Longtime Ashland School Board member Eva Skuratowicz to step down at end of current term

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

The city of Ashland’s deputy city manager Jordan Rooklyn filed with Jackson County Elections Office on Monday to vie for position 1 on Ashland School Board, a post held by incumbent Jill Franko for the past four years.

After 16 years on the board, longtime school board member Eva Skuratowicz also announced she will not be running for re-election this May when her term is up. Noelle Christensen filed to replace her in position 3. Skuratowicz told school board members and those gathered for an information session on how to run for school board the news on Monday evening in the council chamber on East Main Street. Hers is among three seats opening up on the school board, with Franko and Rebecca Dyson running for re-election in their respective positions.

“Historically, for a long time in Ashland, people ran unopposed,” Skuratowicz said. “It looks like that’s not going to be the case.

“If you’re going to run, you’ll be running against someone,” she added. 

“We want to encourage people to run, so if you’re interested, absolutely consider it.”

The board held the meeting to do just that — help those looking to throw their hat in the ring with a few pointers on what to expect when running and serving on the board. Skuratowicz has served 16 years on the board, with Franko and Dyson serving four years each.

Franko is one of two members of the Sunstone Housing Collaborative, a nonprofit aimed at increasing enrollment at the district and keeping employees and families in the district as well as bringing in more. She also serves on the Ashland Schools Foundation and is treasurer of the Long Term Recovery Group. She is a corporate insurance broker and a health and productivity consultant. Franko is a graduate of Sonoma State University.

Dyson, who serves as chair, is a physician at Mount Shasta Radiology. She served as an attending physician at Harvard Medical School and is a graduate of Stanford University. She holds a medical degree from University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

Christensen, board secretary for the Sunstone Housing Collaborative, is self-employed in supply chain and operations consulting. She has 25 years in supply chain and operations, and has worked at Harry & David and Musician’s Friend. She launched her own consulting business in 2024. Christensen is a graduate of Southern Oregon University and Western Governors University.

Rooklyn, an Ashland High School graduate, served as city manager for the city of Talent from 2021 to 2023. She also served as performance analyst for the city of Portland’s Water, Police & Transportation Bureaus from 2016-2021. Rooklyn holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Washington.

During the question-and-answer session, Dyson, who serves as school board chair, laid out what the school board does for those interested in the job.

“We hire the superintendent,” Dyson said, whose role is to execute school policy.

“We are only in charge of one person.

“Everything that we do has to do with providing his vision for the district and it’s up to the superintendent to actually implement that at the lower levels.”

The school board doesn’t create the school budget, but reviews and votes to approves it each year, Dyson said. 

“We approve all curriculum changes, we set the goals that the district is working towards … and we are here as a connection between the school district and the community,” Dyson said.

Additional duties include setting the school calendar and serving as an appeals board, as well as being involved in asking voters to approve bond efforts, in addition to engaging with other community members and leaders. 

“We get to be part of the graduation ceremony for the high school and be involved in a lot of events that go on at the various schools,” Dyson said.

Dyson opened up about some of the challenges of being on the board, too.

“Time commitment is …  a lot,” she said. “I will be very open there. If you look at our meeting schedule, it doesn’t look that bad. Every other Thursday, we have a three-hour meeting essentially, but it’s a lot more than that. There’s a lot of other meetings that we go to. We are all part of various other committees beyond just the school board itself and obviously we spend a lot of time on email and responding to the community and doing other outreach, so it is a very significant time commitment.”

Dyson also shared that one challenge can be having a lot of confidential information that an individual cannot always share with the public.

“Obviously you’re going to bump into your colleagues at the grocery store so sometimes you can find yourself in a bit of an awkward situation if you’ve done something that people don’t agree with,” she said.

The board holds retreats in the summer and winter as well as a significant amount of material to read prior to each meeting.

Every November, school board members spend three days at the OSBA conference that provides for networking and training.

Oregon School Board Association serves as a resource to all board members and Dyson said school board members are able to call the organization with questions.

Dyson recalled joining school board four years ago.

“You have your kids, your kids are in a school, you’re focused on that school, you’re focused on what your kids need,” she said. “When you join the board, you have to put that all aside – you really do. You have to look at what the whole district needs, what every student needs. You cannot be focused on what your kids need.

“So there definitely was times when I had to act against what I might have said, ‘Well this is best for my student,’” she added. 

Skuratowicz added that those wishing to run for the board based on a single issue might reconsider.

“I had some things I was very passionate about, I ended up completely putting those aside,” Skuratowicz said. “You have to do what’s best for all kids.”

Dyson also emphasized that processes can be a bit slower than desired.

“Things do not happen fast,” Dyson said. 

Dyson emphasized the need for those wishing to run for the posts to be able to digest a lot of complex information.

“We all have different areas of expertise so it’s really nice to have that balance of people,” she said, noting it’s not necessary to be an expert in all things.

“We still each have our own area we can kind of pursue with our particular passion.”

The ability to make difficult decisions under pressure is highly valued on the board.

“That is definitely real – a lot of the things that we do, you realize no matter what you do, you’re going to make people angry,” she said. “You cannot please everybody.”

Dyson also noted that no individual board member has power.

“Only the board acting as a body has decision-making authority,” Dyson said. 

“Nothing happens till we vote as a group to approve something.”

Dyson said that while some boards around the state and the nation can be contentious, it is not so with the current school board.

“It is a pleasant board to work with,” she said.

School board member Russell Hatch reiterated what he learned from a previous board member.

“Don’t expect yourself to know everything, especially that first year,” said Hatch, who has served on the board for two years. “It is OK to learn on the job.”

OSBA has information on its website on how to run for a position on the school board at osba.org.

The last day to file for school board positions is Thursday, March 20.

American Association of University Women (AAUW) will host a candidate forum for school board candidates with a chance to ask candidates questions from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, in the Ashland High School auditorium. The event is open to the public.

Email Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].

March 12: Added that Noelle Christensen is board secretary for the Sunstone Housing Collaborative.