While the Eugene 4J School Board has had many challenges in the past few years, one member’s voice and actions have helped create positive and enduring change for the district’s students: Gordon Lafer. His temperament, intelligence and integrity continue to push the board forward.

Under his leadership, elementary schools now have librarians for the first time in 20 years, positions that can make a profound difference in the important learning-to-read years. Classified employees, education assistants and support staff, critical to the success of students at all levels, now have a living wage contract thanks to Lafer’s leadership, and he has continually advocated for the importance of smaller class sizes which, as a previous 4J middle school teacher, would have made it easier to give students the individual attention they need and deserve.

Additionally, Lafer has demonstrated his creative and forward-thinking ideas by helping to launch a construction education program that has students building homes for unhoused people in our community. 

These accomplishments attest to Lafer’s abilities as an important and productive 4J school board member. Please join me in voting for him in the upcoming election: a vote that will benefit our students, our teachers and the larger Eugene community, and a vote that will allow him to build on his achievements.

Chava Beinin (retired educator)