• Age

    53

  • Family

    Estela, my lovely wife, and four wonderful children: Brian, Jasmin, Samuel and Martin. Happy that Juneau is also home to my parents, two siblings and their families.

  • Occupation

    Executive Director, Juneau Economic Development Council

  • Previous government experience or community involvement

    Juneau Board of Education; Alaska Committee; Parks and Rec Volunteer Soccer Coach; Rotary; University of Alaska advisory groups; Alaska Early Childhood Coordinating Council; State Committee on Research and Board Chair of International School of Belgrade (’05-’07).

  • Highest level of education

    B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Notre Dame. I also have other non-degree certificates in management and conflict resolution.

  • What new quarantine skill or hobby have you acquired over the last few months?

    I helped the kids “remodel” the shed, which now has flooring, power and walls and is mostly level. My bike repair skills are also getting better!

  • Why are you running?

    Why are you running?

    I’m running because I believe in Juneau’s schools and importance of our schools and building a future for Juneau citizens. My background is economic development. And it is abundantly clear that there’s an incredibly good return on investment in education for individuals and for society. That’s the big reason why, and then more specifically, you know, I believe that our schools can be better and if we collaborate, they are improving. I think Juneau is a very fortunate community and that we have a lot of support for our schools. As a community, we see that through commitment of our parents of our Assembly, and I just want to make it so that there are more opportunities to collaborate across, inside our schools and outside of our schools with our community.

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  • Racial equity

    What role should the school district play in addressing racial equity in education in Juneau?

    I think we have an important role in addressing racial equity. I’m happy to say that our five year plan that are our school district just created, our strategic plan, identifies equity as one of four key pillars. And we need to make sure that everybody sees themselves and finds themselves in our schools. That is one key way. It has been important for us to see that, like the Native community, for example, is a key part of the identity of Juneau citizens, of Juneau as a community and making our schools more welcoming is going to help us to be equitable.

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  • Access to resources

    How can the district improve access for students of different economic backgrounds to academic resources during the pandemic?

    I believe our district is doing an adequate job. It’s an important consideration so that there are equitable opportunities for all of our students. We have, in collaboration with Tlingit Haida Central Council, we have been able to have them provide devices for their members and we have been able to complement devices for our members. Food is an important part, especially for many of our lower income families and we’ve been able to make that accessible to everyone at no cost, or low cost. Our campuses aren’t closed and we are also able to accommodate families with internet access issues, in their perhaps in their geography. We’ve also been reaching out to families that don’t have the capacity to connect online, finding them economical ways to be able to do that. So, there are multiple strategies that are in place to address those students that have economic constraints.

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  • Budget

    School districts across Alaska are facing budget impacts as more students choose to homeschool due to the pandemic. How should the Juneau School District prepare for this potential drop in revenue amid other state budget shortfalls?

    Several things that we need to do. One is, we need to advocate so that there is not a drop in revenue. And we are going to advocate for that through Alaska Association for School Boards and to the Legislature to hold harmless all of the school districts. We’re all in this together, as well. We are going to try to do — we need to adjust where we can as student count, student count is coming in about 10% lower than budgeted. So, we need to make those adjustments. We’re not going to hire staff, we’re not going to replace staff until we right size it. We are going to be needing additional support from the community. It’s a crisis, a pandemic and we need to look for external supports. COVID-19 CARES Act funding has been helpful. That is funds that we have received already through the Department of Education, and the City and Borough of Juneau has also been generous in supporting us in that way.

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  • Virtual learning

    Are your kids attending public school in Juneau right now? How are they (and you as a parent) handling virtual learning?

    We have four children, Estela and I have four children, one of which is already graduated and three are still in the Juneau School District. And they are, I’m happy to say they’re managing well. I think they are wonderful kids. They miss the camaraderie of being in the classroom. They know that they feel that their education isn’t as strong as it could be if they were in person. But they also have reported this semester, certainly, that school feels better, more serious, more tense. And they’re learning more than in the fall. Which is hats-off to the district for the teachers for making the changes necessary being prepared here in the fall to teach at a distance. But they’re all looking forward to getting back into school with their classmates.

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