Ogden school board hopefuls running to be involved, boost academics
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- The candidates for the District 4 seat on the Ogden school board, from left, Jeremy Shinoda and Amber Allred, the incumbent.
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- District 4 of the Ogden School District is shown in blue.
OGDEN — Two contenders for the District 4 seat on the Ogden school board face off again this cycle — incumbent Amber Allred and Jeremy Shinoda.
Allred, a dental hygienist, is driven by a desire to serve and be a cheerleader for the Ogden School District. “I thought it was another opportunity to be involved. I love this community,” she said. Ogden schools sometimes get a bad rap, she added, but there are “a lot of good things going on in the schools.”
Shinoda got in the race, concerned about flagging academic performance in the schools relative to schools across the state as a whole.
“I’m not content where our schools are currently performing at in terms of academcs. I think we can do a lot better and need to do better for our kids, for our community,” said Shinoda, a manager in the health care industry. “I want to continue to hold our district to really high standards.”
Ballots have been mailed out to voters and they’re due Nov. 8.
Shinoda was appointed by the school board in late 2019 to serve in the District 4 seat after Sunni Wilkinson, who had held the post, stepped down after moving out of the district. Allred and Shinoda subsequently faced off in 2020 elections to fill the remaining two years of Wilkinson’s term and Allred won.
District 4 covers the east-central portion of Ogden, from the eastern city limits west to around Washington Boulevard. It sits south of 12th Street, with the southern boundary meandering along 20th and 26th streets.
Teacher turnover is a big concern for Allred, she said, because it hurts kids when instructors are coming and going. That figured in her support of a property tax hike approved in August by the school board, meant to generate extra revenue to boost pay to keep teachers from leaving.
“I want our teachers to feel valued,” Allred said.
In knocking on doors, some have voiced concerns about critical race theory and the possibility of improper books getting on the shelves in school libraries, Allred said. She doesn’t think critical race theory has seeped into school curriculum and she noted that the school board implemented a new policy to address parents’ potential concerns about books.
At any rate, a rigorous process had already been in place to screen books entering school libraries, she said.
More generally, Allred, a Ben Lomond High School grad, pointed to her involvement in her kids’ schooling — volunteering, serving on parent teacher organizations and more. Because of divorce and joint custody issues, her youngest son attends school in South Ogden in the Weber School District, which has prompted questions from some.
She’s asked him if he wants to attend school in Ogden, but he prefers to stay put. Whatever the case, involvement in Weber schools through her son, she said, offers her another perspective on schools that serves her in her role on the Ogden school board.
Allred also pointed to her involvement as a volunteer with A Center for Grieving Children in South Ogden, which aids kids who are grieving due to divorce or the death of a loved one, and in an annual clothing drive for those in need, among other things.
‘SKIN IN THE GAME’
Shinoda has served in varied volunteer roles in Ogden and currently sits on the Ogden Planning Commission. He also serves on the PTA at Liberty Elementary, where his son goes to school, and has served the school district in other capacities.
He empasized his son’s status as a student in the district. “I have a lot at stake, skin in the game, as a parent,” he said.
None of the current school board members have kids in Ogden schools, and having a child in the system opens his eyes to what’s happening in the district. Things happen that school board members aren’t aware of “because they’re so far removed,” he said.
Broadly, three overarching goals if he’s elected would be boosting academic performance, bolstering family engagement in schools and making schools “more welcoming and supportive for stakeholders, staff, students, teachers.” He speaks Spanish, he noted, which could aid in outreach to the district’s sizable Hispanic population.
He thinks the school needs to revisit Project Nexus, a 2016 Ogden School District initiative meant to bolster academic achievement, and what school administrators are doing to meet the goals it contains. “I would like to see how we’re doing. Are we achieving the goals laid out by the board?” he said.
He also put a focus on making sure some $26.8 million earmarked for the distrct in federal American Rescue Plan funds is used wisely.
The District 2 seat on the Ogden school board is also contested this cycle, between incumbent Douglas Barker and Stacy Bernal.