As the mother of two high school students, a former president of an homeowners association (HOA), a Girl Scouts troop leader and job experiences with Boeing and Microsoft, Teresa Gregory says she’s ready for the challenge of serving on the Kent School Board.

After six rounds of voting on three candidates, the current four board members voted 3-1 at a Feb. 11 special meeting to choose Gregory to replace Awale Farah, who resigned in December 2024 to spend more time with his family.

Gregory was sworn in Feb. 12 near the end of a regular board meeting as the new District 4 director until Dec. 10, 2025. She’s also eligible to run for the position this year. Candidates must file in May with a primary in August and general election in November.

“I have a passion for this community,” Gregory said during her interview with the board. “I am a product of the Kent School District and I think we can have strong leaders and build and grow the community. I want to see how we can do that together but with engagement and shared understanding is very important.”

Gregory, a 1990 graduate of Kentridge High School, said she joined an HOA after she bought a house because she’d complain and a neighbor suggested she should join the board and do something about it.

“I joined the board and eventually became president before I retired,” Gregory said. “I learned about negotiation and to balance needs of the public and the budget.”

Gregory said she volunteered at Sunrise Elementary School and Meridian Middle School as her kids grew up. They are now a senior and a sophomore at Kentwood High School.

Time, money and community engagement are the three main challenges facing parents, the board and the district, Gregory said.

She said with time you need to decide what to focus on. With money the key is spending it wisely and the last piece is community engagement, getting parents involved even when they think they are too busy.

“How you balance those three pieces and get down to priorities and what those are with a focus on time and money and engagement will follow,” she said.

The board asked Gregory why it’s important to address equity and inclusion as a board member.

“When you hire people that look like you, feel like you and sound like you, you get a very limited view,” Gregory said. “I’ve been a champion of diversity, equity and inclusion. If you all sound and look like you, you’re not going to get the best result.”

Gregory was asked what approach she would take to difficult topics, such as race, sexual orientation and politics.

“In my job (at Microsoft) I worked with a gentleman, a great guy and I loved working with him,” Gregory said. “Six months later, he was not in the address book. I was mad because I thought we had a connection.”

It turned out the man had transitioned to a woman with a new name.

“He didn’t know how to tell us,” Gregory said.

Later she told Gregory not to worry about what to call her.

“He said it was OK to call me he, because you called me that for years,” Gregory said. “There was a permission of understanding.”

When questioned by the board about her personal interests and qualities, Gregory said she has a passion for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and that she loves exploring science.

“The second thing I have is curiosity,” she said. “I love to learn and to explore and will ask inquisitive questions. I want to understand and ask clarifying questions about what we are trying to accomplish. I bring practical knowledge, I’m a commonsense person.”

Superintendent Israel Vela said in a prepared statement that he looks forward to having Gregory on the board.

“We are confident that Teresa Gregory will bring valuable perspectives and leadership to the Kent School Board,” Vela said.

Gregory’s first board meeting will be Feb. 26.

Six voting rounds

It took six rounds of voting for the four members to give at least three votes to one person. The board had narrowed the candidate list to seven earlier in the month and interviewed the seven at the Feb. 11 meeting.

After the interviews, which included 17 questions to each candidate, the board went into executive session to discuss the finalists before returning to an open meeting to vote.

Gregory received just one vote in the first round but eventually beat out David Stanford and Thomas Foege for the appointment. Andy Song, Tim Clark and Donald Cook voted for Gregory to give her the appointment. Meghin Margel voted no on Gregory and yes for Foege.

The other finalists who interviewed were Michael Taskey, Kathryn Parker, Justin James and Clifford Cawthon. Cawthon ran unsuccessfully in 2021 against incumbent Toni Troutner for the Kent City Council.

Twenty-two people applied for the vacant position. King County Elections verifies whether candidates are eligible. Five were ruled ineligible, leaving 17 candidates, according to a Feb. 14 email from a King County Elections spokesperson. Candidates had to be registered voters and live in District 4.

District 4 roughly has a north border of Southeast 223rd Street, a south border of South 272nd Street, an east border of 164th Avenue SE and a west border of 104th/108th Avenue SE. Schools within or near District 4 include Park Orchard Elementary, Daniel Elementary, Martin Sortun Elementary, Meridian Elementary, Crestwood Elementary, Mattson Middle School, Meridian Middle School and Kentwood High School.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated that 17 candidates were eligible for the vacant position.