Rep. McIntire to give keynote at KCC graduation Friday

The following is a press release from Klamath Community College

Laser-focused on education: State Rep. Emily McIntire to give keynote address at Klamath Community College graduation ceremonies Friday

KLAMATH FALLS — Education is a key focus for Southern Oregon’s new state representative, Emily McIntire, a Republican from Eagle Point who also represents the Klamath Basin for House District 56.

McIntire will bring her view of where education is doing the right things and where it has opportunity to improve in her keynote address to 200 graduating students at Klamath Community College on June 14. The ceremony starts at 6 p.m.

Nearly all of the committees she sits on are about education: The House Interim Committee on Higher Education; Joint Committee on Public Education Appropriation; Joint interim subcommittee on education on Ways and Means; House Interim committee on Education. She is also a local school board member for the last seven years for Eagle Point.

When her children entered the public school system, that’s when she became active in monitoring what the schools were teaching.

“We don’t have a clear and defined goal on what we are trying to accomplish in education; the goals that lead toward graduation,” she said. “We continue to expand the mission, to add to schools’ workloads without properly supporting them funding-wise, but we don’t take away anything. It creates a really chaotic system.”

“We have 197 local school districts and some are doing great at local control and some are not. There are no consistent measurements,” she said.

Keynote address

“This is the first time I am speaking at something of this magnitude,” she said of her keynote address. Her topic will likely include where KCC is succeeding in helping traditional and nontraditional students advance in their careers.

Oftentimes some students are not wholly prepared to enter college, lacking some basic math and English skills. McIntire likes that KCC offers tutors for those students as they start their college careers so they are more comfortable with the demands of higher education.

“I’m very impressed with the older students who have chosen to change their lives through education and just how scary that can be. I’m impressed with that and KCC’s success there, too” she said.

District representation

After state-mandated redistricting, McIntire’s district was carved out of Klamath Rep. E. Werner Reschke’s district and Rep. Vicki Breese Iverson’s district of Prineville to the north, plus and points west and north to Medford and Shady Cove. It includes the northeast corner of Jackson County, west side of Klamath County, all of the city of Klamath Falls.

“The majority of my district is very heavily into natural resources, agriculturally based,” she said.

Hence, much of her time is spent in the Klamath Basin learning about the agriculture and water issues.

“Water is a huge issue, of course. Personally, I’m either focused on water in Klamath or education, that’s usually where I land.”

McIntire was born and raised in Jackson County. She spent her first years in Trail, Oregon, and has lived the last 30 years in Eagle Point.  She and her husband, Ryan, have two children.

The couple has been in the restaurant business for several years, buying, running and later selling several businesses. Her husband is now her chief of staff as she dedicates her work fulltime to the district.

Building relationships

Being in the minority party in the House has not stopped McIntire from reaching across the aisle to get bills passed.

“I have worked very closely with those in the majority,” she said. For instance, she signed on to a bipartisan bill to curb internet crimes against children. A task force has been funded for this issue.

“Knowing that you are in the minority you can choose to build relationships or sit in your office and whine about not getting your way. That is not my mentality. I work very closely with my Democratic colleagues to advocate for what my district needs. It doesn’t always work out, but I do it.”

And, she said, she and Reschke secured quite a bit of funding for infrastructure in the Klamath Basin.

“Klamath received a lot of funding from the last legislative short session,” she said.

While McIntire is up for reelection this year, she has no opponents.

“I’m just a regular person in a citizen’s legislature, which is as it should be,” she said.

For more information about KCC and its programs, visit www.klamathcc.edu.

To view the live-stream of the graduation ceremonies on Youtube.com, go to: KLAMATH Community College | Commencement (klamathcc.edu)

For more information about KCC and its programs, visit www.klamathcc.edu.