OLYMPIA, WA —  The Washington State Board of Education is pleased to announce that Elissa Dyson has been appointed to the Board following a vote of members at a meeting on February 10. 

Dyson, a resident of Colville and a nearly 40-year member of the Onion Creek School Board, was appointed to fill a vacant seat. She will serve a one-year term ending in fall 2026. 

Dyson has served as a director on the Onion Creek School Board since 1985 and spent 12 years as Chair of the Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) Small Schools Committee. In that role, she is proud to have led visits to every Washington school district with fewer than 2,000 students—more than 220 districts at the time. 

In 2018, Dyson received WSSDA’s Hero in Education Award in recognition of her sustained and extraordinary support for public education, becoming one of only five individuals to receive the organization’s highest honor. She is also the 2020 recipient of the Washington Association of School Administrators’ Golden Gavel Award, and a 2025 recipient of the organization’s Leadership Award. 

“Elissa brings an incredible legacy of advocacy to the Board’s work and a deep understanding of the needs of rural schools in the state,” said Mary Fertakis, Chair of the State Board of Education. “That knowledge is especially valuable as the Board works to build an education system that best serves all our students.” 

The seat Dyson was appointed to fill became vacant after the individual originally elected to the position stepped down to continue serving in their school district. Under procedures for filling Board vacancies, when a vacancy occurs among elected members “from any cause whatsoever,” the remaining Board members elected by public school boards of directors must fill the vacancy by appointment, subject to full Board approval.