OLYMPIA — The Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) will hold three area school board candidate workshops this month.

The free workshops cover a variety of topics on the work of boards, including responsibilities, legal requirements and an overview of education initiatives.

The first workshop is set for Monday, June 10, at the Sequim School District boardroom, 503 N. Sequim  Ave., in Sequim.

The second is Wednesday, June 12, Renton School District boardroom, 300 S.W. 7th St., in Renton.

And the final workshop is set in Olympia on Wednesday, June 19, WSSDA Conference Center, 221 College St N.E.

All workshops are 7-9 p.m.

Debra Long, president of WSSDA and board member, said citizen school boards are the “heart of our public education system.”

“Board members are the vital link between the community and classroom,” Long said. “These popular workshops help candidates understand what school boards do and how the best ones operate.”

Each two-hour workshop will be led by experts on Washington’s local school boards. The workshops are meant to increase understanding of the work of school boards. They do not provide advice on how to run an election campaign.

In Washington State, local school board elections occur in odd-numbered years.

In 2013, more than 680 of the state’s 1,477 local school board positions are subject to election.

More details on the location of the meetings and on-line registration are available at www.wssda.org/Events/Workshops.aspx.