The Ontario School Board will get at least two new members following the May 20 election, with an incumbent for one seat facing two challengers, another opting not to run for another term and an open seat with three candidates.
The Ontario School District is the largest in Malheur County, with 2,158 students enrolled last year, according to the Oregon Department of Education.
The district, which employs more than 150 teachers, last year opened a new sixth-grade building and built a new football field.
Ballots for the races will go out around April 30.
One board member, Matt Stringer, who is running for a second term, has two challengers, Lindsey Nieskens and Lisa Reeser.
Stringer, who grew up in Nyssa, spent his career in advertising and the music business as a marketing executive for major record labels in New York. He returned to Malheur County in 2011 and was the executive director at Four Rivers Cultural Center for over a decade.
Reeser grew up in Ontario and has two children in the Ontario School District. Reeser, a self-employed administrative consultant, serves on the boards of the Ontario Parent Teacher Organization and Friends of the Library.
Nieskens, a prevention coordinator with Lifeways, grew up in Vale. She has no prior experience in government.
With longtime board member Blanca Rodriguez deciding not to run for another term, hopefuls Tomas Elizondo and Jenna Mejia are vying for her seat.
Mejia is a preschool coach with the Malheur Education Service District. Mejia has three children in the school district. She is a member of the district’s Parent Teacher Organization for kindergarten to fifth grade.
Elizondo, whose wife Jodi is a district administrator, is a retired Ontario Police Department officer who works as a private investigator for Elkhorn Public Defenders.
Abby Apodaca, Andrea Recla and Clay Hooker are running for the remaining four-year seat on the board. The seat has been vacant for over a year. A.J. Sunseri, an Argus reporter, had held the seat but stepped down. The board decided to leave the seat empty until this year’s election.
Apodaca is the district’s Parent Teacher Organization president for kindergarten to fifth grade and has three children in the school district.
Recla is the director of outpatient services at Lifeways and has five children in the district. Recla did not respond to emails or phone messages concerning the race. Hooker is a retired parole and probation officer who said he would have grandchildren soon attending school in the district.
The eight candidates received questionnaires from the Enterprise about their experience and assessment of the issues in the school district. Their responses have been edited for brevity.
Q: What motivated you to run for this board?
Lisa Reeser: I am invested in our community’s students and would love to be involved in their educational experiences. Growing up here, attending school in the Ontario School District, and raising my children here, my family and I are rooted in this community.
Clay Hooker: I care about our youth in the community. I have grandchildren who will be attending school soon in the district. I have experience supporting and advocating for youth and children throughout my career.
Lindsey Nieskens: I care about our children and the community’s future. Students deserve more than just an education. They deserve a system that nurtures their growth, values their unique qualities, and prepares them for challenges and opportunities. Every teacher deserves an administration that supports them, actively encourages their professional and personal growth, listens with empathy to the challenges they face in the classroom, and works to address their needs. Teachers must feel valued, empowered, and equipped to do their best work.
Ontario’s families are ready for change. I believe that I can help to initiate and aid in the change. I am committed to listening with empathy, working alongside families, teachers, and community members, and bringing creative, forward-thinking solutions to the table.
Tomas Elizondo: I saw the school needed a board applicant. If elected, I am personally and professionally in a position to serve.
Jenna Mejia: I am running for Ontario School Board because I am invested in the Ontario community. My three children attend Ontario schools and I am an Ontario graduate. It is important that our community feels represented and understood by their school board members and I am able to do that.
Matt Stringer: To continue to be a part of the great momentum we have created over the last four years. We’ve made dramatic improvements, including a new football field, a sixth-grade building, and a reconfiguration of the elementary school system, where students in the same grade will be in the same building instead of being spread across five schools. My big focus on the school board is community engagement and student support.
Abby Apodaca: My motivation is simple: I care deeply about our kids and community. I’m a graduate of this district, a parent of students currently enrolled, and someone who has spent years volunteering, coaching, and showing up to support our schools in every way I can. I’ve seen firsthand how strong connections between families, schools, and leadership can transform a child’s experience. I’m running because I believe we need more of that connection. I want to ensure voices are heard, concerns are addressed, and that trust is built and maintained between the district and our community. I’m not coming in with an agenda—I’m coming in with a commitment to listen, collaborate, and help move us forward.
