School Board Candidates Call Teamwork a Priority for Future of District

logo-w-sunburstKayla Desroches/KMXT

Behind most school districts, there’s a board of education setting policies and connecting the residents to its school administrators, and in October, two community members are running for one seat on the Kodiak Island Borough School District’s Board of Education. Kelly Bell and Julie Hill both express a passion for the community.

Bell says she moved to Kodiak in 2013 and is serving in her second year as preschool director at Kodiak Baptist Mission. She says her role as an administrator has prepared her for a seat on the board.

“I know the stress and the decisions that have to be made that affect your staff and affect the kids that you serve, so I feel like I can see things from three different perspectives, as an administrator, as a parent, and as a teacher.”

Bell says she’s easy to speak to and a problem-solver.

“I feel like I am not necessarily in this race for any one particular agenda, be it personal or political. I entered this candidacy with full intention of being an advocate for the kids and the teachers and the community that we serve.”

She says as a board member she would want the school district to come together as a team, which is a goal Julie Hill also says she has.

Hill taught special education in the district for 34 years, and now works as services coordinator for the Kodiak Island Housing Authority. She says the school board sets a tone for the district, and the tone this year should be of collaboration and support – for instance, with regard to new teachers.

“We’ve spent money in recruiting and training those new teachers. Now we need to really support them so that they can be successful in their classrooms and stay for a while, because we just spend money over and over again if they don’t. I think that’s part of it. I also think we need to reestablish a feeling of team, that it’s not us against them, it’s everyone working together in what is the best interest of the student.”

Hill also says the board will have to take a look at the school budget.

“With funds being cut from the state level, we’re going to have to really scrutinize where we’re spending money and how we can best support programs that money has been spent on in the past. It’s not gonna be open access to money. I know that, having been involved in the school.”

Hill and Bell both agree a priority this year will be to find a replacement for Superintendent Stewart McDonald, who announced his resignation earlier this year. His last day is set for some time in June 2017.

You can hear more about the school board candidates and why they want to serve on the three-year seat at tonight’s candidate forum. That’ll be at 7:30 PM in the drama pod at the Gerald C. Wilson auditorium.

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