Islanders seek school board seat

Lamar Blix

After years of working with the Wahkiakum School District in a variety of ways, fourth-generation resident Lamar Blix decided this year to announce his candidacy for the Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors.

Blix graduated from Wahkiakum High School in 1988 and married his high school sweetheart, Wendy Seaberg, who graduated a year later. They’ve raised two boys, Lars, who graduated last year and is continuing his studies in Spokane at Whitworth University, and Gunnar, a sophomore and quarterback for the Mule football team.

Blix, a commercial fisherman since 1986, has also spent 24 years working on the ferry "Wahkiakum," first as deck hand and then, having received his Coast Guard certification, as ferry captain. Through it all, he has been involved at the school through coaching, whether it was football, baseball, or track.

“I don’t have an agenda,” Blix said. “I thought it would be interesting. I want to help improve on some stuff they are doing up there, to give the teachers the tools they need to improve and provide our kids with a good education.”

Agenda or no, two issues are clearly on his mind. One involves rumors of extensive marijuana use at the high school.

“The main thing with me right now,” Blix said, “is the drug problem. That would be my number one issue because it is getting so bad. I want to stop it.”

Blix would also like to address the age and care of the school. He pointed out that the buildings hadn’t been painted in years and are beginning to look run down. He would like to see some improvements but ultimately he hopes for the day when the community can replace the school with a newer building in which to educate our children.

He’s not sure what one man can do on a board of four or five but there is one thing of which he is certain.

“Even though I’m a big sports guy, education is number one.”

Shawn Merz

Puget Island resident Shawn Merz has found himself running in a contested race for a position on the school board this November.

Merz grew up west of Longview and graduated from Mark Morris in 1989. With a football scholarship in hand, he traveled to the University of Montana in Missoula, where he met his wife, Tina, and earned a Bachelors Degree in Education. He went on to complete a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction at City University and taught in the Kelso School District for 11 years.

When Tina was offered a teaching job in Cathlamet, they decided to relocate their family to 40 acres on Puget Island and focus on the other family passion, horses. Merz had already been running a horse business while he was teaching, so it was a natural progression to let the teaching and the commute to Kelso fall away.

“The horse business is full time now,” Merz said, “but it kind of was even then.”

They have come to love the community in the five years that the Merz family has been here. They are invested in the education of their two children, Jansi, 10, and Joseph, 3.

“Education is clearly something that I value,” Merz said. “It doesn’t make you a better person but it certainly opens your eyes to more opportunities. I think I could compromise when necessary and possibly persuade the direction for education here, not just follow what the state mandates. We’re a small school and we have unique challenges. We need to work together better and use the resources we have. I know they are working hard, but I want them to learn to work smarter, not harder.”

His take on sports is much the same as his rival for the school board position.

“I love sports,” Merz said. “I’ll cheer as loud as anyone, but it needs to be student first. You’re only one play away from sports being over with. I’m excited to hear about how the football team has study hall. When students walk in that door, education should be the priority.”