MATTAWA - Lorraine Jenne is running to stay on the Wahluke School Board in position 3, which she was appointed to fill last January.

She'd like to continue helping implement changes to improve the district in the face of big challenges, she said, the biggest of which is language acquisition.

"Our teachers face a greater challenge than just teaching our new students to read, they must also teach a new language to a large majority of their students," Jenne said of the district, which has one of the highest percentages of English as a Second Language (ESL) students in the state.

Jenne wants to make sure students who are not ESL are given equal opportunities and would like to see more support of student sports programs.

Financially, Jenne would continue the district's policy of keeping a budget reserve of at least 8 percent as a cushion. She said a recent move to immersion-style language acquisition assured the district wouldn't lose $1 million in state funding.

"At this time I believe the greatest need for our district is to improve language acquisition," she said. "It affects learning, it affects our financing from the state and federal government, it affects the interaction that the students have with each other, their teachers, and people of the community."

Jenne has lived in Mattawa with her husband and six children for 24 years, building strong relationships through her involvement as a volunteer in both the school and the wider community.

"I believe we are a community of great potential, but I feel that currently we are very divided by language and I am greatly concerned about the level of crime, mostly gang-related, that we see in our communities," she said.

Jenne sees gangs as a parenting, community and law enforcement problem that leaks into the school system and gets in the way of educating students. She takes a "no-tolerance" policy when it comes to gang activity in schools and thinks Wahluke is doing its part to manage gang activity on the school campus.

"We are working to give them the tools, through education, to provide a good life for themselves and their families," she said.

The election will be held on Nov. 8. Ballots will arrive in the mail.