Browne, Rushing vie for Cheney School Board position

The Cheney School Board District Director 3 position comes down to two candidates: current school board president Henry Browne, who seeks his first full term as a district director, and former Airway Heights mayor Patrick Rushing, who resigned from his position in August due to health reasons.

District 3 covers part of Four Lakes and the areas north of Four Lakes and west of Spotted Road, including part of the city of Airway Heights.

The board elected Browne, who was born in Liberia and moved to the United States in 1999, as director in December 2012. He replaced former director Larry Haskell, who stepped down after he and his family moved out of the district. Browne said his experience on the school board has been a "positive one."

Rushing was the Airway Heights mayor for six years. His resignation followed a resolution City Council passed in July that declared it had no confidence in him to perform his duties as mayor because of public comments he made on his personal Facebook account that were offensive, derogatory and not representing the views of the city, its staff and residents.

Rushing, who had filed for the director position, prior to his resignation, did not respond to interview requests as of press time. According to his information on the Spokane County Elections website, Rushing felt the Cheney School Board does not respond to issues that pertain to Airway Heights.

"The school board must place more emphasis on the growing educational needs of Airway Heights students," Rushing wrote.

Prior to his resignation, Rushing served on the Airway Heights City Council for 16 years. He also served on different local, county and state boards and commissions.

Browne has two main reasons for running for a full term on the school board. One is that he has the support of the constituents. The other is the district is in a transition period and is experiencing unprecedented growth.

"I feel that I have a lot to contribute to the discussion about leading the district during these times," Browne said. "We already have our longest serving board member (Rick Mount) stepping down this year and not seeking reelection. I therefore believe that it would be a good thing for the district if I am fortunate enough to be elected for a full term."

Two of the school district's concerns have been space and infrastructure. It attempted to remedy these issues with its $44.88 million bond proposal, which failed to pass twice earlier this year. Browne said the district has to do better at engaging the community members about the district's needs and meeting them.

"With the bond measure failing twice, we clearly get the message that a different approach is needed," Browne said. "The needs are still there, and will continue to increase the longer we wait to address them."

Browne added the district needs to do more than just informing the community. He believes they should help get them involved.

"'Engage' is an interesting word that connotes more than just being informed," Browne said. "It means people who are vested and share a sense of ownership, which is the level of involvement we are striving to reach. We are already exploring expanded use of technology to get and stay connected with our community."

Other challenges Browne listed include adequate funding for schools, unfunded mandates and transportation because of the district's large geographical footprint. He also noted that the district continues to receive recognition for its programs.

Browne's goals in his first full term are not much different than the district's. He would like to see funding secured to address the infrastructure needs in the district, beginning with the high school.

"Hopefully we can get our legislators to comply with the state Supreme Court and state constitutional mandate to amply fund basic education," Browne said. "In the meantime we still need to engage our voters as part of the solution."

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].