 Candidate For the Ketchikan School Board 3 year term ( 3 seats open) Published: Monday
Background: My wife, Elaine, and I have lived in Ketchikan since 1984 and have two daughters, Elizabeth, age 16, and Sarah, age 14. Both attend Kayhi. Elaine is employed as a Customs Inspector with the Department of Homeland Security I am retired after a forty-year career with the federal government, including five years in the U.S. Army; five years in the U.S. Border Patrol, and; two years with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Viet Nam. For the last 15 years of my career, I supervised the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Southeast Alaska. I have a B.S. degree from Fresno State University, Fresno, California and attended Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. Experience: I served a previous term on the school board from 1994 to 1997. I was Board President from 1996 to 1997. I was appointed to the board to fill a vacant position in November 2002 and presently serve. I was elected to the Ketchikan City Council in 1999 and served until 2002. I chair the Ketchikan Campus Advisory Committee of the University of Alaska Southeast. I am also President Elect of Ketchikan Rotary 2000 and am a member of the board of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, PATCHWORKS, First Lutheran Church and Christmas in April * Ketchikan. Previously, I have been President of the Ketchikan Federal Executive Association and Chair of the Gateway Center for Human Services Advisory Board. Issues: School funding has become an
issue in Ketchikan, a city that previously boasted of it's commitment
to education. In the past two years, the Borough Assembly has
cut $1.1 million from school district budget requests. I believe
that Ketchikan can afford good schools. Furthermore, I believe
that we can all work together - must work together - to keep
our kids in school. We consistently have one of the highest dropout
rates in the state, twice that of any of our neighbors. The loss
of potential among our youth is a sin. We can do much better
by our youth.
|
||
