By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Blossom Twitchell filed today as a candidate for Sitka School Board in the Oct. 6 city election.
With one day left for candidates to file, Twitchell is the only candidate for the two seats open on the School Board.
Twitchell was appointed to the board June 24 to fill one of the vacancies created by the resignations of Elias Erickson and Dionne Brady-Howard.
Twitchell told the Sentinel today that she hopes to ensure the safety of Sitka students, families and teachers as school resumes later this month.
“Because of the current pandemic my current focus is on making sure that the families of Sitka are heard as to what their needs and wants are as we try to open up the schools,” Twitchell said. “I have full confidence in (interim Superintendent) John Holst. He and his team have gone above and beyond in giving Sitka the answers that they desire.”
She expressed confidence in the Smart Start Task Force plan, which outlines details for the reopening of schools.
“The Smart Start really covered the bases,” Twitchell said. “We do have an option – if you don’t feel comfortable bringing children to school you can do distance learning… It seems like every detail has been thought out, down to transportation and buses.”
Another area she mentioned was the achievement gap between students.
“After making sure that our families, children and teachers are safe, I would like to work on closing the achievement gap between Alaska Native students and students in general,” she said.
She hopes that careful curriculum choices could aid in this.
She suggested “looking at different curriculums to see if that is the best curriculum out there for our children and really listening to the teachers and families and their needs.”
She believes Sitka has made strides on this in recent years.
“Being on the School Board is for all children, as long as we work toward more trauma-informed schools and strengthen our social emotional learning, which I believe Sitka has really stepped up in the last years,” she said.
Twitchell stressed the collaborative nature of this task.
“It’s not solely an educational issue, or solely a family issue or solely a social issue, it’s a community effort,”she said.
At press time today, Andrew Hames also filed to run for School Board. Hames was appointed to the board in June along with Twitchell. Hames’ profile will appear in the Sentinel Friday.
