Meet our board of Education continued Bob Morris has served on educational boards almost continually since 1988. He says public education is the single core community activity, and “if the community is going to get something right, education should be it.” From 1988-1996, he served on the Centennial School District board, and then he was recruited in 1998 to run for the Mt. Hood Community College District Board. Morris came to Portland 27 years ago. He and his wife and children were living in Idaho, and they didn’t want to be there, so they moved to Portland and never regretted it. He’s worked in the food business for 33 years, and for the last five in a half years he’s worked for the Oregon Food Bank. He said most of the food they get comes from the food business, and he’s the man who works with those companies to develop programs and relationships. “I work with those companies almost the same way I did when I was in the business,” Morris said. He was recruited along with the late Ron Russell and Ralph Yates at a time when, as Morris said, “the board at that point was kind of dysfunctional.” He said they needed some new blood, so a couple instructors, Roger McDowell and Dave Shields (who also serves on the board now), along with some others, got the three of them to run. He said being on the board is satisfying. “It’s enjoyable to do something really productive,” he said. He said having the opportunity to hire, write policies, and work on budgets is, “a significant contribution if you get it right.” For the future, Morris said, “persistence” – keeping people at Mt. Hood once they come – is a big goal. He said the job of a community college is to make it easy for all members of the community to continue their education throughout their lives. He said most people don’t have their entire lives all planned out, and that a community college should give people a lot of choices and grow with them. He said the board’s highest priority is getting the November bond measure passed. When asked why we hadn’t passed a bond measure in over 30 years, he said he didn’t know, but that when most voters think about education, they think about their K-12 school, and then they think about whatever four year institution they graduated from. He said Mt.. Hood doesn’t have a “natural constituency.” He also said East county is a tough place for any tax measure, and that there is less community because it encompasses not only Gresham, but East Portland, Corbett, and more. He said when people think about Mt. Hood, they say, “that’s out in Gresham.” He said the bond measures for Mt. Hood typically pass in Gresham.
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