10 people are running for Tumwater school board. Here are their priorities
Ten people filed paperwork to run for positions on the Tumwater School District board of directors before the deadline earlier this month
Six of them running for two seats will face off in the August primary election. Dean Mings, Julie Watts and Sarah Overbay are running for the District No. 1 seat; incumbent Ty Kuehl is running to keep his District No. 3 seat but faces challengers Daniel Mies and Jeff (Cowboy) Curry.
Four other candidates will face off on the November ballot. Incumbent Melissa Determan Beard will face challenger Aimee Staudt for the District 4 seat, and Rob Warren and Mike McGowan will face off for the District 5 seat.
The Olympian reached out to the candidates to learn more about why they’re running. Rights for all students, including LGBTQ+ students, and a stable budget were at the top of mind for the seven people who responded.
District 1
Julie Watts, Dean Mings and Sarah Overbay are running for the District No. 1 seat on the board. Current director Jill Adams didn’t file to run for re-election.
Watts, a district parent, said she feels like the district lost sight of what school is supposed to be when it took on the debate of whether kids deserve to feel included, referencing the board’s vote earlier this year supporting potential amendments to the state athletics code that would ultimately ban trans girls from participating in girls sports.
“We have seen this anti-trans student resolution that was introduced, and for parents like me, it really made me feel less safe sending my kid to school to know that our school board was not going to support our state’s nondiscrimination laws that protect kids like mine,” she said.
Watts said she believes the board has dragged the community into an unnecessary political fight at a time when it needs to be focused on addressing an unsustainable budget and other issues in the district.
“I have over 25 years of experience working on issues that impact children and our families in our state, and I’ve worked across party lines for years, and I know that we can disagree and still treat people with dignity, and that’s something I really want to bring to the school board,” Watts said.
She said she’s running for District 1, which largely feeds into Black Hills High School, a more rural part of the community she said needs board representation. She said she wants to make sure all schools in the district are treated equitably and all students are given the same opportunities.
Dean Mings said he’s a retired soldier and retired full-time teacher and school counselor. He currently substitutes as a teacher and counselor throughout Thurston County.
Mings said he became interested in civic opportunities while he lived outside the U.S. in the Army and as a counselor with Department of Defense Schools, when he was unable to participate. Two things he wanted to do were serve on a jury and run for an elected office. He’s done the first one, and now it’s time for the second.
Mings said he looked into running for the school board following the board’s vote on trans student athlete participation. He said he believes all students and all points of view should be heard.
“Government moves slowly for a reason,” he said. “Decisions should not be made in haste as the resolution seems to have been done.”
Mings said he also believes in a school district keeping a balanced budget. He wants to ensure the district maintains smaller student-teacher ratios and that proper support staff are available to help in the classroom.
“School systems can only function at their highest levels when the parents, students, school staff and other community entities see the value in public education and pull together toward high expectations and clearly articulated educational goals,” Mings said.
Sarah Overbay said she’s a mother of six children and a state licensed foster parent. Two of her children have graduated from Tumwater, and she’s a member of the district’s Budget Advisory Committee and Equity Committee.
Overbay said she’s running for the board to ensure it continues prioritizing its policies toward education, and to help establish a sustainable budget. She also said the board shouldn’t get distracted from “our mission to provide foundational learning to all students.”
District 3
Director Ty Kuehl is running to keep his District No. 3 seat on the board after the board appointed him last year. He’s running against Daniel Mies and Jeff (Cowboy) Curry.
Daniel Mies said he’s a district parent who has had three kids graduate from Tumwater. His youngest is set to start kindergarten in the fall. He said he’s running for the board because dads fix things when they break, and he feels like something broke when the board voted to support potential amendments to state athletics code.
“I’ve been paying attention to the news and I feel like something broke earlier this year when the board decided to start excluding students,” he said. “I don’t think schools should be looking to be making exclusive policies that isolate and discriminate against gender identity.”
Mies said Tumwater was founded on the idea of being inclusive, with Black pioneer George Bush and his family being the first non-native settlers of the area.
He said the board’s decision earlier this year wasn’t evocative of Tumwater’s values, but that the protest that followed was.
Mies said he doesn’t think money should be in politics. Therefore, he’s running a mini campaign all by himself, with family support.
The Olympian was unable to reach Kuehl and Curry for comment.
District 4
Director Melissa Beard is running to keep her District No. 4 seat on the board against Aimee Staudt.
Beard has been on the board since 2016. She said she’s excited about the direction the district is taking under Superintendent Kevin Bogatin. She said the board will be going through a strategic planning process this year, which hasn’t been done since before she was elected.
“I’ve never really seen how a strategic plan can really help a district meet its goals,” she said. “And so I’m really excited to be able to use the strategic plan for the board to make budget decisions and be able to hold the district accountable to the goals we have.”
Beard said one of her priorities since 2016 has been on including students’ voices and the idea that all students should have a positive experience in school. She said transgender students are part of all students.
She said one of the reasons she first ran for the board was because she learned from an old friend from high school that their experience in school was a lot less positive than Beard’s.
“I got a lot of help to go to college. And, you know, I got brought into the career center. They were showing scholarships, all of this stuff,” she said. “And I didn’t realize not everyone had that same experience in high school.”
Beard said she wants all students to feel that there’s someone at school who cares about what they will be doing after they leave. She said the debate around trans student participation in athletics is part of that, because there are students who feel they’re not an equal part of the community.
“I understand that this got a lot of people interested, but for me, it’s just one part of the reason I’m on it is because all students, I want to make sure all students feel that they have the support of the school district,” she said.
Staudt said she’s running for the board to assure the district remains a top district choice for families.
“I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to the important work of prioritizing student academic achievement and success,” she said. “Partnership with parents, students, and teachers to achieve this goal will be my focus as we navigate some tough issues facing public education right now including funding shortfalls, student enrollment and student proficiency scores.”
She said she believes the district can achieve great things with the right leadership.
“I have a strong commitment to use common sense while moving forward,” she said.
District 5
Rob Warner and Mike McGowan filed to run for the District No. 5 seat. Current director Darby Kaikkonen didn’t file to run again.
McGowan said his family is in the district, but it isn’t just personal for him. He said he spent 27 years as a youth librarian working closely with teachers, administration and families in public schools. He also served on the Yelm City Council until 2015.
He said the Tumwater School District faces the same big challenges as many other public schools across the country.
“Not the least of these challenges are potential budget shortfalls,” he said. “I am confident that my experience serving nine years on the Budget Committee of the Yelm City Council gives me the technical know-how to understand these issues and effect practical solutions to achieve positive outcomes for our community.”
The Olympian was unable to reach Warner. According to previous reporting, he’s the lead pastor of the South Sound Foursquare Church in Tumwater and has served on the board of multiple nonprofit organizations.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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