OSBA Board elects officers for 2026

With evolving needs internal and external, the OSBA Board elected its officers for 2026 on Saturday, Sept. 13, during its annual retreat.

OSBA has undergone some transitions in recent years. It added two caucuses. It welcomed a new executive director. It adopted a new fee structure to respond to changing demands on the association. This was the last year for its Summer Board Conference, and next year it will have two regional Summer School Sessions, another response to members' requests.

Even the officer election had a small twist from recent years. Usually, the president-elect automatically becomes the president, but President-elect Emily Smith had to step off the OSBA Board after losing her Helix School Board election. So Saturday morning's vote included the president and president-elect positions for 2026.

Dawn Watson of the Phoenix-Talent School Board was elected Board president. José Gamero-Georgeson of David Douglas was named president-elect, meaning he will automatically become president in 2027. He is new among the officers along with Nancy Thomas of Hillsboro, who was elected vice president. Chrissy Reitz of Hood River County will return as secretary-treasurer, and Chris Cronin of the Grant County ESD will automatically become past president.

The Board is grappling with a political climate and public interest that has placed greater scrutiny on school board members. Modern school boards call for a high level of engagement, knowledge and governance expertise.

"It's never been harder to be a board member," said OSBA Executive Director Emielle Nischik.

Among the Board's work for 2026 will be to look at its governance structure and its ability to represent Oregon's varied regions, interests and groups.

The OSBA Board meets in person at least three times a year. It has an onboarding meeting in January and a retreat usually in September. It also meets in person following the OSBA Annual Convention in November.

The retreat Friday through Sunday was held at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, although several members attended online.

Cronin opened the meeting talking about her love of the mountains and how she found the meeting location a little symbolic.

"I feel like this group has climbed some mountains this year," she said.

The Board held hours of meetings each day talking about both recent work and future projects. A significant portion was dedicated to reviewing and approving updates to policies and guidelines that flowed out of the Board's bylaws update last year.

The new documents were a mixture of codifying steps that had to be taken in recent years and bringing decades of documents into alignment with consistent terminology, making them easier for Board members to navigate.

- Jake Arnold, [email protected]