The Banks School District offices. Photo: Chas Hundley
Raymond Mott has been on the Banks School Board for eight years, and that’s enough. The two-term board member withdrew his candidacy and endorsed his would-be opponent, Corissa Mazurkiewicz.
“The reality is, I didn’t think anyone else was going to run,” Mott said in a phone call with the Banks Post. He noted his enjoyment of working with the youth in the Banks School District and with the schools in the district.
“My kids went there, my wife went there, my brothers went there, my sister went there, family’s been there for a long time,” Mott said.
Mott said he’s been on the board long enough, and when he looked up the credentials of Mazurkiewicz, he was impressed.
“It doesn’t hurt to have some new ideas,” Mott said.
“From what I find, she’s a good person. If that’s what you want to call an endorsement, I say yes. I don’t know her personally, and I did ask some other people about her, and I looked her up online,” Mott said.
Mott noted her work experience — Sunset High School in the past among others, Pacific University currently, according to Corissa Mazurkiewicz’ filing information — and his belief that his tenure on the board was long enough. He counts his role in installing current Banks School District Superintendent Jeff Leo among his chief accomplishments as a school board member.
Mott said that calling the last year during the COVID-19 pandemic while serving as a school board member strange was “putting it lightly,” and offered the following advice to anyone looking to serve on the school board:
“Don’t have an agenda. Do not have an agenda. Come in to help,” he said.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
