Dean Mings (Tumwater School District school board District 1, Washington, candidate 2025)
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Dean Mings ran for election to the Tumwater School District school board District 1 in Washington. He was on the ballot in the primary on August 5, 2025.[source]
Mings completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Dean Mings provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on July 8, 2025:
- Birth date: October 3, 1955
- Birth place: Excelsior Springs, Missouri
- High school: Orrick High School, Orrick, MO
- Bachelor's: Southwest MIssouri State, 1984
- Graduate: Bowie State University, 2010
- Military service: United States Army, 1974-2006
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Christian
- Profession: Educator
- Prior offices held:
- Parent Teacher Organization president (2015-2017)
- Parent Teacher Organization President (1994-1996)
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Listen, learn, lead.
- Campaign website
Elections
General election
General election for Tumwater School District school board District 1
Sarah Overbay and Julie Watts are running in the general election for Tumwater School District school board District 1 on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Sarah Overbay (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Julie Watts (Nonpartisan) | ||
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Tumwater School District school board District 1
Dean Mings, Sarah Overbay, and Julie Watts ran in the primary for Tumwater School District school board District 1 on August 5, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Dean Mings (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Sarah Overbay (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Julie Watts (Nonpartisan) | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Election results
Endorsements
Mings received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dean Mings completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mings' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a retired educator with over 30 years experience as a teacher and school counselor. I am also a retired Army soldier, enlisted then an officer with over 30 years of service. In the last 5 years I have been working in the Tumwater schools as a substitute counselor for many months at a time. I have worked in most of the Tumwater school buildings. I have gotten to know students, teachers, parents and administrators while understanding the Tumwater School District’s culture.
- I want voters to remember that I have a history of working in the education field, caring for students for over 30 years. The Tumwater schools are a wonderful place to attend schools. Caring staff - bus drivers, paraprofessionals, lunchroom staff, custodial staff, classroom teachers and administrators, want the best education for each student, emotionally, physically, and academically. Together with parents, students will thrive to be the best they can be.
- The school district must get their finances in order and stay within a budget. Many schools have lost money since the COVID influx of funds is over. The federal budget just passed further cuts money that trickled down to the district. Last school year teachering personnel and others were let go. Loans had to be taken out just to maintain the monthly payroll. More loans are on tap for this coming year already. Anything that's worth doing in an organization takes a stable, basic level of funding. I will help the new board work to make the best choices possible to get the budget under control. I will do my part to be transparent in all discussions and decisions.
- All students deserve to be honored for who they are, even if their beliefs and choices are ones I may not personally make. It's a big world with a lot of differences in it. I have learned to see and get along with others, regardless of their religion, lifestyles, race, and any others different than me. Learning to live with others differneces is what makes us human.
I am passionate about educational policy. A school district is one of the lowest levels of politics in our society. Parents, students, teachers, and community citizens get to have a say on what goes on in public schools. Advocating for certain school policies, curriculum, and key decisions are within the reach of the average local citizen. As a former Civics teacher, I encourage everyone to attend school meetings of all kinds, including school board meetings to let your voice be heard.
I try to be the best person I can be - treating others as I would like to be treated.
I use a lot of sayings to get points across. A couple of them are: "Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not ok, it's not the end." And, "Kids do well if they can."
An elected official for this postion should be willing to listen to all concerned parties in the school district, even points of view they may disagree with. I will do my best in presenting my views openly, compromising when necessary, to provide the best education possible for the Tumwater students.
I am patience, kind, and good listener and work well with others (so people have told me most of my life).
The core responsibilities for someone elected to this office are to be transparent in all decision making and every decision is made with students best interest in mind. As a board member I am responsible to listen, learn and lead, with every other board member.
I would like to leave the district better financially than when I started. I would like the Tumwater district to become a well-oiled educated family, with students graduating with the belief they received a great education and enjoyed their time in school.
When I was 8 years old President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That's what I remember.
My very first paid job was hauling hay on farms during the summer when I was 15. At 17, my next pad job was head potwasher, floor mopper, and then second cook on the night shift at a Ford Motor Company assembly plant cafeteria. I worked from 4:00 pm till 11:00 pm and started school the next morning at 8:00am, my junior and senior years of high school.
