Incumbents Anne Marie Palmieri and Brian Clay are unopposed as they seek re-election to three-year terms on the Haines Borough school board. A third, open seat on the seven-member board will apparently be filled by board appointment.
Palmieri, 45, is an environmental specialist for the State of Alaska who has served five years on the board and is its chair and president. Clay, 50, is a sales clerk who has served three previous terms.
Palmieri said she supports the three school bonds and that the top issues facing the district are reduced enrollment and declining funding. “The biggest issue right now is providing the best education we can for all kids in the Chilkat Valley. I would love it if every kid in the valley was enrolled in the school. That would mean we were providing a good service and meeting those needs.”
She said she was particularly proud of revisions made to the school’s strategic plan last year.
She also pointed to board initiatives including a boosting the homeschool program to try to capture as many as 60 students homeschooling outside the district’s program. “Last year was really the first year we did the legwork to ask what we can do better.”
A decision to close Mosquito Lake was a difficult one, but was “the right thing to do financially” and the decision process was a good one, she said.
Palmieri said she’d like to change the school budget process to make district finances more understandable to the board and public. Other district goals are improving communication and challenging all students. “We do a great job pulling up lower-achieving students. We could improve by having more choices for the higher-achieving end.”
She said she’d expand offerings at the school’s distance learning center to more students at lower grades. Palmieri said it’s also important for the board to review policy, so the district is operating by its own rules.
Palmieri said she didn’t know what happened in a decision by school administrators that students not participate in a recent candidate forum hosted by We the People. “Whether something’s controversial (under the district’s controversial issues policy) is the administration’s call,” she said.
Clay said he would probably vote for the school bonds, citing the state’s 70 percent reimbursement of project costs. “You can’t beat that, and that might go away sometime.”
He cited declining enrollment and maintaining quality school programs in the face of funding cuts as the district’s greatest challenges. A “plateau-ing” of Haines Borough support as district costs have risen is a concern, he said.
Clay said he’d also like to see the school track replaced with an all-weather one. “It’s a community resource. Everybody uses it, not just the school.” Clay said he was confident incoming superintendent Ginger Jewell would rectify board concerns about clarity in the budget process.
Clay, whose mother pushed for creation of Mosquito Lake School, said he’d “love to reopen it” if 10 students were found to reach the critical state funding threshold. “But there’s no sense opening it up” if the district must pay for operation with limited state support, he said.
Clay said it would “be interesting to see what the (district’s homeschool) numbers are at the end of the year” after “concerted efforts” to improve the district’s program.
Clay also cited a need for improving communication between the district and the public, saying more information is being provided by the district’s website.
He also said he’d like to see the school board shrink to five members, as seats often go wanting for candidates in elections. “If we can’t fill seven seats, why should we have seven seats?”
Clay said he was proudest of the school rebuilding project. “It works well. I like that.” He also pointed to recent awards won by the district and that it met federal standards under No Child Left Behind legislation. “With concentrated effort by the board on areas we need to improve on, we’ve improved.”
Clay said Chilkat Valley Preschool “does a good job” and deserves the support the borough gives it. “The one problem people have is having public money go to a private school. That’s the eyehole everyone’s looking through.”