School Board Appoints Rioux to Fill Vacancy

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Created on Friday, 13 September 2024 14:46

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Sitka School Board appointed Paul Rioux Thursday night to fill a vacancy on the board until the Oct. 1 municipal election.
    The August resignation of Tristan Guevin, whose term on the board would have ended next month, created vacancy.

Paul Rioux is sworn-in at Thursday’s School Board meeting. (Sentinel Photo)

    Rioux, who was a member of the School Board from 2019 to 2022, was one of three candidates for the appointment. Title 14 of the state statutes requires that within 30 days of a vacancy the School Board must make an appointment to serve until the next election.
    Other applicants for the appointment were Elias Erickson, also a former board member, and Amanda Williams, who currently is the only candidate for election to a three-year term on the School Board. Williams was a teacher who lost her job in the district budget cuts for the 2025 budget.
    The School Board interviewed all three of the applicants at Thursday night’s special meeting before choosing Rioux on a 3-1 vote with Todd Gebler, Steve Morse and Phil Burdick in favor and Tom Williams, who is Amanda Williams’ father-in-law, opposed.
    “I have always intended to come back,” Rioux told the board in his interview. “I wanted to take a break because it was hard on my personal and family life – those were especially trying years – and so I thought that, given my experience, that I might be a good fit to help out a little bit while there’s a gap.”
    He highlighted the importance of the budget, superintendent and curriculum as a board member. “And as far as I’m concerned, it’s as simple as that. To have good governance, you need to focus on those three things, and let staff do their job,” he said.
    Rioux’s appointment will last only until the election results are certified, and in the interim there are no scheduled board meetings. There are two openings on the School Board in this year’s election, and Amanda Williams is the only candidate whose name will appear on the ballot, though the period to register as an official write-in will be open until Sept. 26.
     In his interview with the board Rioux said his strengths are that he brings a good working knowledge of bylaws, policies and procedures.
    “I spent a lot of time with that,” he said. “I think that I represent a good cross-section of the community just because of my age, and my experience with my own four children that have come through the district – two graduates and one about to finish, and one at eighth. So I’ve experienced this community from a couple different angles.”
    Prior to the interview, during a period for public comment, former board member Blossom Teal-Olsen spoke in favor of Rioux for the appointment.
    “Whether it be budget or COVID-19 or any other issue throughout the district, he was a very, very solid member of the board, and that’s why I’m here tonight in support of him,” Teal-Olsen testified. “I understand that this is just an appointment for a limited time, but I feel that the board would fully gain a lot of insight, knowledge. As an Indigenous person as well, he is an amazing ally.”
    In her interview with the board, Amanda Williams underscored her lifelong love of schools.
    “I’ve been in education for my life. Growing up as a student, I loved school; it was my favorite place,” she said. “… I’m really interested in curriculum design. I’m really interested in looking at the learning materials for students, serving on whatever curriculum committees. I have taught for 12 years at pretty much every grade level you can think of, kindergarten through 12, multiple subject areas. So I guess my big interest is learning more about the management side, but my passion is all about the kids and what’s going on in the classroom.”
    Both Rioux and Elias Erickson told the Sentinel after the meeting they are undecided on whether to file as a write-in candidate. If no one enters the race as an official write-in option, the board will meet after the election to make an appointment to fill the vacancy.
    In his interview with the board, Erickson stressed the importance of his youth.
    “I add to the diversity of your board, I’m a younger guy. I don’t think that’s a weakness; I think that’s an asset,” he said. “I think it’s good to have the perspective of somebody who graduated less than 10 years ago and understands what that transition in life is like. I think that other things that I bring to the table of value are understanding of process and procedure, process and policy.”
    He said it’s crucial for a board to work in unison.
    “Being a team player is a big one, because as a school board member, I have no power individually, but as a team, you have power to make a change and make a difference, but being a team player means that if the team goes the direction you don’t want, that you still need to get on board,” he said. “... What it takes to create a team, and the common objective, is it takes a leader who’s able to cast a vision that the team can get behind, that the team can share. Without a leader who can cast that vision and then sell that vision to the team, then you’re really going to have a total direct of priorities and efforts.”
    Following the three interviews, which lasted about 30 minutes in total, board member Todd Gebler voiced support for Rioux, and made the motion to appoint him to the vacancy.
    “I know Paul well; I work with Paul. He is a strong leader. He’s very knowledgeable. He will bring, for a short period of time, he will bring, not stability, but he will bring a sense of leadership, a sense of experience,” Gebler said.
    Board member Steve Morse also was in favor.
    “He’s got a great familiarity with our school district. He’s had four kids go through, and two grads. So that’s a plus with me too,” Morse said.
    Board member Phil Burdick agreed.
    “I appreciated his answer on the roles and responsibilities of a school board member, and thought he had a strong grasp of what it is that we should do,” Burdick said.
    Board member Tom Williams argued in favor of Amanda Williams, as she is the only one who chose to run for the full term in the coming election.
    “They all had really good responses, some overlapped. Two of the candidates had experience being on the board, so they know the mechanics. But what my concern is the continuity,” Tom Williams said. “... Only one candidate put their name in to run, and that continuity will go from starting here tonight through the length of the term. And to me, that’s what gets my vote, is the ability to start tonight and run through. If all three candidates had the same commitment, where they were going to be running for a seat, I may have a different opinion.”
    The board approved Rioux’s appointment in a 3-1 vote, with only Williams opposed.
    The next scheduled board meeting is set for Oct. 2 following the municipal election.
  
Blatchley Roof
    After seating Rioux on the board and administering the oath of office, the board discussed and approved 5-0 a full condition assessment of the Blatchley Middle School by Tremco, a national specialist in roofing materials. The assessment was a needed step for the project.
    The assessment will cost $49,911. Its results will be part of a Capital Improvement Project application to the state to finance the new roof next year, superintendent Deidre Jenson told the board via Zoom from Juneau.
    “The reason why we put it off is because it was possibly going to be part of the CIP application, which that deadline we didn’t make. So then we considered if we could do a CIP reimbursement but in order to be reimbursable under a... CIP reimbursable application, it has to be under $50,000. So I had Tremco rework that so it’s under $50,000 now,” Jenson said.
    Additionally, the school district will own any schematics and drawings that come from the assessment, allowing those to be used when the district solicits bids for a new roof.
    “Now that we know that we own these specs, having this assessment completed now, rather than waiting… will actually earn us, or score us, points on that CIP application when we apply next year,” Jenson said. “I’m not guaranteeing that it’ll be reimbursed through the state, but there’s a possibility it does cost us a little bit of money, and we do have some money that we can reallocate in the maintenance department to cover this. It’s going to make things tight.”
    A preliminary Tremco roofing assessment found significant moisture saturation in the roof, with structural degradation above the pool in particular.
    “I had Tremco kind of write a summary of their initial, their first little assessment – it was a smaller, much smaller assessment... There’s not a need to shut the pool down as far as safety issues; that was a concern that was up before,” Jenson said.
    Board member Steve Morse agreed on the importance of the work, and said the district should keep pool users informed should a closure become necessary.
    “Obviously, it needs to be done, and I think as soon as possible, but I would like to keep Parks and Rec, and their schedule of the pool, let them in on that too,” Morse said, “if it’s going to be closed or if there’s a need for closing it, because the community and the plans have been made for its use.”

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