I have always loved to read, beginning in 1st grade, and have read countless books. When asked this question, I have never had a good answer because I love a lot of different kinds of books and genres. I like mysteries, true crime stories, biographies, almost anything historical, and westerns.
When I was young I always wanted to be Zorro. A man with no superpowers, but who still managed to be an uncatchable "Robin Hood."
"Try Everything" from the movie Zootopia.
Something I struggled with for many years is feeling shy. Wanting to be accepted by others. I have learned that putting yourself in situations that you are uncomfortable with forces you to overcome fears and insecurities. In order to be accepted you have to be accepting of others.
The primary job of a school board member is to advocate for each decision and policy to lead to the best outcomes for the most students. Not to please a few vocal patrons or because it quiets some views.
The constituents of a board member include every member of the local community - including parents, students, and school staff. I say every member of the local community because having a well educated citizenry should be the wish of every person. Well educated citizenry are likely to be more productive members in the community.
A board member supports the district's students, faculty, staff and community by approving funds, agreeing on key policies, and letting educational professionals do what they do best - educate our children.
I want to make sure that everyone in the community knows their voices can be heard and even when there is disagreement on specific issues, that we're all still working in the same positive direction for student outcomes.
The best "good teaching" is when you provide the staff training, give them the needed resources, then let them use their professional intuition and personalities while teaching. I have been an educator for over 30 years. I don't know what the question means when it uses the term "advanced teaching approaches." Teachers want students to succeed. Letting them use whatever approaches they feel comfortable with is usually the best approach. Yes, teachers should be provided with paid training to be exposed to new ideas and how they can incorporate them into their classrooms. School administrators are paid to supervise and evaluate teaching in their building. A school board's job is to supervise and oversee the school superintendent who oversees the entire district.
Unfortunately, schools are always underfunded and it seems it will be getting worse due to cutbacks in federal funding. State and federal officials must be lobbied for funds just to stay afloat. However, whatever the level of funding is, the district must be judicious in living within it's budget. A school board's job is oversee that that happens.
I believe the safely policies for schools are multi-faceted. This includes comprehensive emergency plans, controlled access to buildings, and robust communication systems, alongside measures that promote positive relationships, mental health support, and bullying prevention. I am against more guns in schools. No studies show that having more armed personnel in a building leads to better outcomes in school/student safety.
Schools must have a strong circle of mental health professionals to support the mental well-being of all students. This includes school counselors, social workers, nurses, and other mental health professionals. Keeping students mentally healthy leads to better educational outcomes in the classroom.
Did you hear Willie Nelson died yesterday? (What happened?). He was playing on the road again.
I love one liner comedy lines!
I love one liner comedy lines!
The only thing I would change (and it's not really a policy) is that the board provide more opportunities for public input. Patrons of the district want to have their voice heard.
Parents, students, and neighbors.
My ideal learning environment is one where the building administration is listening to the staff to support them in the classroom by enforcing policies, backing teachers, when appropriate. An ideal classroom has fewer students. Most classrooms are built to accommodate around 30 students. Research shows that an ideal classroom should have 15 to 20 students. Lack of funds usually keeps this from being the norm. Having good curriculum for classroom use, including ancillary materials, is very important. Taking personal electronic devices out of the hands of students during the instructional day is vitally important.
I think the Tumwater handled the pandemic with the best input and advice from state and federal officials as anyone could. Did students suffer socially and academically? Yes, but not because the school district was not using the best practices available. Most of the pandemic health policies were mandated by the state and will be in the next one. I believe in following the best medical advice provided.
I will encourage parents to attend school functions, to become involved with their local building parent teacher organization, always attend parent/teacher meetings and to initiate them, if necessary. Schools are not scary places!
I believe the best mixture of teaching staff is to have many experienced teachers, but mix in younger teachers also. Not only does this provide for new ideas in a school building, but helps maintaining a more modest payroll.
I am a firm believer in making all decisions openly and honestly, even if my opinion is not the majority opinion. This especially includes financial decisions.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Mings completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
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Candidate Tumwater School District school board District 1 |
Footnotes
