By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
“If the governor won’t acknowledge the School Board, the board will acknowledge itself,” said Sitka School Board president Jennifer McNichol the day after Wednesday’s board meeting last week.
The comment referred to the failure of Gov. Michael Dunleavy to issue the traditional February Education Month proclamation, and the action of Sitka District Superintendent Mary Wegner and the Sitka board members to salute themselves at Wednesday night’s board meeting.
As part of its business Wednesday, the board honored Sitka teacher Rebecca Himschoot, whom Dunleavy recently replaced on the state Board of Education, and former Sitka School Board member Cass Pook.
McNichol acknowledged Himschoot, a teacher at Keet Gooshi Heen and Baranof schools, “for your value at the state level, both for our district, but also for our kids, community, and teachers....”
Himschoot thanked the board for the accolade, and said:
“I would have dearly loved to complete my term (on the state Board of Education), which was supposed to go another two years. But that was not to be.”
She said the diversity represented on the local school board is incredibly valuable.
“That diversity is diminished in our state board right now because we have a really narrowing of the people serving,” she said. “All well-intentioned, well-informed, capable people... I’m just saying the board we have locally is an incredible force for Sitka.”
Himschoot noted that only two members of the seven-member state Board of Education have been on the board longer than one year.
“They are missing the long view,” Himschoot said of the board that sets state policy, direction and regulation of education in Alaska. The members are appointed, and may be removed, by the governor.
“Maybe we should consider going to elected (state) boards,” Himschoot said.
“You have all had to ask for the community’s support to serve,” she said of the Sitka School Board. “In an elected board at the state level we would lose some of the diversity, I think, because not everyone has the wherewithal to run for an election,” she said, but added, that at the same time “the term (of a member) would not be interrupted.”
She said the Sitka School Board should raise the notion of an elected state Board of Education to the Alaska Association of School Boards.
Himschoot also thanked the SSB for allowing her to take a year away in her career to become a better teacher, and for the flexibility since then to allow her to serve on the state board.
“That teacher’s voice, although it was mine, it was the channeled voice of all the teachers in Sitka as much as I could take in,” she said. “The excellence we have in our teaching staff in Sitka is uncommon... how do you cultivate the excellence that we see... you can’t open a bottle and pour it out, you can’t create it. It’s something that rose organically from the excellence of the individuals that come to the endeavor. So when you stand on the pillar of excellence, you’re able to do incredible things.”
Pook was recognized for her 17 years of service on the School Board and her efforts on suicide prevention, pursuing and furthering her own education, and her devotion to Sitka and the community’s kids.
Superintendent Mary Wegner asked the board members to remain standing after that tribute and said:
“February is typically School Board Appreciation Month. Gov. Dunleavy has not made a proclamation yet, so I don’t have something to give you as I have before, but I really wanted to honor each one of you for your service... you are a young board but already (your) hours of dedication have me looking forward to the future of our district.”
In another portion of the meeting, Connie Kreiss, Sue Litman, and Cora Dow from the Friends of the Performing Arts Center presented a check for $10,000 to the Sitka school district to support arts and activities programs.
Also, members of the Families For School Libraries advocated for the return of the Blatchley librarian position.
