I urge voters living in the Pendleton School District to join me in voting for Briana Spencer for Position 7 on the Pendleton School Board.

I have lived in Pendleton for almost 21 years. In that time, I am unable to recall any school board candidate who possessed the unique combination of accomplishments and experience that she would bring to the board. The endorsements by numerous others, including our former police chief, Stuart Roberts, speak to her ability to work productively with people who have differing perspectives to obtain tangible results that benefit us all.

People often give lip service to “working collaboratively,” but in my experience, few have the skills to actually accomplish it. Briana Spencer has these skills.

These skills will be especially useful to our board, given the heightened tension of the present time. She also has served on the Nixya’awii Community School Board, the Washington State Indian Board of Directors and the CTUIR Education and Training Committee. This experience would also be asset to our board. If elected, she will hit the ground running.

I do not endorse Briana Spencer lightly, as I have tremendous respect for Pat Gregg, both professionally and personally. However, the skills and experience offered by Briana Spencer persuade me that she is the better choice for Position 7 on the Pendleton School Board.

Kit Morgan

Pendleton

The East Oregonian does not run endorsements of more than 400 words.

The East Oregonian will institute a deadline for letters to the editor, so we can be fair with all the letters we receive and allow for responses before Election Day, if necessary.

We run local letters of endorsement on a first-come, first-served basis. Please submit your endorsement letters to the editor by 5 p.m. on Friday, May 7. You can email them to editor@eastoregonian.com, or mail them to East Oregonian, c/o Andrew Cutler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801.

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