Kimberlee Kelly

Kimberlee Kelly was elected to the NSD school board to represent District 5 in the Nov. 4 election, beating Lynda Schram. Kelly strongly supports empowering educators, providing equal access to education and securing district funding. She aims to ensure all students feel they have someone who cares about their education and academic freedom.

Kelly said she plans to work directly with educators to ensure that teachers have the training and compensation needed to create a quality educational experience. Kelly prioritizes a learning environment that is inclusive and celebrates all students’ identities and backgrounds. She believes that students should have a say in what decisions are made about their education and encourages them to attend NSD board meetings, which are open to the public and usually take place the second and fourth Monday of each month in the NSD administrative office.

Kelly attributes NSD’s current budget problems to the COVID-19 pandemic and the district’s heavy reliance on local property taxes, which are limited and do not get increased often enough to keep up with funding needs. NSD lacks other revenue streams because Washington does not have an income tax. She recognizes that these problems are widespread and plans to lobby in Olympia for increased funding in order to adequately address the district’s needs.

Outside of the school board, Kelly currently works as the executive director and lead teacher at Little Fern Forest, a forest school for neurodivergent children aged 30 months to 5 years. This experience has given her an appreciation for all children, regardless of their differences. She has worked in education for over a decade and has been representing students and their interests since serving on her college ASB 20 years ago. Kelly holds a master’s degree in education from Loyola Marymount University as well as a BA in political science from UCLA. She has been endorsed by multiple members of the Bothell and Woodinville city councils, as well as Nigel Herbig, the mayor of Kenmore.

Carson Sanderson

Carson Sanderson was elected as a new school board member representing NSD District 1, defeating Arun Sharma in the Nov. 4 election. Sanderson is a mother of four children in NSD. On her campaign website, she said she views the core responsibility of schools and educators as fostering love for learning both in and out of the classroom and shaping lifelong learners to take on future challenges.

Sanderson said that her main priority is balancing and restoring the budget to avoid the state stepping in and making cuts that potentially don’t align with the community’s preferences. Part of this includes lobbying in Olympia for more funding, thus holding the state accountable to their paramount duty of funding education. Additionally, Sanderson proposed specialized choice programs in smaller schools to attract students from more populated areas, balancing out population changes throughout NSD. As Snohomish County moves the urban growth line and birth rates fall, schools in the north grow in size while those in the south decline. This leads to an imbalance of students under- or over-populating schools.

Sanderson aims to adjust instruction to meet students with different learning speeds, regardless of disabilities or other emotional, mental or academic needs. Part of this includes maintaining mental health resources in schools and educating teachers on understanding the nuances of common mental health and other issues for each student.

Sanderson graduated from Princeton University with a BSE in operations research and financial engineering, degrees which gave her the knowledge and expertise to help push for funding reform at the state level. 

In 2014, she moved to Bothell. Since then, she has been a member of all of her kids’ PTAs and was on the board of two of them. In addition to volunteering in classrooms, libraries and school offices, her involvement in NSD and the local community has included serving as Girl Scout Leader of Service Unit 411 and President of the HiCap Parents Council, a local nonprofit that works with educators at the school and district level. As stated on her campaign website, Sanderson believes that her experiences throughout NSD provide her with both an understanding of the district’s progress over time and insight into current challenges.