Local school board elections start to take shape

School boards around the Portland metro area are poised for shake-ups this spring, with some long-serving members stepping down in the Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro and North Clackamas districts. The departures come as school boards—historically a wonky, under-the-radar forum for decision-making on superintendent hires, budgets and buildings — have emerged nationally as a staging ground for contentious battles. School board members have been in the crosshairs over pandemic-era policies on masking, vaccination and re-opening and, more recently, over how race, gender and sexuality are taught in schools. Locally, some districts have...