By Charlene Arneson
Special to the Turnagain Times
Each year the Chugach School Board sponsors board members to join other districts in Juneau to attend the Alaska Association of School Boards (AASB) legislative fly-in.
This year I joined Board Members Sue Johnson, Superintendent Bob Crumbley, Chaperone Cynthia Shidner and the district wide student leadership team; two from Whittier, (Jake Ginn, Chevelle Merculi`ef), two from Tatitlek ( Gwen Vlasoff, Johnni Johnson), from Chenega, (Joseph Cross), and (Andrew Ladd), Anchorage Extension School.
We were all very busy. Bob, Sue, and Charlene attended QS2 and ICE training as well as the general session of AASB training. QS2 and ICE training is to better understand the Community Engagement program we are currently planning for each of our school communities. AASB leadership training helps us be better board members and understand issues facing all school districts and how to interact with the Legislators and Governor.
We had appointments with 18 legislators and the Governor’s legislative assistant. Each of our team members took part in talking about the issues. We address our issues; the Whittier School roof, asked for support for the VTE program and the AASB talking points. We were well received, everyone were interested in what we had to say. They were aware of Chugach School Districts success and were curious. They asked our students many question and liked the answers.
Memorable experiences were: Governor Palin on her birthday took the time to have her picture taken with our students as a group in front of the Alaskan State Seal and each Individual student, Cynthia sat in the House leader, John Harris’s chair and had her picture holding his gavel, Joseph played Senator Dyson’s banjo. We all visited the House of Representatives, Chambers while they were in session. Our Representative, Mike Hawker, introduced each of us into the House record as his guests and we were on live TV.
My memorable moment was having our team join us at the fly-in and watching them learn and understand one of the many board’s responsibilities.