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Susan Hughes (Washington)

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Susan Hughes
Image of Susan Hughes

Nonpartisan

Candidate, Lake Washington School District school board District 3

Elections and appointments
Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

New Trier High School

Bachelor's

University of Arizona, 1982

Personal
Birthplace
Chicago, Ill.
Religion
Christian
Profession
Sales
Contact

Campaign website

Susan Hughes is running for election to the Lake Washington School District School Board to represent District 3. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. She advanced from the primary on August 5, 2025.

Hughes completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Susan Hughes was born in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from New Trier High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona in 1982. Her career experience includes working in sales, as a paraeducator, and as a licensed insurance producer.[1]

Elections

2025

See also: Lake Washington School District, Washington, elections (2025)

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Lake Washington School District school board District 3

Susan Hughes and Angela Meekhof are running in the general election for Lake Washington School District school board District 3 on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Susan Hughes
Susan Hughes (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
Image of Angela Meekhof
Angela Meekhof (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = 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.

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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Lake Washington School District school board District 3

Angela Meekhof and Susan Hughes defeated Aiya Kravi in the primary for Lake Washington School District school board District 3 on August 5, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Angela Meekhof
Angela Meekhof (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
57.1
 
22,536
✔
Image of Susan Hughes
Susan Hughes (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
27.8
 
10,975
Image of Aiya Kravi
Aiya Kravi (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
14.7
 
5,815
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.3
 
124

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 39,450
Candidate Connection = 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.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Hughes received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Susan Hughes completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hughes' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am a mother of three adult young men who were all raised in Bellevue within our state public school system. I was a stay at home mother until the youngest was in Kindergarten when I started substituting in Bellevue School District as a Para-educator, Office Staff Member, Instructional Assistant, and Educational Assistant. I was tapped to consider a full time position as a Para-educator in the Transition Program which is the special education program for 18 to 21 year old students. I was a one on one paraeducator for 10 plus years for many students with wide range of abilities. The program focus was job, social and community skills that would translate to post school success.

During my years raising my sons, I was a contributing member of the PTSA and, while working in the Bellevue School District, a member of the SEIU.

I currently work full time as a leasing specialist in sales for a large publicly traded property trust company out of California. I work with all types of people to help them find a home where they can live close to work and the schools they desire their children to attend.

I have a passion for helping people/students identify which strengths and abilities they already possess. Identifying those key areas allows an individual to focus on career areas where they will be the most successful.
  • Focus on Students I am committed to student access to learning and advocate for resources and policies that will help all students succeed.
  • Fairness in Decision-Making I am committed to making non-partisan decisions with the body of the board that benefit the majority of the students.
  • Community Trust and Transparency I am committed to prompt, thoughtful communication with students, parents, and other community members. Through transparency and communication, we can build trust and garner respect with the focus being success for all students as resources allow.
Fully Funding our schools
In the state constitution for Washington State, it states the state's responsibility it to fully fund the education of its children from the age of 7 through the 12 grade.
I look up to my mother and father who taught me the value of truth, your education, and family.
I look up to all those who came before me, who risked their lives for a new life in America. Those that had no financial stability but who had used their ingenuity, strength and resolve to make a life for themselves against the odds. There is this character built into all of us, we just need to persevere and keep pushing ourselves to hone our skills and leverage our abilities to achieve our goals.
Faithfully represent the constituents they serve, seeking truth, perform their job dependably, and respond to concerns from their districts.
I have a desire to learn more deeply the responsibilities and boundaries of the job of director so I can act as an informed member of the director team. I am a good listener and enjoy interacting with parents and students. I am passionate about education and how impactful it can be in a student's and parent's experience.
I take each role I do seriously and conscientiously. I will be a dependable director who shows up in all aspects.
Responsibilities include; Monitor the performance of the Superintendent, Approve and monitor the district budget and act when needed, Recommend and approve district policy, follow the Federal and State constitution and law, have a spirit of collaboration with the Superintendent, staff, parents, students, and other directors and participate in district and community events.
I would like to leave the district better off than when I came in. That will be a very hard task because the current director board, Superintendent and staff are already do a good job. There is always areas for improvement such as higher reading, math and writing scores along with enrollment. We can concentrate on new families to the area for increased enrollment.
I remember the moon landing in the 1960s and the Vietnam war. I was nine years old. Other than that, I remember a huge snow storm happening around Christmas before I was nine. I think that was in 1967 or 1968.
I was a part time gift wrapper in a store in my community. I dusted the shelves, store products, and china plates displayed and wrapped gifts when needed.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Cinderella
I'm not ok, but it's going to be alright.
I have never liked public speaking. I tend to forget my thoughts due to fear unless I write it down and read it. I hear the more you do something, the easier it becomes.
Follow the Federal and state laws, hold the Superintendent of the district accountable for his and the district school performance, monitor the budget and request recommendations to stay within the original budget.
The parents and students of the district.
To support the diverse needs of the district's students, faculty, staff and community, I would respond to inquiry as quickly as possible and help provide direction on where to find information needed or who to contact for further action or explanation.
Our business community has a wealth of knowledge and are indispensable partners for support of the community and our student's career interests. Groups, organizations, stakeholders I would specifically target are Rotary clubs, local employers, and retired individuals who still want to contribute.
Good teaching can be seen by the attention a teacher holds by the individuals in the class and the class as a whole. Control over the daily schedule and setting the tone and excitement of the lessons is extremely important. I am a huge proponent of advanced teaching approaches so students with different learning styles can be included. Students develop mentally and physically at different times within age groups and no student should be made to feel they are less than because a subject is difficult for them to understand or learn.
An area I think is very important is understanding interest categories vs abilities categories. It is great when they match up but many times they do not. We need to have the foresight to see trends in career opportunities and skills and abilities needed for those career fields. Educating students on employment options that will allow them to support themselves or a family of their own.

