Dawson is 4-0 choice for board

At long last, the Bremerton School Board has an odd number of members again — the usual five.

The four school board members picked Lonnie Dawson by a 4-0 vote at their April 18 meeting to replace Russ Hartman, who left the board after Gov. Gary Locke appointed him to become a Kitsap County Superior Court judge earlier this year.

Spokeswoman Joan Dingfield said the remaining four board members met Monday and Tuesday, April 15-16, to narrow the field to five.

They discussed the relative merits of those five on Wednesday, and voted Thursday for Dawson at a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. at district headquarters.

Dawson, 44, is a 12-year PSNS employee who has been active in civic groups and activities including the interview committee for the Mountain View Middle School principal and the school district budget committee.

Dawson will serve on the board until the next regular election in November 2003 when a special election would be required to fill out Hartman’s unexpired term lasting until November 2005.

In his application to the board, Dawson said communication with the public would be a priority for him if selected to the board.

“My plan is to be supportive which means not always agreeing with, but listening to and being able to see other points of view,” Dawson said, “always keeping lines of communication open so we can move forward as a district.”

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