracts, as well as ensuring they comply with both federal and state laws.
Well over an hour was focused on the college class concerns as Ms. Chadwick answered questions and gave a great overview of program. She announced that efforts are being made to have more dual-credit classes offered to the high school students, which would be free of charge to all students who take them, while the college-credit-only courses would be free to some students and offered at a discounted rate to others. The Board voiced they hope to be able to offer college classes at no charge to more students than what the district is currently able to support. Retired teacher Nancy Whitehead spoke up to make sure the Board and administration are aware that the dual-credit class college credits are not accepted at some colleges and hopes that students are made aware of that when choosing classes.
Additionally, community members brought up concerns around the Board Members not needing to have criminal background checks completed to be on the Board. These concerns were echoed by many of the board members themselves, and they all, as well as Supt. Wharton, voiced hopes of getting policy changes made around the matter, to help ensure the safety of the students.
As the meeting passed the 2.5 hour mark it became obvious that the “first reading” of an ambitious list of 14 policies in the agenda was not going to be able to finished. It was decided to address them in smaller chunks, starting at the regularly scheduled meeting on July 14. Director Boisa commented that the Board would be receiving training at a special workshop on July 19th, and Supt. Wharton pointed out there is an additional 90-minute training that’s mandatory for the Board, which covers ethics and Public Meetings law.
More than 80 community members attended the July 14th meeting, split fairly evenly between Zoom and in-person. It was another lengthy meeting, reaching almost 3 hours. It started off with Public Comments by community members, many of whom are retired teachers. Concerns were again voiced about the Board making policy changes before being better educated on the ins and outs of how policy is interconnected and guided by other considerations. There was also great concern about the handwritten changes drafted into the four policies included in the agenda, as it appeared the Board was attempting to surpass the Superintendent and have all complaints go to them directly, which would violate Union contracts.
After Chairman Woods attempted to put off approving the July 2025 Financial Report and the Ratification of Employment it became clear that he and other new Directors had not actually read the packet for the meeting, despite having received it via email at least 3 days prior. As a result, attendees had to wait for them to read over the information that had to be considered and decided upon during this specific meeting.
The meeting concluded after much back and forth between attendees and the Directors over the proposed policy changes. Though it added to the already lengthy session, community members seemed to be appreciative of the significant amount time the Board spent discussing the policies and the potential changes with them. Not all of the policy changes ended up being covered, and it was decided to continue reviewing them at a later date.
It’s been wonderful to see many more people than usual showing their support of Nestucca’s students, staff, administration and board by attending these meetings. It would be great for this to continue, letting them know the community is behind them and cares greatly about the decisions being made. Despite the challenge of having an almost entirely new Board, Supt. Wharton is optimistic about the upcoming school year. “We are so excited to welcome our staff and families back to NVSD beginning Sept. 2nd. We are eager to see how much our students have grown over the summer and hear those pencil sharpeners and the buzz of busy lunchrooms! Go Bobcats!”
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
Date: Monday, August 18, 2025
Public Session Begins: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Agenda & Details Here
https://nvsdweb.nestucca.k12.or.us/…/2025.08.18.Agenda.pdf
Parents, and community members please note that the public portion of the meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. The earlier session is closed, typically for board work or personnel matters, which begins at 3:00pm.
It’s good to see that the board will be approving the notes from past meetings—hopefully these notes will be posted promptly on the district website for all to read. Timely access to meeting notes is an important step toward transparency, especially when our community is divided on major issues.
Thank you to those working to make board decisions more accessible. Let’s keep building that openness by attending meetings, asking questions, and sharing our perspectives—so every voice in our community is heard as we navigate these challenges together.
I encourage you to attend if you can and bring your questions or concerns to the public comment period. This is a time when you can share feedback on school programs, policies, or issues that matter to you and your student.
There is also a Zoom link if you cannot attend in person:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83818219082…
Meeting ID: 838 1821 9082
Passcode: 302985
Dial: 669 444 9171
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, August 18th at 6pm. To join via Zoom, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85900368958?pwd=o83q8LF7iKZSBRlIM83UZdOX7S3oT9.1#success
Links to the above-mentioned meetings’ packets, minutes, and video recordings can be found here: https://nestucca.k12.or.us/20037_4