- District 1 Assembly
- Troy Wuyts-Smith
- Barbara 'Wáahlaal Gíidaak Blake
- Paul Kelly
- District 2 Assembly
- Kelly Fishler
- Michelle Bonnet Hale
- Mayor
- Beth Weldon
- School Board
- Kyle Scholl*
- Thom Buzard
- Will Muldoon*
- Ibn Bailey
- Aaron Spratt
- Elizabeth Siddon
- Amber Frommherz
Age
37
Family
I’m a 25 year resident of Juneau. I don’t have any wife or kids, but my parents live here, my siblings live here, and their children live here.
Politically, how do you identify?
I’ve been registered as an undeclared [voter] my entire life.
How do you earn a living?
I work for the State of Alaska as a data processor and a mainframe operator.
What are some topics you’re an expert on?
I’m extremely knowledgeable on both city and state law, statutes and policies. I keep current on a lot of that. Alaska data and Juneau data is a hobby of mine. It’s a passion of mine. Also, it’s a weird one, but I think that good governance is a big hobby and passion of mine that I’m starting to be pretty good at. You know, I’ve been at this for the majority of my adult life, and I want to keep at it as long as I can and as long as the community will allow me to.
Why are you running for office?
I initially did not have any intentions of running. I had about 25 folks reach out, which felt like critical mass to me, and the number one thing that I had heard from folks regarding their concerns was a lot of the candidates’ stances on the COVID-19 mask mitigation policies that the district has enacted. People were just very nervous about that. I agreed with them that masks work. I think the mitigation policies are sound. I think they’re science-based, and I don’t want to see that change.
Education policy
What’s something in Juneau’s standardized test data that informs an education policy you want to implement or action you want to take?
I’m obviously a very data-centric guy, but I think that just using only data to enact policy isn’t always the best idea. I have a lot of concern about just using data from standardized testing. I think that it puts a lot of unfair pressure on teachers. I think that it puts a lot of unfair pressure on students. So I’m not opposed to standardized testing, but to just use that as a sole metric for coming up with policy, I don’t think is the best idea.
COVID-19
What do you think of how the district has handled COVID-19 in schools so far? Would you like to change anything?
The most important thing is to keep kids in schools, and the best way to keep kids in schools is to keep mask mandates and COVID mitigation strategies and policies that the board has already enacted. Juneau’s going through a spike right now, but then when you look at what the school district has experienced in regards to COVID cases, total cases for the school year right now are lower than the entirety of what CBJ sees sometimes in a weekend, sometimes in a day. I think that’s really good work, and I absolutely do not want to change anything.
Working together
What’s your approach for dealing with colleagues you disagree with on a policy matter?
That comes up often in my current board positions and previous ones as well. I believe in the process of board governance. I think that it’s a really fantastic idea. And I think that when an item comes up that is controversial, I think everyone has to do their due diligence. You do your readings, and then you take public comment, you have discussion, and then you let the vote settle where it settles.
School involvement
What is your relationship to Juneau’s schools? Are you a parent?
I am not a parent. I am an uncle and a brother to about a half dozen kids currently in the school district. But I myself do not have any children.
Serving Juneau
Which parts of Juneau do you think are underserved by the school district, and what will you do about it?
There’s a lot of factors that are outside of the school board’s control that lead to the inequity we see. One of the great things about the public school system is that it tends to be a great equalizer, and when we have to have kids distance learn, there’s a lot of inequity built into that due to socioeconomic status and family factors. You know, I’m a resident of Lemon Creek, and I think that we’ve had a tough time in that regard, but I wouldn’t necessarily put that on the doorstep of the school board. I think that that’s a bigger and complex, community-wide issue.