A teacher and a retired postal worker are running for one of two seats on the Redmond School Board.

Two seats are up for election in a school district with a soaring student population and where a group of people has expressed concerns that the Redmond School Board is not listening to some residents. There are four candidates vying for the two at-large positions in the May 15 election.

The burgeoning district, with more than 6,900 students, is the second-largest in Central Oregon behind Bend-La Pine Schools.

The district has five elementary schools, two schools for children in kindergarten through eighth grade, two middle schools and one high school, including an alternative-education high school counted as part of Redmond High School. Even though one elementary school and one middle school have been added in the last year, the district is still bursting at the seams. There are no firm plans yet to open a second high school to shift some of the load of about 2,000 students currently at Redmond High School.

There are two open school board seats, Position 4 and Position 5, on the ballot in the May 15 election. All of the seats are volunteer, nonpartisan and at-large positions with four-year terms. Incumbent Jim Erickson is running against William Layton for the Position 4 seat. Board Chairman Tim Carpenter is running against Paul Rodby for the Position 5 seat.

Jim Erickson

After being appointed to the Redmond School Board in August, this is the first election Erickson has faced.

A psychology teacher at Central Oregon Community College, Erickson, 59, also taught psychology, sociology and other social sciences at Redmond High School between 1973 and 2004.

Erickson said one of the district’s ongoing challenges is expanding the school facilities to keep pace with the rapid pace of growth in the city. And it’s important for the district to listen to the concerns that parents have, he said.

”There are probably parents in our district who feel like the district has failed them, and that isn’t OK that people feel that way,” Erickson said.

Overall, the board should be guided by whatever is in the best interest of students, Erickson said. That means that the board needs to make smart decisions using all the information it can gather when it comes to spending money.

”The committee’s doors are open,” Erickson said. ”We need the community to feel like education is owned by us all.”

Erickson said that as a teacher, he has come to recognize the importance of learning throughout one’s life, a value that he would like to see influencing everything the school district does.

”We have to feel like schools are our number one priority here,” Erickson said.

William Layton

Layton, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker, is running against Erickson. Layton, 64, said that while he has not served inan elected position before, he represents the voice of Redmond residents who feel the school district has not listened to the community.

”The people that I’ve talked to are unhappy because we keep getting our taxes raised and the board doesn’t seem to want to listen to us,” Layton said.

Layton said the board has been too slow to respond to growing student populations, especially in the case of the high school, which is well above its student capacity. And that leaves him feeling as though the school district cannot be trusted with the money it gets from property taxes.

”We need to get to where … the people in town are satisfied that the board is spending the money wisely,” Layton said.

He said establishing credibility with the people of Redmond should be the board’s top priority. Not only would he bring a dissenting voice to the board, but Layton said he would listen to what everyone had to say on a given issue before weighing in and making a decision.

”You’ll find that I will sit and listen until everybody else has had their say,” Layton said. ”I don’t just chime in right off the bat. … I need to know how everybody else feels.”

Jim Erickson, Board member

Age: 59

Political Experience: School board member since August. Past president of Redmond Habitat for Humanity

Occupation: Psychology teacher at Central Oregon Community College since 2004. Redmond High School teacher from 1973 to 2004.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in sociology from University of Washington and master’s degree in education from Oregon State University

Family: Married with three grown children. Grandchildren in the second and seventh grades in the Redmond School District

William Layton

Age: 64

Political Experience: None

Occupation: Retired from U.S.Postal Service

Education: Graduated from Oak Harbor (Wash.) High School

Family: Married, two grown children