Mandy Holz (Omak School District, Position

Mandy Holz (Republican Party) ran for election to Omak School District, Position #5 - At Large in Washington.^[1]

Elections

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mandy Holz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Holz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

As a 1993 Omak High School and 1999 EWU graduate I chose to return to our community with my husband and young family to start our business, now in its 23rd year. We have overcome many challenges of running an adult family home that literally never closes, carrying the weight of life/death decisions, while navigating state laws that are constantly changing, growing a family, and serving our community. Despite recent difficulties that our nation, state and community face, we choose to continue to live, work and serve our beautiful Omak community. Currently as an appointed School Board Director, I know firsthand the challenges and commitment this position requires. As a WSSDA Legislative Delegate, I took opportunity to represent Omak at the Washington State General Assembly. I fought for and helped pass an initiative for “1 school district-1 vote”, meaning from this point forward, we will no longer be ran solely by Washingtons’ large schools politics. I fought for more local control, higher educational standards, and smarter Levy Equalization benefits for our county. It has been my privilege to serve alongside the other Board Directors and Superintendent, in transparency, unity and with one vision: Creating an environment, “Where our students thrive.”

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Children are a gift. As such, it is a parent/guardian’s God-given privilege to train them up and guide them to successful independence. Public Education is merely a tool, an instrument, we as their advocates may actively employ, while they grow into productive citizens of our country.
• Public School’s educational goal should be to graduate life-long learners, who function independently, within their skill-set and measure ready for; Enlistment, Enrollment, Employment, or Entrepreneurship.
• Washington State’s Public Education system should produce the smartest and brightest students in the world. Accountability, transparency, and proper management of resources at all levels is necessary in doing so.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I believe in the importance of strong partnerships between our families, school, and community. I will continue to work on building relationships between the school and the community by listening to your concerns, seeking unity and collaborating through problems.

I will continue to advocate for high standards in our district in the areas of safety, student learning and fiscal responsibility.

I will continue to focus on practical ways to increase our students’ well-being through teaching them to be life-long learners. Prioritizing early literacy is necessary for students to grow successfully in today’s society.

Also important are individualized skill identification and opportunity for real-world application in CTE and STEAM programs. I understand personally that each student has unique strengths and abilities that need to be developed in order to offer different paths for successful careers after high school.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

GOP

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I believe my first official job (not including babysitting) was a Life Guard at Omak City Pool. I worked summers there for a couple years, getting tan, teaching swim lessons, and whistling at kids to not run. I also worked downtown during my teen years, at "Flowers By Susan" through a work-study mentorship course at Omak High School. I learned so much through her training.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Moving. We moved multiple times growing up, as my dad worked for the Forest Service, and needed to move in order to advance his career. Starting new schools, trying to make friends, then packing up and moving again...It wasn't fun. But that experience allowed me to reconsider who I was and who I wanted to be, even at a young age, I remember thinking "fresh start". I believe we first moved when I was age 6, 8, 12, and 15. Then I moved to college in Kansas age 18, Washington age 19, Oregon age 20, and finally Washington again, age 21 ;) I suppose this played a big part of me to wanting to be rooted once Ryan and I, started having our own children. It's a great joy of ours to be founded in a small community for so long. We have so many great friends and such great history. I desire to protect our upcoming children from policies that do not lead to a full life or liberty.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Every person. Every person around us is an example. Whether they are a good example or bad example is up to them, but what we take away from it, is up to us. I try not to idolize people, because after all, we are just people. We all have things we can teach, and things we need to learn. Some people are bold, and I think, " I should be more bold!" But if not applied properly, my example has hurt someone. Then someone thinks, "It's not good to be bold." So, instead I try to learn principals from everyone.

We were all created unique and gifted to be individuals for this time and place. "Their" strategies might work for them, "their" examples may be worthy of applying, but I understand the result might look different for me.

So, I wake up most days desiring to be and do exactly what God created me to be and do. Comparing myself to someone else only causes discontentment and steals my joy, and I don't have time for that. But learning from others around me, I always have time for that!

However, in efforts not to skirt the issue, here are some shout out’s of qualities I look up to in a few people I interact with frequently, and how it applies to me: My husband: He is a faithful and kind husband and father. I can choose to be faithful and kind to those around me. My dad: He is my step-dad; he grew to love me as his own. I want to love people fully, warts and all. My friend Sharon: She doesn’t give up in difficult situations. I too can persevere. My daughter in law Faith: Faith was a born with a terminal disease. Faith is learning to not live in fear of the future. I want to live fearlessly. My children’s elementary teacher Jennifer: She demonstrated patience and strength tirelessly. I want to be patient and strong, all of my days. Tucker, I don’t know him, but he speaks truth boldly. I want to speak truth boldly. There are so many I could could go on for days. Be careful…you might be one of my next examples; good or bad 😉

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

There are 5 Main functions of a School Board Director: 1. Hire, Supervise, and Evaluate the Superintendent 2. Set Vision, Mission & Strategic Goals for the District 3. Review, Revise, and Adopt Policy 4. Establish and Oversee Budget 5. Serve as Community Representatives

Collaborating with all stakeholders to find common ground is a must, as all actions taken require a board vote by majority.

Who are your constituents?

My constituents are: Those who believe parents and guardians know what is best for their own children. Those who would like more local control over mandates. Those who would like to see higher literacy rates, and higher test scores. Those who would like to see our students graduate to be independent and ready for; enlistment, enrollment, employment or entrepreneurship. Those who would like to see Public School Education be transparent at all levels. Those who believe our status quo can be better.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

I would love to continue developing a CTE/STEAM Skills Center, by enlarging ours to include surrounding districts and many more areas of interest and relevancy. At the Legislative session for WSSDA, I worked to amend and pass policies that make funding these Skill Centers attainable for smaller districts.

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.

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[1] ↑ Submitted to Ballotpedia's candidate survey in 2023.