Former Floyd Dryden Middle School Principal Tom Milliron has thrown his name in the hat as a write-in candidate for Juneau School Board.
Milliron says he wants to give voters more of a choice at the Oct. 7 municipal election. While his name won’t appear on the ballot, his entry into the race means there are now three candidates vying for two open seats on the board. The others are school board vice president Sean O’Brien and Brian Holst, who’s seeking his first term on the board.
Milliron says the overall message of his campaign will be to improve student achievement. One way he thinks that can be done is by improving relations between the district administration and employee unions.
“Embrace really a more maybe one-team approach to the bargaining process,” Milliron says. “Because when we see the process deteriorate to what it did with JEA over the last couple years, it really has a direct impact on our kids in the classroom, and just I think doesn’t feel that good at the individual school level.”
In January, the district and its teachers’ union, the Juneau Education Association, reached a two-year contract agreement that goes through June of next year. Prior to that teachers had been working without a contract since July 2013, and the previous contract was a one-year deal.
Milliron also weighed-in against a middle school sports travel ban passed by the school board last year. The issue raised the ire of many in the community, and Milliron says it showed how important it is for the board to communicate clearly to the public.
Milliron retired at the end of last school year after 13 years as principal of Floyd Dryden. He’d previously been the school’s assistant principal and a math teacher at Juneau-Douglas High School.
He turned in his official write-in paperwork to the city clerk’s office on Friday. Clerk Laurie Sica says the paperwork simply ensures that ballots cast for Milliron will be counted. Voters will cast two votes for school board. The top two vote-getters will be elected.