Andrea Recla: No response.
Q: What are the three major challenges you see facing the board and the district?
Matt Stringer: The economy and district budget if funding is cut. Monitoring academic growth for all students and safety upgrades at our schools. While every school in the district is locked down, safety improvements are still needed at Aiken Elementary School.
Abby Apodaca: Strengthen communication and connection with families and the community, support student growth and outcomes, and align vision with action. The board must ensure policies and decisions reflect what’s best for students and our community values. That means listening, working proactively and being transparent about goals and outcomes. Even when it may be difficult.
Clay Hooker: Poor academic outcomes compared to the rest of the state, the elementary school reconfiguration and teacher pay.
Jenna Mejia: Students and their learning styles are changing and we need to be able to support teachers in finding the best ways to educate them. Another issue is that our families are busier than ever and feeling more stress than ever before. The district can prioritize students and families as a whole to improve. A third issue is our district’s recruitment and retention of quality educators. We should make this a district where teachers feel supported, valued, and want to stay.
Tomas Elizondo: State and federal funding, outdated facilities, community engagement.
Lisa Reeser: Three major challenges I see facing the board and the district are attendance rates, teacher retention rates and the decline of offering college credit courses. Lack of attendance can heavily impact a student’s learning, starting in kindergarten through graduation. The Ontario School District needs to find a way to retain its teachers. There are great teachers within the district at all levels who significantly influence student
learning and educational experiences. Dual credit for high school and college classes is a huge step in advancing students’ career paths and motivating them to seek higher educational opportunities after high school.
Lindsey Nieskens: One of the most significant challenges I see is a lack of openness and transparency. This definitely needs to change. Another challenge I see is navigating our evolving societal landscape. Finally, one of the most pressing concerns is the shortage of qualified teachers in the area. Ensuring we have the right educators is critical to our students’ success and our schools’ future.
Andrea Recla: No response.
Q: Many in the community have been unsettled about what they feel is a lack of transparency by the board and district. Explain whether you agree or disagree with that sentiment. If you agree, what one action would you propose the board and district take to be more transparent with the community?
Abby Apodaca: I’ve heard the concerns and I understand where people are coming from. With the transition to grade-level schools and other recent changes, there has been a lot of new information, which hasn’t always been easy to follow or access. (I know. I have three kids in three different schools.) While I believe there has been good intent, there’s room to improve how we communicate, even when our answers aren’t immediately available. Keeping people in the loop goes a long way in building trust and understanding. I would support creating a consistent, easy-to-access update – something families can count on for clear, timely information in everyday language. The grade-based transition has created more similarities in communication and planning across all schools.
Clay Hooker: While I don’t feel the district has a lack of transparency, I understand why others do. I believe in being as transparent with the community as possible. This is important because it builds trust and approval.
Matt Stringer: I honestly don’t see transparency as an issue. We are transparent. We hold no meetings outside of our monthly school board meetings. People are welcome to attend or watch them on Zoom. Nobody complains to me about transparency. The newspaper got ahead of us when we shifted to grade-based schools. We had a plan that the newspaper was not in sync with and we were not on the same timeline as the Enterprise. We held meetings that the public could attend where we explained the benefits of the elementary school reconfiguration.
Tomas Elizondo: I have always received the information I needed as a parent and citizen from the district. I do not feel there is a lack of transparency.
Jenna Mejia: I agree that transparency is a pain point for the district, but I also acknowledge that this is a difficult issue to please everyone on. As a society, we have become used to having information instantly available at our fingertips. It is not always reasonable or safe to provide as much information as quickly as people would like, but communication can be improved so that students, parents, staff, and the community have the information they need in a timely manner. It is important to consider that people will be getting their information from somewhere, so it is better to be proactive and get quality information straight from the district. Being more open and forthcoming with the community is important.
