REDMOND — Recent Central Oregon transplant Shawn Hartfield late Wednesday night was appointed to the Redmond School Board. Hartfield, who owns and operates Prineville’s Buckstop Truckware with her husband and brother- and sister-in-law, was selected out of a pool of seven applicants for the seat vacated by Rhonda Etnire, who moved out of the area.

Hartfield, who has a master’s of science in management from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California, narrowly edged out Lavon Medlock for the fifth seat on the board. Hartfield scored 3.95 points on five questions asked by the current school board. Medlock, the supervisor for volunteer services at St. Charles Bend and Redmond, scored 3.81 points.

“No. 1, I believe in civic duty and being involved in the community,” said Hartfield, who is the human resource director for Buckstop and has more than a decade of experience as an employee benefits adviser. “I believe in education — I went through and got my master’s — and I want my kids to continue learning throughout their life.”

Hartfield and her family arrived in Central Oregon in May 2014 when they relocated their truck-accessory company that sells and installs heavy-duty winches and winch bumpers from Newberg to Prineville. A graduate of Portland’s Sunset High, Hartfield has three elementary school-age children in the Redmond School District.

“A couple things really impressed me about her,” board member Johnny Corbin said. “She’s been in business. … And this may sound corny, but having a lady on the board that has a different perspective will help this board move in the best direction possible.”

Hartfield said her experience working with employee benefits should be valuable as districts around the state grapple with increasing Public Employees Retirement System costs.

“I’ve seen the ups and downs with the economy and how that affects what’s going on in school districts,” she said Wednesday night. “But you also want to be able to recruit good teachers. It’s a hard balance to maintain.”

School board members Corbin, Rick Bailey, Tim Carpenter and A.J. Losoya voted 4-0 to appoint Hartfield after the scores were tallied.

— Reporter: 541-617-7829,

beastes@bendbulletin.com