Candidate profile: Christine Johnson, school board challenger

Juneau Board of Education candidate Christine Johnson on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Independent)

Voters will elect two Juneau Board of Education members for three-year terms.

Age: 35

Occupation: Photographer/business owner

Number of students in the Juneau School District: Three

Length of residency in Juneau: 12 years

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is your background? Tell voters about yourself.

“I'm a mom of four. I have three students in the school district; two are at (Juneau) Montessori (School), and one is at MRCS (Mendenhall River Community School). I've had a lot of jobs in Juneau. I used to be the general manager at the Silverbow Inn and then I worked at the birth center. I currently own my own business in town, Christine Johnson Photography.”

Q: Why did you decide to run for school board? 

“I have kids in the school district. I got more involved in the school board last year after we went to advocate for a specific issue with my son. The more I sat in meetings and then started going to more meetings, committee meetings, and site council meetings, I just decided that having worked through the system, learning IDEA law — while navigating that through the district — I felt like that was a perspective that I didn't see. I also experienced what it feels like to testify and then not really get much information back. I saw a lot of what was going on in the district and thought it would be interesting to add my perspective of asking questions, and wanting to hear from families and make the decision process a whole circle of input, and then showing where that input went into the decision.”

Q: Your opponents have said one reason they're running again is to provide continuity to the school board. What do you think your new perspective would bring?

“I know that there's already a school board member who does have special education experience. I think the special education piece is really big. I've navigated the district as a special education parent, advocating for more supports in special education — not just at one school, but in general.”

“I've talked to other schools; I've talked to other special education teachers. It seems to be a districtwide problem. I've also had a lot of families that are in special education talk to me. I think that perspective of having worked through how the district handles special education and parents advocating for it, and seeing what happens when teachers are advocating for it, is a perspective that's not necessarily reflected on the board.”

“They bring continuity and experience, but I also feel like sometimes people get comfortable in that role. I think that a new perspective and someone who’s willing to ask, ‘Well, why are we doing these things the way that they're happening?’ Something I heard a lot was, ‘Well, we don't have funding. The BSA hasn't changed.’ Well, what are we doing about that?” 

Q: Do you have funding ideas to make up for the Base Student Allocation?

“Are we applying for grants? How are we supporting that? Are we reaching out to the community, local businesses?”

“I know there's schools up north that are able to run their schools with a lot of grant support. I think that it is an underutilized resource and, yes, you have to hire a good grant writer, but it could be worthwhile. I also think that taking advantage of early education and creating opportunities for incoming kindergartners to be ready for school, and supporting them even earlier than when they enter school.”

“But I think too, like for special education, there's ways to tap into Medicaid funding that I know is super complicated…If we're trying to find money from places, I think that it's worthwhile to look at every possible place that we could find money and exhaust all of those options before we just accept that's the way it is.”

Q: What have you been hearing from parents and educators about what needs to change with the district's approach to special education?

“The biggest thing is just how hard it is to advocate. It seems as though there will be an identified need, whether it's on the teachers’ side or the parent side: more support, a need to be evaluated, or, ‘Our classroom’s understaffed.’ There are all sorts of different needs in special education, and something to consider is that IEPs are not just suggestions. It’s federal law. You have to follow it to stay in compliance.”

“I was hearing from special education parents that there would be something that would happen, whether their student wasn't getting services, there was a big event that happened that was a failure to implement their IEP, or even just little things. My son was 4 and he was receiving speech therapy via Zoom, which I understand it's a challenging place to provide services, but a 4-year-old sitting in front of a computer trying to learn how to communicate is not ideal.” 

“My student was unaccounted for during school. (There’s) instances where students get put on the wrong bus and can't communicate, and then the parents have to find them, or just not receiving services at all — being in classes where there's not a special education teacher. A lot of these really big things that, in the spirit of an IEP, you are out of compliance.”

“Something that I experienced and have heard from parents and teachers was that they would advocate, and then it just kind of either became an argument, or it would just fall on deaf ears.”

“Yes, there's testimony opportunities, but it’s important to really make it accessible to everybody to be able to weigh in and have an opportunity to speak to the board. But also once you speak to the board, I think it's imperative that you hear back or can follow along where your concern is going.”

Q: If you are elected and added to the school board, how would you help to foster that trust?

