Two 37-year-old women are running uncontested for the open seats on the Haines Borough school board.
Shelly Sloper has served on the board for the last three and a half years, first as an appointed replacement and then as an elected member. Her family moved to Haines in 1997, and Sloper attended the Haines school for both middle school and high school.
She spent 12 years away from Haines for college and graduate school, earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage and her doctorate, in positive developmental psychology and evaluation, at Claremont Graduate University in California. She returned to the upper Lynn Canal in 2016, moving first to Skagway and then back to Haines by 2017.
Sloper continues to work for her graduate advisor, remotely, as a Professor of Practice – meaning she researches but doesn’t teach. Her research evaluates community youth organizations and helps them gather data to improve programming. Sloper was initially drawn to the school board both because it helps her engage in the community even though she works remotely, and because she believes her professional experience makes her a good fit.
“I think (my work) is very related to what the school is trying to do, developing youth in a whole-child way,” she said. She said it’s important to her that Haines “continues to offer really high-quality extracurricular activities and provide a well-rounded education.”
Where specific issues are concerned, Sloper said school safety “is something people care a lot about right now.” She also said she thinks it’s very important that school staff and administration feel supported by the school board, especially given covid-related challenges.
Sloper’s sister lives in Skagway, and her brother and parents live in Haines. One of her nieces graduated from the Haines school this year and the other will begin shortly.
Keely Baumgartner was raised in Haines and graduated from Haines High School in 2003. She entered a contested race as write-in candidate last year and was unsuccessful.
Baumgartner said she is seeking election because she wants “to be an active participant in creating school policy” and is eager to help the school transition out of the difficult covid years.
When Baumgartner isn’t working full-time as a nurse at the SEARHC clinic, she works with her husband, middle school math and science teacher Jordan Baumgartner, to run extracurricular activities for Haines youth.
Her previous involvement with the school includes a stint as the “nurse liaison” and serving on the school’s health advisory board. She is also a Haines School parent; her two sons are in third and sixth grade.