Medical Lake School Board, position 3
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Parsons | 972 | 50.23% |
| Felicia Jensen | 963 | 49.77% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About the Race
The Candidates
Laura Parsons
- Age:
- 63
- City:
- Medical Lake, Washington
Education: Graduated from Cheney High School in 1979. Graduated from Eastern Washington University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in applied psychology. Earned a master’s degree from Eastern Washington University in public administration in 2005.
Work experience: Current part-time school bus driver with the Cheney School District. Former social worker with the Spokane Regional Health District.
Political experience: Current Medical Lake School Board member. Previously served four terms on Medical Lake City Council. Board Member of the Washington State School Directors’ Association. Serves as Spokane School Directors Association small district representative.
Family: Single. Five children, one of whom is a student in Medical Lake schools.
Campaign finance: Medical Lake Education Association president Ryan Grant contributed $400. Former Medical Lake mayor Shirley Maike contributed $500. Washington Education Association contributed $1,200. Spokane County Democrats contributed $125. The 6th Legislative District Democratic Committee contributed $100.
Felicia Jensen
- Age:
- 56
- City:
- Medical Lake, WA
Education: Earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Southern Illinois University in 2000. Received a master’s degree in human resources from Troy University in 2007.
Political experience: Appointed to the Medical Lake School District board in 2013 and elected in 2015.
Work experience: Works at the Eastern Washington University College of Social Sciences as an executive assistant to the dean. Retired U.S. Air Force major. Worked at Fairchild Air Force Base for 261/2 years. Spent part of her career overseeing child and teen centers, the education center and dining facilities.
Family: Married to Christopher Jensen. They have two adult children.
Her pitch: Jensen said she has logistics and administration experience through her education and work experience. In her current role at EWU, she said she’s been able to develop a sense of how Medical Lake schools can better prepare students for college. And with her background in the Air Force, she said she understands the concerns of the large number of military families in Medical Lake. Jensen said the current school board works well together and has brought forth innovative changes. She said the board successfully advocated for a capital levy last year that paid for security and technology upgrades and won a Department of Defense grant to give each student a laptop.
Her words: “As a team we work very well together. We’re thoughtful when we have our discussions, and we all bring different perspectives. My perspective is from the military member side.”
Complete Coverage
Medical Lake School Board candidates highlight perspectives on military, special needs students
Incumbent Medical Lake school board member Felicia Jensen said she understands the concerns of military families as a retired U.S. Air Force officer and can gauge how well the school district is preparing students for college through her job at Eastern Washington University. Challenger Laura Parsons, a Medical Lake City Council member, said her perspective comes from helping to manage the city budget and raising children who have special needs.