Puyallup
School Board Director Pat Donovan and newcomer Kathy Yang have each won
four-year terms on the school board, according to certified November
General Election results.

Superintendent
Tim Yeomans administered the oath of office to both Donovan and Yang at
the December 2 Puyallup School Board meeting.
Pat Donovan
Pat Donovan won a second four-year term after receiving nearly 74 percent of the vote in a race against Noreen Wolfe.
Donovan
was appointed to the school board in early 2009 to fill a vacancy left
by former Director Bruce Dammeier. Later that year, he was elected to
his first four-year term.
Since
then, Donovan has served most of the four years as the board’s
legislative representative. He represents the district on legislative
issues both locally and statewide and makes several trips to the state
Capitol in Olympia during special legislative sessions.
“It’s
important to keep those areas of dialogue open and be available as a
resource for our legislators,” he said, especially when it comes to
providing state resources to public education.
“Recent education reform has been placing higher demands on our system in the face of shrinking budgets,” he said.
The
52-year-old father of two said he looks forward to continuing to
provide leadership and educate the community about needs such as
increasing academic rigor, providing adequate facilities to accommodate
projected enrollment growth, maintaining safe schools, serving English
Language Learners and homeless students, expanding full-day kindergarten
districtwide, and offering more educational program choices.
“We
need to get ahead of the growth projected over the next eight to 10
years and be able to meet students’ needs by offering them more academic
choices that are relevant to their learning,” he said.
Donovan
is especially interested in considering an International Baccalaureate
(IB) program; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)
offerings; and enhanced Career and Technical Education classes —
especially those that have a strong emphasis on international relations.
“We
have huge global partners in Boeing and Microsoft,” he said, adding the
district needs to continue to foster community and business
partnerships and stay current in its technology.
“We have to prepare our kids to compete in the world and be a productive part of society,” he said.
Donovan
has been an active school volunteer and PTA member. He is a two-time
recipient of the Golden Acorn award, which is given annually to
deserving school volunteers throughout the school district.
He
also served on a citizens committee that worked toward the successful
passage of the 2004 school bond, which funded the construction of three
new schools, two replacement schools, several school remodels, and
districtwide technology improvements.
After
that election, Donovan served on a Bond Oversight Committee to review
the 2004 bond projects, site selection, and building designs to assure
that taxpayer dollars were used in the most cost-effective manner.
Donovan
has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Pacific
Lutheran University and an associate’s degree in emergency medical
services from Tacoma Community College.
He
was promoted last spring to deputy fire chief with Central Pierce Fire
and Rescue after having served as an assistant chief and a battalion
chief.
He
and his wife, Tricia, have lived on South Hill since 1993. Tricia works
as an elementary education coordinator at Bethany Baptist Church in
Puyallup.
Their
oldest son, Ryan, graduated from Emerald Ridge High School in 2010,
attended Pacific Lutheran University, and is studying Norwegian to
prepare to work internationally in areas of peace and conflict
resolution. Their youngest son, Connor, is a senior this year at Rogers
High School.
Kathy Yang
Newcomer Kathy Yang edged out challenger Karen Edwards to win the election with 50.91 percent of the vote.
Yang fills the seat formerly held by Greg Heath, who decided not to seek another term.
The newest director hasn’t wasted any time in getting acquainted with her board responsibilities.
In
November, Yang attended a new board member orientation presented by the
Washington State School Directors Association. She has also met with
former school board members to discuss the role and regularly attends
school board meetings and district events.
One
of her first orders of business, she said, will be to visit schools
throughout the district and meet with Puyallup Education Association
President Karen McNamara.
“I
want to get a dialogue going right away and understand teachers’
needs,” she said. Effective communication with the community and
employees is key, she said, to keeping people informed about the
district.
“There
may be points where we disagree, but if we talk and keep the dialogue
going, we have more chances to find common ground and understand one
another,” she said.
Yang
is passionate about a series of education issues, including addressing
future enrollment growth, providing students with up-to-date technology,
offering families a choice of more educational programs such as
International Baccalaureate and STEM, and developing partnerships with
area businesses.
“I
love the traditions in Puyallup and the fact that so many teachers grew
up here and came back to teach here,” she said. “I want to be able to
move this district forward without losing all of those strong
foundations that make Puyallup what it is today. There is a fine balance
of keeping great traditions and not becoming stagnant so that our kids
can be prepared to go out into the world and become more global.”
The
43-year-old mother of two is also eager to educate the community about
the upcoming February 11, 2014 school levy election. The Puyallup School
District is proposing two school levies in that election — an
Educational Programs and Operations Replacement Levy and a School
Facility Improvements and Technology Upgrades Levy.
Yang
has been an active school volunteer over the past decade, including
serving as the Shaw Road Elementary PTA Membership co-chair and a Kalles
Junior High Booster Club member.
She
has also held several volunteer roles in the community, including
serving nine years on the Good Samaritan Foundation Board of Directors
and helping as a Sunday school and youth group teacher at church.
Her goal, she said, is to help students reach their full potential in school.
“I
would like students to understand that education is their best means to
achieve their dreams,” she said. “I want to raise expectations and see
our culture change, where education is viewed as a great opportunity by
our kids and not something to be taken for granted.”
Yang
has a law degree and master’s degree in taxation from the University of
Washington, and a bachelor’s degree in English from Northwestern
University in Illinois.
Born
in Korea, Yang and her husband, Anthony Kim, have lived in Puyallup
since 1999. She works part-time as an assistant operations manager at
Dreamline Construction in Sumner, and her husband is a general surgeon
in Puyallup.
Their daughter, Jordan, is a sophomore at Puyallup High and their son, Jonas, is a seventh grader at Kalles Junior High.