This letter is to introduce Mrs. Sally Anderson Hansell, who is running for a position on the Hermiston School Board.

Mrs. Hansell grew up in Hermiston, graduated from Hermiston High School, and went on to get her degree in law. She is a practicing attorney in Hermiston. She has three children in the Hermiston schools at this time; she also has to school her husband, Tyler Hansell, occasionally.

Mrs. Hansell has seen what COVID has done to her children’s education and believes your children have been affected too. She believes that school is more than learning to read, write and mathematics — it is a place where discipline and respect are taught. School is a place where children see old friends and make new ones.

In Hermiston, some children eat two meals a day at school. In a way, school is a mirror of society where children learn to deal with the same problems that Mom and Dad do every day. Many of these things have been taken from our children during the COVID era. How and when will these losses be replaced?

I haven’t read or heard of any concrete plan to do that. I don’t believe this is the fault of the local schools, educators, board or administration. I do believe that if you elect Mrs. Hansell, she will absolutely make sure that these problems will be solved for our children.

Please join me in voting for Mrs. Hansell in the May 18 election.

Mike Mehren

Hermiston

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We will publish our last letters on Saturday, May 15. Any letters received after the deadline will not run. Election Day is May 18.