Social-emotional and life skills education can provide coping methods and tools for becoming an adult, working alongside co-workers, supervisors, family members, and navigating many things adults learned along the way through trial and error. We can prepare students with navigation tools for a successful career, family and life.
If the state continues not to wholly fund education, levies or bonds are used. I think the community does not feel informed. Part of this lands on the individuals in the community and part lands on the school district to reach the stakeholders who vote to approve the levies. It is extremely important to get buy in from the voting public and you can only do this through communication methods such as media. An informed public is a strong pubic.
Insurance for safety include; buildings, staff and student physical safety. transportation and food services to name a few. These costs continue to rise every year and lower incidents helps keep costs down.

Safety against a random act of violence is hard to prepare for, however, it is something we need to continue to take seriously and try to prevent.
The district already does a very good job of providing for mental health needs for student ,faculty and staff.

School districts have a competitive healthcare benefit for employees and have staff who's primary focus is student health and well-being while at school.

Partnering with parents and communicating issues early is paramount.

Encouraging students to reach out to staff about issues early is also paramount.
What did the speed bump say to the car?
You'll get over it.
48th Legislative Republicans
King County GOP
I believe a combination of auditory, sensory and physical ways of delivering a topic or new skill are important. Students already have innate strengths and weakness and teaching using different methods to enhance learning so students can be and feel successful is a win win.
I understand why the district handled the pandemic the way they did because we did not have the correct information. Fear was rampant and they had to keep staff, parents and students calm and comfortable with the path forward even if it was temporary. The information was changing daily and the media was pushing fear as we stayed home and watch the news of people dying.

But, hind sight is 20/20. The stay at home, computer zoom school set a whole year back in our education and allowing the union to dictate whether school was to be in person or not was a mistake.

Firing needed staff for non-vaccination was not in the best interests for education and it proved to be unconstitutional.
Accessibility is important along with physical presents at school events. Parents want to know you hear their concerns and provide a reasonable explanation for decision made where they disagree. Time and listening!
Preferred strategies for recruitment of faculty, staff and administration include online career applications, staff recommendations, open positions with descriptions and pay scales on the website as are done currently.
The district is required to be transparent with the district's finances and as far as I can see they have been. Access to that information is available to the public on the district website
The Washington state legislature is require under our state constitution to fully fund education. I need to learn where there are loop holes to find out why we need to have so many levies.

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 Hughes completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.

See also

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External links

Candidate

Lake Washington School District school board District 3
  • Website
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 30, 2025
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