Vickie Ybarra was appointed to fill a vacated position on the Yakima School District Board of Directors in June 2002, and won election to the board in November 2003. Ms. Ybarra is a Registered Nurse with a BS degree in Nursing from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Public Health also from the University of Washington. She has worked for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic since 1989.

Ms. Ybarra has volunteered on various school district committees since 1999, including the Superintendent Search Advisory Committee, Hispanic Advisory Committee, Levy Proposal Committee, I-728 Committee, Early Childhood Advisory Committee and Bilingual Task Force. She also has extensive policy experience, primarily through her work as an appointed member of the Washington State Board of Health from 1998-2004. She has two sons, Luis and Aaron, who are both students in the district.

John Vornbrock was appointed to fill an open position on the Board in January, 2005. He received a Bachelor of Science (Industrial Engineering) from Northwestern University in 1970 and a Masters (Hospital Administration) from the University of Michigan in 1972. Mr. Vornbrock moved to Yakima in August, 1978 where he has been continuously employed in several administrative positions with Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital and currently serves as its Senior Vice President- Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Vornbrock has held a number of board and leadership positions in various non-profit organizations in Yakima, including Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health, the Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Yakima Sunrise Rotary, and the Yakima Hearing and Speech Center. He has also been active in a variety of youth activities and served the Yakima School District as co-chair of the citizens’ committee for the 2001 levy. Mr. Vornbrock and his wife, Paula, have three grown children who attended Yakima schools.

Raymond Navarro Jr. was appointed to fill an open position on the Yakima School District Board of Directors in November, 2006. He graduated from Wapato High School, received his Associate of Arts and Sciences from Yakima Valley Community College, a BA in Psychology from Central Washington University, a M.Ed. in Counseling from Heritage University. Mr. Navarro is currently employed by OIC of Washington as the Program Manager of the Washington Farm Workers Investment Program and by Heritage University as an adjunct faculty member in the Humanities Department. He is active with the Eastside Yakima Sports Program as a football and basketball coach and mentor, and serves on numerous community boards. Mr. Navarro and his wife Anita, a middle school counselor, have three children: Raymond III, Nicholas, and Kenista.

Walt Ranta was elected to the Yakima School District Board of Directors in November 2005. He graduated from White Pass High School in Randle, Washington. In 1974, he graduated from Central Washington State College (now Central Washington University) with a BA in Education, majoring in Secondary Social Studies. Mr. Ranta started his teaching career at Washington Junior High in Yakima in 1974. He transferred to A.C. Davis High School in 1981 where he taught a variety of social studies courses, coached sports at both high schools and helped design a new "small school" under a Gates grant. Mr. Ranta retired in 2004 after 30 years of teaching, but continued to work in the field of education as a substitute teacher and coach. He serves in numerous school and community service organizations. Mr. Ranta is married to a retired elementary teacher, has one daughter and a son-in-law who are both teachers, and two grandchildren.

Martha Rice was appointed to fill a vacated position on the Yakima School District Board of Directors in November 1998. In November 1999, Ms. Rice won the election to the board and in November 2003 she was re-elected to the board. She has been an active parent in the Yakima School District for many years, serving on many district level committees. Ms. Rice has been employed at Hanford since 1980 and currently works for the Hanford Fire Department. She has been an active PTA leader in Yakima since 1989, holding leadership roles in the Ridgeview PTA, Lewis & Clark and Davis PTSAs, and the Yakima PTA Council. She has served on the Washington State PTA Board of Directors and the Washington State Professional Educator Standards Board. In March 2007, Ms. Rice was appointed to fill the vacant position of Vice President for the Washington State School Directors Association. She has two grown children who attended and graduated from Yakima schools.

Ben Soria became Superintendent of the Yakima School in July of 2000. He came to the district with over 20 years of successful experience in many facets of school district operations and ten years in private enterprise administration.

His most recent position was Deputy Superintendent of the Tacoma School District, Tacoma, Washington. Over his twelve years with the Tacoma Schools, he had the opportunity to be responsible for the supervision of Business Support Services, Teaching and Learning, and day-to-day operations of the district.

Other major education administration experience includes the position of Associate Superintendent for the Albuquerque Public Schools, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Program Manager for the San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, California; and Director of Bilingual and Compensatory Education, and Community Relations for the Santa Ana Unified School District, Santa Ana, California.

Mr. Soria also worked in private enterprise for ten years for BCTV, Inc. in Oakland, California. As Vice-President and Chief Administrative Officer, he was responsible for the supervision of all corporate activities and projects including finance, labor relations, contract administration and public relations.

Mr. Soria was the recipient of the Washington Association of School Administrators, Robert Handy “Most Effective Administrator Award” for large school districts in the State of Washington for the 2002-03 school year.