Following a 20-minute closed-door session to “compare and contrast” candidates, the Haines Borough school board voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint social worker and former teacher’s aide Tiffany DeWitt and retired elementary school principal Mike Wilson to open seats on the seven-member board.
They replace Scott Doddridge and Brenda Josephson and will serve until October’s municipal election. Other board applicants included behavioral health clinician Kathleen Fitzwilliam, REACH service coordinator Patrick Shallcross and Dorothea “D” Owens, a former teacher and former school counselor who now works with people with special needs. All but Fitzwilliam, who was absent, interviewed with the board in public at the start of the meeting .
Board chair Anne Marie Palmieri cast the lone vote against a private session to discuss candidates. “I thought it was a discussion that we should have in the public forum, and I thought that we could discuss the different candidates in a way that accentuated their strengths and why we, as individuals, thought that person would be a good fit for our board,” she said after the meeting.
Palmieri told board members that district attorney John Sedor advised her that board members could go into a private session “to compare and contrast” candidates for the two open seats.
In supporting an executive session, member Sara Chapell said, “In this incidence I think that it’s the right way to go because there may be information that other board members have to share that’s not appropriate to share in public or could prejudice a person’s reputation and I want to hear all the information, if that’s a possibility.”
Board members nominated only DeWitt and Wilson, and made statements in support of each previous to the board’s unanimous votes for each. Said Chapell: “I just met (Wilson) this year, but I’ve been really impressed with him and I think it will really help us to have teacher-administrator experience on the school board. I especially like that he worked in middle school. Middle school is a big focus for the board and the district.”
Wilson said his 30-year career included eight years as an elementary administrator and 19 years at elementary schools in Anchorage, including teaching junior high math and health. He also worked 10 years at schools around Tucson and Sierra Vista, Ariz.
Board members also said Wilson’s experience budgeting would be an asset and nominated him to serve as board treasurer, a post he declined. (Board members at the meeting elected Palmieri chair, Swinton vice-chair and member Brian Clay as treasurer.)
Following the vote on Wilson, Chapell nominated DeWitt. Member Sarah Swinton said she “appreciated Tiffany’s insight on the way the insides of how the school goes. She’s worked in the school. She’s worked with young kids. She’s a Haines-ite from the beginning, and I like the fact that she has a kid in the school, too. I also liked her answers (to interview) questions.”
Palmieri said DeWitt’s four years of experience as an aide, on the receiving end of board policy decisions, would help “round out” the board. DeWitt, a case worker for Lynn Canal Counseling, told the board she expected to earn her teaching degree in the next six months. “I want to be a teacher.”