Lindsey Nieskens: The board and district lack transparency. I don’t know why, but it needs to be addressed as soon as possible. There are ways to improve communication between the district and families. However, it’s important to recognize there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution when it comes to meeting the diverse needs of students and their families. Serving on a school board is more than just attending meetings and making decisions. It’s about service. It requires research, engaging with the community, holding townhalls, asking questions and learning from other districts in the state and across the country.
Lisa Reeser: Transparency and communication are key in keeping district families included, engaged and informed. The transition to the new grade-level schools this year has required adjustments from everyone. Families have expressed concerns about the district office’s lack of communication and transparency about the change until the transition took place. Each elementary school sends out a monthly newsletter to families; it would be great to hear from the current school board members or superintendent in the newsletters so families could feel connected to the leaders in the district. Another idea would be to have monthly Tiger Talks, which would be an opportunity for families to further engage with leaders in the district.
Andrea Recla: No response.
Q: The most recent test results for third graders in Ontario show only 27% are proficient in reading, which is 13% below the state’s average of 40%. What is your understanding of why this is the circumstance in Ontario and what actions would you propose the board take?
Tomas Elizondo: I would need more information to have an opinion.
Lindsey Nieskens: There are many reasons why test scores can fluctuate. While seeing third-grade scores lower this year is concerning, it is not entirely surprising. Our children, especially those between the ages of 4 and 12, faced an unprecedented challenge that no previous generation had to endure—virtual schooling during the pandemic. Covid forced schools to shift to online learning. This placed a strain on students, families and teachers. The higher test scores other parts of the state are seeing are due to those districts embracing a more digital learning model before the pandemic. Rural communities like Ontario were not equipped to handle such a dramatic shift.
Meaningful change requires active input from the community, parents and teachers. We need to work together to address our district’s challenges and find solutions that will set our students on a path to success. Reading is not a skill that can be forced – it must be nurtured. We should encourage families to read and create opportunities for shared reading experiences.
Jenna Mejia: Many factors can impact test scores in this age group, including a lack of preschool and kindergarten instruction due to COVID-19, attendance, struggles at home, and the unique needs of learners, to name just a few. These results are concerning as a parent of young children and as someone who works in early childhood education. As a board member, I would listen to the school staff members, administrators, and families to see how student outcomes can be improved.
Clay Hooker: I would like to see all of the test results in the district to comment further. If this is across the board, then it would be concerning.
Lisa Reeser: Our district differs from others in the state. Factors such as socio-economic status, poverty levels, access to resources outside the home, and attendance rates also need to be considered. There are also several students in the district who are just beginning to learn English. All of these factors contribute to low test scores in the district. The last five years of third-grade reading scores show a steady growth rate, with a few minor dips. Having all third graders at one school will help in the future.
The district has taken action with the new book vending machine at Aiken Elementary School and the family reading nights at Ontario Community Library, providing students with books and reading activities. Any way we can get books into homes is helpful and will improve reading.
Abby Apodaca: There are several contributing factors. We are still seeing the long-term effects of Covid. These third graders may not have received the same early learning interventions as other classes. In addition, we were dealing with an unprecedented world crisis that created strain/stress on the family units, likely creating a focus on basic survival in the home.
I am concerned. Literacy is the path to all other learning. In my research, if students are not reading at grade level by the third grade, they are more likely to struggle long-term.
The board’s role is to ensure resources are being used effectively and that educators are supported in meeting student needs. I support early intervention strategies for struggling students and stronger partnerships with families to support reading at home. But it also starts with listening – hearing from teachers about what is working, hearing from parents about what support they need, and hearing from students about what excites them.
Matt Stinger: The test scores are one snapshot. Students come to the district at different academic levels. This poses challenges. The test scores do not apply to student growth. Another factor is that Malheur County is the poorest county in Oregon. There are a disproportionate number of children in single parent homes where the lone parent works long hours every day and does not have the time to read to their children. I am concerned about the low score, but I have faith in the district’s administration and staff to monitor and improve the results. I continue to support administrators as they work to move the dial on student growth and progress.
Andrea Recla: No response.
