Local voters will decide between current Yelm Community Schools (YCS) board director and president Bill Hauss and challenger Kay Anderson for the Yelm Community Schools District 5 race in the general election, Nov. 7. Hauss and Anderson told the Nisqually Valley News why they’re viable candidates for the position.
Bill Hauss
Serving as YCS District 5 director since 2004, Hauss said the community aspect in the YCS acronym means everything to him.
“I’m very proud of the way the community has supported the schools and, on the other hand, the schools supporting the community,” Hauss said. “For years, I was on the volunteer fire department in Roy, and things weren’t going correctly for my liking. I figured ‘what else could I do,’ and I saw an opening on the board. My name was put on the list, and once I got the job, I’ve loved it ever since. It’s the best non-paying job I’ve ever had, and it’s really rewarding.”
Throughout his time on the school board, Hauss has involved himself in the community and has earned the Yelm High School Volunteer of the Year award from 2021 to 2023.
“I honestly wish I could do more,” Hauss said. “I’ve been on the school board for almost 20 years, and did almost 20 years in the Pierce County Fire District 17 fire department. I’ve been a part of Dollars for Scholars for over 10 years. This year, we went to the Boys & Girls Club auction down in Lacey and had a great time.”
Hauss’s vision for the future of YCS includes constant improvements in the schools, including test scores and safety upgrades to ensure all the facilities are “as safe as possible.”
“One thing I’d like to continue to do is making sure the kids have plenty of support for their well being. I’m really proud of the student reps for introducing this, too,” Hauss said in reference to YHS student-representatives on the school board who recently introduced mental health resources to their classmates through Google Classroom. “Brian Wharton started the student representative program, and I’d like to continue working with what the kids want to do. I love what the kids have done. I think that program is something that’s been needed for a long time. We’ve got a great bunch of kids in the schools.”
Hauss said local voters should re-elect him because of the track record the current school board has. He said the board has completed many projects within the last several years, including building two new schools and keeping promises. He added the current school board has been working hard to make sure testing scores continue to climb.
“If re-elected, we’d keep working forward on what we’re doing now. We’d keep working on the improvements we have planned. To me, it takes five people on the board to keep moving forward. If you have something that you really want to work on, you have to communicate that to the other board members. I believe we all have pretty much the same outlook,” Hauss said. “I’m working the hardest I can to give all the kids a great education. It doesn’t matter to me if they want to go to college, trade school or work, I just want to give these kids an opportunity to be as successful as possible.”
Kay Anderson
Anderson has prior elected experience serving on Prairie Elementary’s Special Needs PTA and feels her background working with children with special needs and having a child with special needs makes her a strong candidate.
“I’m a parent. I’ve had two students that have graduated from the Yelm School District and two that are enrolled currently,” Anderson said. “I feel like there needs to be change on the school board because there’s thoughts and ideas that I have that include neurotypical kids, special needs kids, gifted kids, that pertain to what the current needs of the district are.”
Anderson, who has a masters degree in mental health counseling and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, said, if elected, she has several areas of improvement listed as her areas of focus. The candidate said she’s seen and heard from other parents about the amount of fights at the middle and high school schools, and questions why.
“Finding out that ‘why’ will help parents and district understand a little better and allow our district to find better ways to combat the violence in our schools,” Anderson said.
She said another focus of hers would be improving communications between the board and the community, despite how large Yelm Community Schools is.
“I want to be able to help families feel connected to school board members because they know they have someone on their side,” Anderson said.
The candidate added that the solutions the board has presented to improve resources for students’ social-emotional health is good, but feels there is still more work to be done within social-emotional health for them.
Anderson said she was inspired to run for the position to provide a voice for everyone within the school district. She recalled an incident in 2016 where her special needs child was assaulted by a teacher, which was reported by the Nisqually Valley News in December of that year. She said there were no guidelines to protect her son, and she had to demand information and that actions be taken to ensure her son’s safety.
“It was rough. I actually expected the school to have my son’s back, not even mine, but my son’s,” Anderson said. “It took us a year and a half before we got a lawyer involved because I thought highly of school systems. I do think highly of the school systems, and there’s been some amazing changes within the district, but it took a lot to get to that point.”
Anderson said, if elected, she wants to make positive changes and improve availability and connections with parents and students within YCS.
“Everyone talks about inclusion. Everyone talks about including different ideas. As a parent of a special needs child, I do not feel included and many other parents do not feel included,” she said. “My vision is to be able to have us be accessible to families. I want to be able to connect families in a way and have a community. I know the school board is truly about community, but I think there needs to be more for parents to feel like they’re connected, that their opinions matter.”
Anderson’s past experience with the district includes her participation on the Special Needs PTA, which was the only special needs PTA within YCS. She said it dissolved because the group didn’t have the connection they wanted with the school board. She’s also served on the Special Needs Advisory Board for YCS, worked with the Nisqually Indian Tribe and volunteers for different booster clubs within the community.
“I have a pretty good grasp on not what our district needs, but being able to hear what our families feel the district needs in order to make it the best school district,” Anderson said. “We also have the special needs support network on Facebook. It helps get resources [and] advocates for families, and we’re almost up to 300 members now. It’s vital in a community like ours to have a place for people to find their people in a place where they can be heard and supported.”
