Site Content

---

Platform

The most important Anchorage School District (ASD) matter at the present time is to make sure our children, teachers, and all staff are protected from getting COVID-19. If I am fortunate enough to be elected to Anchorage School Board Tuesday, April 6, I would not be sworn in until the beginning of May, 2021.  From Day One, my primary focus will be protecting ASD 41,700 children and all staff. 

I will never lose sight of my goal of providing the very best and highest quality education that ASD can possibly provide. Our ASD schools mean the world to us who live in Anchorage and in Alaska. This organization is about 40% of the PreK-12 students of Alaska. Please read the demographics of ASD here https://www.asdk12.org/aboutasd/. The sooner we can get the children back into the classroom, the better off we are going to be but we must do it safely for all concerned. I am pleased that vaccinations for teachers and all staff are rapidly becoming available. Please get vaccinated immediately!

We must prepare young people for the next generation. The world is changing so rapidly and students have to learn critical thinking skills to change with it.  I think the number one issue is to make sure that students are healthy and emotionally, physically, and mentally prepared to assume their responsibilities in the world of the future with the highest degree of education possible.  Educational attainment opens doors of opportunity for young people. 

There are so many options in ASD that they require a complete investigation. Please type in on ASD website www.asdk12.org:”Charter and Alternative Schools” for a complete list. Charter schools are ASD public schools that operate under a contract with the District. They are governed by elected boards call “Academic Policy Committees.” They have more independence than the local neighborhood schools. Two of the Charter Schools are Family Partnership and Frontier which are also correspondence or home school programs. There are a total of nine Charter schools in ASD. 

About 80% of families of ASD students speak English at home. The other 20% speak 110 languages. ASD has some of the most diverse schools in the United States. We should celebrate this fact but it also creates challenges.  The demographic report of ASD states that “minority students comprise more than 50% of the student population of 41,700 students.” We have to be very careful that we make sure that all students including minority students are considered in all decision-making. ASD has to appreciate and include people of all cultures and traditions.  There is ASD Multicultural Education Concerns Advisory Committee and ASD Office of Equity and Compliance. 

Many ASD students come from families who have not had access to education and are first generation to achieve high levels of education. We have to create a learning environment that gives all young people the confidence to continue in school and the value that it is worth their investment of time. Statistics show that the more education a young person gets, the higher salary they will receive in their lifetime. 

If elected, I would endeavor to recognize that ASD has opportunities and the challenges with students different cultures and world views. Having so many cultures and backgrounds of our student should be celebrated.  If children learn open-mindedness regarding other cultures and identities in our schools, these values will continue for the rest of their lives.  I am committed to making a special effort to include as many people as possible of all backgrounds in the decision-making process.

 

I have been told so many good things about Anchorage School District Special Education Services. If elected, I would really appreciate spending time learning more about this area. The services offered at list here https://www.asdk12.org/domain/1242 . The philosophy of ASD Special Education Program is:

”We foster meaningful relationships that engage students, promote health and well-being and prepare them for success in life. We invest in continuous growth for all staff through relevant professional development to implement quality standards of practice that engage students, expand opportunities and increase positive student outcomes. We are committed to the success of all students through partnerships with schools, families and the community.”

Many families come to and stay in ASD because of the outstanding Special Education Services provided in ASD. 

I am used to budget cuts in all of my work including when I was Alaska Commissioner of Commerce, Alaska Commissioner of Community and Regional Affairs, Mayor of Seward, and today as a UAA Professor. I do not think I have served in a government position in which we have not had a budget challenges.  When I was Mayor of Seward, we had budget cuts after the oil prices fell. We had budget cuts even when Alaska was flushed with cash. There have been times when we have had money for just about anything that we could possibly wish for or want and other times when we have had to stretch every dollar. We need to stabilize our work force so they do not have to constantly be worried that they will not have continued employment. We can do whatever we commit to if we work together for a strong ASD educational system.  

