Video image from the April 25 meeting of the Bend-La Pine Schools board.

The question for voters for the May Bend-La Pine School Board election is about who is best equipped to lead the district forward.

Concern about student learning and graduation rates never goes away. Changes in disciplinary practices at the districts are well intended but have raised questions from staff and parents. There are planned changes in grading practices. And if there is one term we heard over and over from school board candidates, it was “disregulated” student behavior.

We recommend voters support Cameron Fischer for the Zone 3 seat, Amy Tatom for the Zone 5 seat and Elizabeth Justema for Zone 7.

We will be following up with an endorsement in the Zone 6 race shortly. We were just able to reach one of the candidates this week.

Fischer is an instructor at Oregon State University. She has been a special education teacher and also has served on Bend’s Human Rights and Equity Commission. She has had two children in the school system since kindergarten. She told us her priorities are engagement, student belonging and partnerships. That is all about creating a platform where students are best able to learn. She has relevant experience and training that make her a great fit for the board.

Her opponent, Christopher Strengberg, is a father who told us he knows the challenge of navigating the system with a special needs child. He is on a path to be an educator himself. He doesn’t have the experience to offer as much as Fischer.

Tatom, who is seeking to return to the Zone 5 position, is a family nurse practitioner. She has children in the district. She believes the biggest immediate challenge may be student behavior that can interfere with learning. Teachers can be in a classroom trying to get students to read and write and other things and may have multiple kids who are not enabling the other students to focus. Tatom wants to ensure teachers and students have the supports they need so students can learn.

Her opponent, Sherrie Grieef, has retired after working in children’s behavioral health. She has firsthand experience with the foster care system and suicide prevention. One of her immediate goals is to open up the district’s public comment period, allowing everyone to speak and allowing parents more time than a few minutes. Grieef’s experience would be valuable to the board. Tatom has valuable expertise she can lend to the board and can return to the board already up to speed on its many challenges.

Our interview with Justema was in some ways the most interesting. She is a former teacher in the Bend-La Pine Schools. She gave an insightful rundown of the world from that perspective and new district policies in grading and discipline. She wants higher expectations for student behavior and performance and more accountability. We encourage you to check out her interview with us here: tinyurl.com/Justemainterview. It was that compelling to us.

Kina Chadwick has been on the board briefly after being appointed. Rod Hanson has been a teacher in the Redmond schools and at Central Oregon Community College. Nicole Fitch was a teacher and assistant principal in California.

There would be nothing wrong with having any of them on the board. We don’t believe Justema’s opponents offer as much as she does to the board.

Our recommendation: Vote Fischer, Tatom and Justema.