Franko’s withdrawal as a candidate — she’ll complete her term — leaves 9 candidates for three seats; Gaffney switches school board races, will oppose Jordan Rooklyn

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

Citing plans to move out of the school district area for family reasons in the future, incumbent Ashland School Board member Jill Franko withdrew Friday from the race for her seat in the upcoming special election on May 20. 

Ann M. Gaffney also withdrew from the race for position No. 3 school board race, but filed the same day for Position 1 — Franko’s current seat — and will face Jordan Rooklyn in the upcoming election.

As of Thursday, March 20, filing deadline, three more individuals filed for open posts, bringing the total number of contenders for open posts to eight newcomers and one incumbent. 

Deltra Ferguson filed for Position 3 on Tuesday, March 18, joining Noelle Christensen and Susanne McGraw. Elisa Hawkley and Grant Jolliffe both filed for Position 4 on Thursday, March 20, in addition to Alex Sol, and incumbent Rebecca Dyson — the only incumbent left in the race. 

After 16 years on the board, Eva Skuratowicz announced March 11 she would not run for reelection to the Position 3 post this July when her term is officially up. 

Franko is a founding board member 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 by furnishing attainable housing. 

Franko said she filed, knowing she wanted to continue to serve, but also had time to make her final decision and change her mind by March 20.

Once she met Jordan Rooklyn, Franko said she felt it was right for her to bow out of the race, knowing with plans to move, she couldn’t fulfill another term on the board.

“I really appreciate her holistic view on the district and recognizing that we need to be really focused on our children and not just be (running on a) single issue,” Franko said of Rooklyn.

She plans to fulfill the extent of her term on the school board and to continue to serve on the Sunstone board in her current capacity through July 1. After that, the board will appoint a fellow school board member to the board. She plans to continue volunteering for the board after that time, according to an interview with Ashland.news on Monday.

“I wish my term was not up — I have so much good, positive work I’ve been doing and initiatives that I’ve been a part of and started … four years can really fly by or it can move really, really slowly and this four years has really kind of flew by,” Franko said. “I wanted to continue the work, so that’s why I entered to run again, but the truth was, I knew our family was moving.”

Franko said her family is still deciding on the timing of their next move.

“It was really a family decision,” she added, of deciding to bow out of the race.

Franko and other members of the school board have faced some scrutiny from those who have asked for the location of the Sunstone housing project to be changed, due to the need shared by some in the community for an athletic field near Ashland High School.

Dyson promised during a public meeting that the district would provide students with an athletic field close to Ashland High School, and likely will use a field at Lincoln School, according to a previous Ashland.news story.

While many pieces of the project are “malleable” such as parking and services offered on site at the development, she emphasized the location cannot be changed at this point, as previously reported by Ashland.news. 

Franko encourages local residents to attend listening sessions hosted by the Ashland School District, such as the recent open house at Ashland High School’s public library last week where developers answered community questions and shared plans for a housing development at the southeast corner of East Main Street and South Mountain Avenue.

“Keep coming and talking through solutions – We really hope people are coming if they are in opposition to any element of it,” she said.

Gaffney switches races

On Friday, Gaffney noticed that the race for Position No. 1 had thinned down to a no contest, so, while she had previously filed for Position No. 3, she decided to withdraw from that race and file to run against Rooklyn.

“There’re four people in Position 3 and position 4 at that point – that’s a lot of people in the race and I also knew just from being around town that Jill did have plans to move,” Gaffney said. “It’s real simple, it’s a numbers game, it cuts the pool in half.

“It had nothing to do with running against Jordan,” she added. “In fact, I think Jordan’s a wonderful person — she and I have met and chatted and and we have a lot in common. … Frankly, all of them are wonderful people. It’s about choosing the best candidate from where we happen to fall.”

Gaffney is the senior manager of core Mathematics curriculum development with MIND Education. She earned her Doctorate of Education in Leadership & Learning from Rivier University and a Master’s of Education from Lesley University in Elementary Education.

“I think so many people are in the race this time because the budget issue highlighted that there are some problems that needed to be worked out,” Gaffney said. “We have a great community and many, many people moved to Ashland for the schools and so it doesn’t surprise me that when people feel like the schools are in trouble, they jump up to help. And that’s what I think we’re seeing right now is so many people saying, ‘Yes, I care about the schools and I want to help make sure that we’re doing things right.”

Jordan Rooklyn

City of Ashland Deputy City Manager Jordan Rooklyn is running for Position 1 on the Ashland School Board, a post held by incumbent Jill Franko for the past four years.

Rooklyn is an Ashland High School graduate, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from University of Montana. She holds a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Washington.

Rooklyn served as the city manager of Talent from 2021-2023. She also served as a performance analyst for City of Portland’s Water, Police & Transportation Bureaus from 2016-2021.

Susanne McGraw

McGraw, a volunteer with Helman Elementary School Site Council, is running for Position 3. She also serves as president of Rogue Events Collective Board.

McGraw said she has no prior government experience, but has a background in education. She served as an elementary teacher for a Santa Cruz Montessori School, in addition to Head of Schools for Montessori Scotts Valley and as Primary Teacher for Montessori School of Fremont.

She holds a Master’s Degree of Education from Loyola University of Maryland along with an Elementary Teaching Diploma from Montessori Training Center of Milwaukee and a Primary Teaching Diploma from Montessori Training Center of British Columbia. 

Noelle Christensen

Christensen, also a Sunstone Housing Collaborative board member, 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.

Deltra Ferguson

Deltra Ferguson retired as executive director of the Resolve For Dispute Resolution in 2024 after serving in the role for 12 years. She also served as director of the Women’s Resource Center from 2004 to 2011. 

Ferguson was appointed by former Ashland Mayor John Morrison to serve as a member of the Siskiyou Safety Committee to improve pedestrian safety near Southern Oregon University and Ashland High School in 2008.

She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from University of Oregon. She is a 1992 doctoral graduate of Northwestern University.

Alex Sol

Sol is the former artistic director of The Dream House Theatre Ensemble and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Sol said he has no prior government experience, but has run the nonprofit Safe Zone Solutions. He attended Killian High School through 11th grade and studied acting and directing for four years at Lee Strasberg Theatre Academy.

Elisa Hawkley

Elisa Hawkley is a secondary special education teacher at North Medford High School. She has a background as a Day Treatment Milieu specialist, residential treatment, and contract services for Medford and Ashland School Districts. She also has served as an English teacher for Armadillo Technical Institute and a special education teacher for Phoenix and Eagle Point High Schools respectively.

Grant Jolliffe

Grant Jolliffe, an Ashland High School and SOU graduate, currently works as a Family Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Medical Director at Providence Medical Center. 

Joliffe said he doesn’t have government experience, but has a background as a registered nurse, shipping manager and realty/property manager.

Joliffe earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Oregon Health & a Masters of Arts in Nursing from George Washington University.  

Rebecca Dyson

Dyson, who currently serves as school board chair, is a physician with a specialty in diagnostic radiology at Mercy Medical Center in Mount Shasta, California. 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.

Note: Look for additional candidate interviews in upcoming Ashland.news coverage.

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

Related story: Ashland School Board faces contested races for all open posts in May election (March 18, 2025)