When I went to work in the cabinet of Governor Hickel, the first issue I faced was coming up with a 10% cut for Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs. The same thing happened when Governor Frank Murkowski appointed me Commissioner of Commerce and Economic Development. I look first at Alaska Constitution which requires us to provide the best education we can for the citizens of Alaska. We have a constitutional duty for health and welfare that places our physical protection, education, and the right to keep our families together among other rights. Each of these rights have to balance with our responsibilities. We have a duty to treat everyone equally. 

We live in an incredibly wealthy state with unexplored natural resources.  My idea is to work closely with the parents and all ASD stakeholders getting their input on all the issues we face.  I look at ASB as having a wonderful opportunity to give something back to the community I have been lucky enough to live in for a lifetime. I have been fortunate to be able to know our State and all of its diversity very well. Anchorage population is 40% of the population of Alaska. “As Anchorage goes, so goes the rest of Alaska.” I will do my level best to put as much effort into continuing the high quality PreK-12 education for every ASD student. Our children deserve no less.
 

The world is fast becoming a telecommunications network with instantaneous information. Everything is on the internet. Libraries are becoming obsolete. Our children must be trained to use this technology effectively. The upside of the pandemic is that it has forced our ASD teachers and students to analyze how we deliver education. Delivery is not going back to the way it used to be before COVID; at least not any time soon. We have to adjust to the new learning environment going forward. As educators, our job is to accommodate the interests and intellectual curiosity of our students.

 

I believe very strongly in vocational and post-secondary educational opportunities. Not every ASD student wants to go to college. It is the responsibility of ASD to make sure that there are a range of opportunities for students to pursue academically and in the trades. If elected to Anchorage School Board, my job will be to prepare our students to be productive American citizens in the future. There is no more important goal. We want our Anchorage children to have the opportunities to be gainfully employed in the work force of the future.  

This means ASD requires excellent academic and vocational counselors at all levels of the organization. Students need advice about which professions or trades to pursue. There are active ASD School Business Partnership https://www.asdk12.org/Page/5504 in every school in ASD as well as a very active School Business Partnership Board of Directors https://www.asdk12.org/Page/5507.

Our vocational schools must prepare student for the trades including welders, truck drivers, heavy equipment operators, workers on the docks that know crane operations, and more. I worked on the pipeline in the early 1970s. I was fortunate that I, by the time I graduated from high school, I was skilled enough to go to one of the labor union before the pipeline. Because I was a member of the Alaska International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302 http://www.iuoe302.org/, I was fortunate enough to be able to pay for my college education at Alaska Methodist University (today Alaska Pacific University). 

Currently, Alaska has a very high non-resident seasonal worker force who come to Alaska from the Lower 48 for fishing, construction, pipeline work, tourism, etc. Please review the statistics on non-resident hire here https://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/reshire/nonres.pdf. These Alaska jobs are going to Outside residents. This must change. Our children must have the skills that they get in ASD so that they can obtain these jobs.  

 

As Associate Professor at University of Alaska Anchorage, I have been privileged to teach in UAA Communications Department for about 25 years but I am very worried about the future. Acting President Pat Pitney spoke to Alaska Senate Education Committee February 4, 2021. Her comments included that University of Alaska will have at the end of FY 2022 a total of about 2,500 faculty and staff reductions. This is alarming. I remember the former UA President James Johnsen telling Commonwealth North 4-29-20 that we pay more for Alaska Department of Corrections than our University of Alaska system. This must change.

Alaska workforce should include medicine and law. Let’s enlist my Alma Mater, Alaska Pacific University’s help in this regard. We must advocate for the budgets to pay for the professions in Alaska. It requires long range planning. I intend to be an advocate for medicine, law, and other professions.


 

  Anchorage School District is about the 80th largest PreK-12 School District in the U.S. The statistics are not current because ASD has lost more than 7,000 students in recent years. If I am fortunate enough to be elected to Anchorage School Board, my job will be to advocate for the funding we need to continue to have an outstanding educational institution. I humbly believe I would be excellent in this role because I know Alaskans all over our Great State. We must make sure to keep our schools strong by paying high salaries and good benefits to our staff at all levels of the organization. I have great respect for ASD and know of its importance to our State. That is why I decided to run for Anchorage School Board. Let’s work together to keep ASD strong and make it even stronger for the sake of our children. We can do no less!