Voters will decide between current Yelm Community Schools director Denise Hendrickson and challenger Allyn Verbal in the upcoming Nov. 7 general election for the YCS district 3 race.
Prior to the upcoming Nov. 7 general election, Hendrickson and Verbal told the Nisqually Valley News why they’re viable candidates for the seat.
Denise Hendrickson
Denise Hendrickson, who has been a Yelm Community School board director since 1999, said she’s fit for re-election because of her longtime experience on the school board. Aside from her experience, Hendrickson said her work in the community, including her involvement in the Rotary Club, Boys & Girls Club, Yelm Dollars for Scholars, the Thurston County Coalition Against Human Trafficking and more, give her an inside perspective on how the district could benefit from partnerships.
“I have served on this board for 25 years, so I have gained a lot of knowledge and experience as a board member. I think it’s important to have that with the ever-changing landscape of education,” Hendrickson said. “We don’t make decisions by ourselves, so you have to work as a team. I don’t work by myself. I work with four other board members, so I’m one-fifth of a leadership team. I think I bring my own perspective to that position. I think we’ve done a lot of good things in the district, and I’d like to continue that.”
Hendrickson, a military veteran, has lived in the Yelm community for over 40 years. She attended local colleges South Puget Sound Community College and Pacific Lutheran University.
During her tenure, Hendrickson said one of the board’s greatest accomplishments was bringing student representatives onto the school board.
“That was something we heard about several years ago at a conference, and we brought that back with our previous superintendent, Brian Wharton,” Hendrickson said. “We’re now in our fourth group of student representatives. They bring a student voice and a great perspective to our board.
“At our last board meeting at the high school, they were able to demonstrate how they were out in the schools talking about the need for access to different mental health issues and resources,” she continued. “They’re going to be able to use Google Classroom to provide a platform for all the students at the high school and eventually the middle school.”
Hendrickson added other big accomplishments during her time on the board include passing a bond, building two new schools — Yelm Middle School and Southworth Elementary School, and district-wide facility upgrades.
She said perhaps her most important accomplishment, which she described as board-wide, was building a strong connection with the community.
“Community is important. It’s part of our name. We’re Yelm Community Schools, and it’s very important because we can’t be a school district without our community. I think the community is great because we have great schools. I think the schools are great because we have a great community. It’s a very unique bond, and people come to our schools because of both the community and the schools. That’s a great connection, and we’ve had it for years,” Hendrickson said. “If there’s something going on in the community, I’ll go in and work with them. There’s a great partnership between our school district and the community, and we’ll continue to build on that.”
When she was growing up, Hendrickson said her parents always told her that education was the most important tool one could have. This mindset inspired her to be involved in education.
“Education could never be taken from you. It’s an important thing to have because you can’t ever lose it. I want our students to have that because it opens the doors for all opportunities. It’s what got me interested in the school board. I was just interested in education,” Hendrickson said. “I want all of our students to have the opportunity for a great education, and I’m very passionate about it. Whatever things we can put in place for these kids to have strong opportunities is what I’m interested in.”
She said that her passion for education and her desire for student success inspired her to run for re-election. Hendrickson added that kids might be 30% of the city’s population, but they’re “100% of our future,” which is why the position is important to her.
Allyn Verbal
Though it’s her first time running for office, Verbal believes she’s fit for the district 3 school board director position because of how involved she is within the community. She believes building relationships with those immersed in the school district, families and students, is key to improving the school board.
“I think community is so important. If you’re sitting on the school board, have been there for 25 years, and don’t know at least 25 families then you have failed your job. It’s the same people at all the different events. The same people doing the lunches at the senior center, the meetings, the luncheons,” Verbal said. “These are not the majority of people in Yelm, these are not the majority of people in the school district.”
Verbal said when she and her family moved to Yelm in 2019, she knew this would be her “very last move ever” and wanted to involve herself in the community. This included becoming involved in the Citizens Police Academy and the Police Advisory Board and eventually going to Yelm School Board meetings after she put her child into the Yelm school system.
At the first school board meeting she attended, Wharton introduced himself, asked her name, her child’s name and where she goes to school, Verbal said. From that point forward, she was always greeted by the former superintendent on a first-name basis.
“You know who never greeted me? Not a single school board director, and I’ve been there from August to May, sitting in the front row. These five people saw me, and they never spoke to me,” Verbal said. “They didn’t give me a voice, and they’re not visible anywhere. You see them anytime there’s a photo opportunity, but you never see them within the community.”
Verbal, who currently serves as an emergency substitute teacher for Yelm and as the secretary for the YHS Connects booster club, said her experience subbing has given her an idea of what needs to be improved within the schools.
She recalled one time she was warned by both staff and students about the challenge she’d face by substituting a particular class, whose students were described as having behavioral problems. She noted she didn’t have a single problem while subbing that class.
“I had several adults who already decided those kids are problems, to the point where those kids had already agreed that they’re problems,” Verbal said. “These kids have internalized this and see themselves as problem kids, and that’s a failure of the school, the administrators, the teacher. That’s not something a school board member would even know because none of them have boots in the ground in any of these schools.”
Verbal said that if elected, she’d bring a “ship” mentality — ownership, leadership and fellowship — to the board to connect the community with board members. She said having a voice, being visible and feeling valued are critical in creating a strong school district.
“I don’t believe there’s such a thing as bad kids. I think there’s kids that haven’t had boundaries and kids that live in chaos, but that’s outside the power of those children,” Verbal said. “When they come into the school system, we have to control what happens in that gap of when they’re not home. We have to be those role models, that’s our job as educators. I can’t become the head of your household — I don’t want to — but I can be helpful. I can create communities.”
If elected, Verbal said she’d commit to going to one school each Wednesday to get “boots on the ground” in the schools. She’d also provide office hours on Wednesdays so she can listen to parents’ concerns or comments.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I, Allyn, have done. None of that will come with me when I kick the bucket. But I have a heart for service, and I want to help the community. I want to know how I can help you,” Verbal said. “I think the City of Yelm is in some really good hands. The school board, on the other matter, needs to change.”
The candidate said she believes in term limits and that nobody should sit on the board for 15, 20 or 40 years.
Verbal said if elected, she’d be willing and available to connect with the community and that she’s always open for conversation.
“If anything, I’m over-qualified for this,” Verbal said. “I come with a track record of creating change and community, and I will stay involved whether I’m elected or not. I’m running because I can affect more change.”
