In 2013, John Frederick decided not to run for re-election on the North Wasco County District 21 school board in order to spend more time on his growing business.
Two years later the owner of ELF Cleaning Service and Property Management has grown too frustrated not to get back in the race.
Fredrick said the final straw was when the school district tried to spin the graduation rate numbers.
In 2012-2013, 59.4 percent of District 21 students graduated with a regular diploma within four years of entering high school, according to the Oregon report card. The state average is 68.7 percent.
Add students receiving a modified, extended or adult high school diploma or completing a GED within five years entering high school and the rate goes up to 75.7 percent.
“Our state report card says one thing and now they want to include fifth-year students and modified diplomas,” Frederick said. “Let’s be honest. We’re not honest. The school district is trying to spin the numbers. We have a 40 percent failure rate and when I see that stuff I get so frustrated. I do not see why people just cannot be honest and say we have a problem.”
Frederick, who served on a school board in Illinois for eight years, also found his previous two years (2011-2013) on the North Wasco County District 21 board frustrating.
“You have to force change and the two years I was on the school board, I stepped on a few toes and I backed off and I should’ve not backed off,” Frederick said. “I should’ve continued to push. I asked questions and I couldn’t get answers. I was just supposed to accept things the way they are.”
Frederick believes District 21 needs a new superintendent, who Frederick said was never properly evaluated in his two years on the board. He said the district also needs a formal strategic plan. Three years ago, Frederick presented a plan similar to the one he helped develop in Illinois but was told the district didn’t have the money or time to implement it.
“The other members of the school board said we have other priorities,” Frederick said.
Part of Frederick’s plan is the creation of five new committees (curriculum, facilities, instruction, technology and public relations), which would be made up of board members, teachers, parents and local business owners.
The lack of community support is what has Frederick most frustrated.
In the May 19 election, only four candidates are running for three District 21 school board positions. Frederick is running against incumbent Dean McAllister in Zone 2. The other two positions (Zones 3 and 6) are unopposed.
“We should have 20 people running for the three seats on the school board with the condition our schools are in and nobody wants to talk about it,” Frederick said.
Frederick is a proponent of vocational education and a fan of former Oregon gov. John Kitzhaber’s 40-40-20 plan, which simply stated by 2025, the state would ensure that 40 percent of adults will have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, 40 percent an associate degree or post-secondary credential and 20 percent a high school diploma.
“I think that’s a brilliant plan,” Frederick said. “One of my big frustrations being a business owner in this town is you try to hire people and they can’t do simple math, adding and subtracting, and these are District 21 graduates. How do you get through high school and you can’t do simple math? That needs to be talked about.”
Frederick has created a Facebook page called “The Dalles Deserves Better Than This.”
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