Providing an invitation to a political candidate to speak to a class during election season is in conflict with Puyallup School District protocol and policy.  Inviting candidate Melanie Stambaugh to speak to AVID students at Emerald Ridge High School on Monday, October 13, without also inviting Representative Dawn Morrell to speak to the same group of students in the same format was wrong and should not have occurred during an election campaign.

We apologize to Melanie Stambaugh for the unwelcoming behavior demonstrated at Emerald Ridge High School earlier this week.  While sharing her perspective as a small business owner and successful graduate of Emerald Ridge she was asked to cease her comments and leave the building because of a perceived conflict of interest and conflict with school board policy 4400 regarding use of school district facilities to further a political campaign.

A building site team invited candidate Melanie Stambaugh to speak as a former student without consideration of her active role in a political campaign.  The invitation to a political candidate to speak to a class during a political campaign does not align with school district policy and protocol and was wrong.

We apologize again to Melanie Stambaugh and Dawn Morrell for allowing this situation to take place.