Richland school incumbent faces challengers from left and right. Here’s where they stand

Two challengers are looking to unseat Kari Williams, a former teacher and incumbent Richland School Board member who is seeking a second term this August.

Aaron Riggs and Katrina Waters have registered to challenge her for the Director No. 4 seat.

Both believe Williams has not done an effective enough job on the board and needs to be replaced. One says she hasn’t been aggressive enough with the administration, while the other says she has been “flip-flopping” on issues.

Ballots for the Aug. 1 primary election were mailed this week.

The two candidates with the most votes will face off in the Nov. 7 general election for a four-year term and will likely play a significant role in influencing the direction of the five-person board, which has been starkly divided over a variety of issues during the past 18 months.

But Williams won’t just be facing challengers from the left and right — she’ll also is trying to fend off a recall election that aims to remove her from office on the same Aug. 1 ballot.

If the recall election is successful, she could be removed from office for the rest of her current term, which expires at the end of the year. If the recall effort is successful it would not change her ability to be re-elected to a new term.

The recall charges stem from a February 2022 vote by board members Williams, Semi Bird and Audra Byrd to defy Washington’s indoor mask mandate. Voters will decide whether each should be ousted from their current terms.

The unpaid board’s primary job is to hire and evaluate the superintendent, set the vision of the district serving 14,100 students, review and adopt policies, and pass the annual or biannual budgets.

Each of the “big three” school districts — Kennewick, Richland and Pasco — have a majority of their seats up for reelection this year.

Kari Williams

Kari Williams says her work on the Richland School Board is only just beginning.

“To me, it’s a service to my own children and all of the community’s children. We need to have board members who can recognize best practices and I am that candidate,” said Williams, 38.

She is a former elementary school teacher who holds a master’s in education from the University of Utah. Williams is now a stay-at-home mother with five kids who attend class at almost every level in the school district — from elementary to high school.

She said she’s running to ensure that the board continues to have a teacher’s perspective, to focus on academic recovery following the COVID pandemic and to fight for parent rights.

“I personally am very fiscally conservative and we need to be prioritizing student academic success really before anything else,” she said.

Speaking to the Tri-City Herald, Williams lists several personal accomplishments over the past 3 1/2 years: Championing the district’s elementary structured literacy pilot starting in September; codifying a definition of “controversial issues” in classrooms; opening an online learning academy; passing a capital levy to fund local safety improvements; promoting reading initiatives; expanding personal finance education in middle schools; and, most controversially, advocating for mask choice.

“During COVID, I was the only board member who fought to have an in-person learning option,” she said.

A major part of her second term if reelected will be to improve state math scores. Only 42% of Richland students met grade-level standards on the state Smarter Balance Assessment last year.

Williams said she still defends the school board’s action to codify a definition of “controversial issues” in the classroom, despite the Washington ACLU warning that its broad nature “invites the risk of censorship and viewpoint discrimination.”

She said it’s important that educators present controversial issues in a way that helps them think critically about an issue, and that they’re cognizant to reach out to an administrator if the topic could get heated.

“We want teachers to cultivate that debate, that discussion that keeps students passionate about learning or about society issues,” she said. “Our teachers shouldn’t be telling students what’s right or wrong. They should be cultivating intrigued minds.”

Williams told the Herald she does not regret her vote to make masks optional and said she has never believed their action was illegal.

She argues that parents should be the one to make medical decisions after receiving the best advice from health experts.

“This is about parents having the right to do what is the best for their child and their family situation,” she said. “Had all those people not sounded the alarm, I know that Gov. (Jay) Inslee and all those people who make those decisions wouldn’t have lifted the mask mandate for K-12.”

In 2019, Williams was endorsed by the Benton County Republican Party. But it appears that the party’s relationship with Williams has soured and they’ve endorsed one of her challengers.

In the months after the mask vote, Williams took more independent stances on issues and at times did not vote with the conservative voting block of Bird and Byrd.

“I’m not in this for any political stepping stone,” she said. “I’m in it for education... I’m in it for the kids. I think people will see that despite whatever politics are circling around me.”

Williams has not reported any contributions yet to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

Read her voter’s pamphlet statement here: bit.ly/WilliamsRichland.

Katrina Waters

Katrina Waters is a chief scientist of biological sciences research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a mother of three Richland graduates.

“I’ve been disappointed by the divisiveness that has come into the current board,” she told the Herald. “I think what makes me stand out is I have 25 years of experience working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and serving on federal advisory boards. I understand unfunded mandates, I understand mission and I understand transparency and accountability.”

Those federal boards include the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

She said she would bring balance and an urgency to collaborate to the board.

“I believe we can find common ground through mutual respect and understanding to increase the board’s effectiveness and direct the district in delivering the best education for our youth,” she said.

Waters said her priorities include addressing school safety, addressing gaps in student achievement and classroom needs, and providing mental health resources.

Parents often don’t know what behavioral health resources are out there and what their child is eligible for — whether that’s at the Department of Health and Human Services, crisis response services or emergency counseling services.

“I think there are a lot more resources that we could provide both to parents and staff to help manage the situation better,” she said.

Waters has shied away from giving her personal views on the recall effort. The voters will be the decision makers on that issue, she said.

“I just want to see us get past this and get back to business,” Waters said.

Waters said Williams has been “flip-flopping” on the issues and that the Richland community is confused with where her principles lie.

She believes the controversy on the school board has been a distraction for both the community and school administrators.

Waters is originally from Wisconsin. She holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

She moved to the Tri-Cities 19 years ago to work at PNNL, where her husband, Justin Teeguarden, is also a chief scientist.

For the last decade she has volunteered with Scouts BSA and for local soccer teams.

Waters has raised $3,600 in cash contributions so far.

Read her voter’s pamphlet statement here: bit.ly/WatersRichland.

Aaron Riggs

Aaron Riggs is a network analyst for Energy Northwest and parent of four children attending class in Richland schools. He served 11 years in active duty in the U.S. Marines and is currently in the Army reserves.

He did not respond to emails and phone calls from the Herald requesting an interview.

In a candidate forum hosted by Northwest Public Broadcasting and the League of Women Voters of Benton and Franklin Counties, Riggs said he was running to improve school safety, trim school finances to provide relief to taxpayers, and to advocate for parental rights.

“One of the things I want to focus on is transparency and what curriculum and books are available to kids,” Riggs said, adding that he would like to create a districtwide database of in-school literature for parents.

He believes the current board has not properly held the district administration to account, and said he’s “concerned about the direction of the district.”

He is endorsed by the Benton County Republican Party.

Riggs holds a bachelor’s degree of science from Western Governors’ University and an associate’s degree of science from Pierce College.

He’s been a youth baseball coach, a youth basketball manager and is a district volunteer.

Like Williams, Riggs is also against the recall, saying organizers are trying to “go against the will of the voters and the will of the people.”

“What is being done is categorically wrong,” he said at the forum.

Riggs has not reported any campaign contributions yet.

Read his voter’s pamphlet statement here: bit.ly/RiggsRichland.