“I think it is important to have restrictions around the testimony piece, but I think what happens afterwards is really important. I think that even beyond fear of retaliation, I think that parents don't trust that if they do bring it up or if they go to the school board that anything's going to happen. I testified multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple times and I never saw anything happening.”

“Trust is obviously something that's earned…At one of our forums, it was countered that, ‘All of the board meetings are recorded, and you can access them online.’ But you can't easily access them all online. You have to work pretty hard to find everything. And then, board minutes are abbreviated versions of everything that was talked about. And so, if you're looking for information, it's a lot of work.”

“So I think something tangible that I would like to do — again, I'm not sure around their policies on that — is to have a monthly newsletter: ‘These are all the board meetings we had. This is what was discussed then. This is the general board meeting that we had. These were the testimonies we heard. These got put into the agenda for next month.’ Had I not known to look at Student Services Committee meetings, I wouldn't have known that's where the conversation was going to happen regarding my concerns.”

“For example, we testified about the fence at MRCS at the IPK playground being inadequate, and then I had no idea that anybody listened and that it was moving forward…But if someone had said, ‘Hey, we're actively working on this…It's in the process it needs to be in.’ That builds parents' trust back that you were heard…And obviously that can't be the case for everything… but I think acknowledging, ‘Hey, I heard your concern and this is where we're going to discuss it,’ or ‘We discussed it and it's moving forward.’ Because I was shocked to see that there was a fence at MRCS at the beginning of this school year.”

“I don't think that learning this information is an indictment of anybody. I think that learning this information helps us to take a step in the right direction.”

Q: You've acknowledged that's not always possible, or the board may decide not to take an action. How would you handle a situation where you have to communicate to someone who gave testimony that no future steps are being taken?

“I think that it's important to be transparent about why that decision was made. I've sat and listened to some testimony where it was like, ‘Thank you for telling us your concern,’ and later they said, ‘That's a state policy; we can't change it.’ But being able to say, ‘Thank you for telling us your concern. What you addressed is actually state law, and so we have to follow state law in this fashion.’ Just making it more welcoming.

Q: Do you think the school board should do anything differently in its approach when contract negotiations come up again this year?

“Yes. I've actually talked to a few teachers about this…the impression I got was that everything was very hostile in the negotiations…And I recognize there's two parties. They both have to approach it however they are, but it wasn't approached as a conversation. It wasn't approached collaboratively. That was kind of the feeling I got from reading about it…that it was very much ‘us against them’ on both sides. And I think that being able to show where the money is going, where all of that is happening, because if not, you just get bits and pieces.”

“The board doesn't actively sit in on the negotiations…But the board as a whole can set the tone of how we treat people and how we want people to be treated, and through that example everyone else is going to follow suit, I would hope. If the board treats people kindly and respectfully and communicates well, and has transparency, then I would hope that the district also sees that those are values and follows through that way too.”

Q: What are your thoughts around mental health support in the school district, and do you see avenues to strengthen that for students?

“I think mental health is very important in the schools. I think schools can become a safe place for students to express themselves. I think that our teachers are a really great resource. They know most of these students intimately. I think creating a system around how to support students and keep them safe within the school unit is really important. I think without structure, without a system, a lot of it is just going to become reactionary. But if we have a strong support system where, if something arises, we know exactly what to do… that creates safety for students.”

“Something I heard a lot that I think ties in with mental health is students being able to disappear within the school system. Whether it's through no longer attending school or just checking out. It's at the high school level more so than younger grades just because their parents are still very involved in elementary school. But for the high school level, if a student starts missing school a lot, we need to recognize the signs.”

“I think really partnering with the community supports that are out there to really set students up, especially after they graduate, I think that's imperative to ensuring that students can move into the real world with support and not be just left on their own.”

Q: Do you feel concerned about school safety overall, or is it specifically when it comes to students that have special needs?

“ I think that when people think about school safety, there's a lot of things that initially come to mind: fire drills. I mean, DZ just had a stay put because there was someone who was going hunting.” 

“But I think that when school safety is brought up, those are the biggest issues. But mental health, too — how are students being cared for in mental health crises?”

“I think systems around special education students absolutely need to be strengthened….And I think that that is a huge piece for parents is to be able to trust the school system on that very basic level, and then they build that trust. But when that trust erodes, I think that there's something wrong. I've heard from multiple parents and lots of teachers and administration where if a student goes missing during the school day, there's not a step-by-step system — special education or not. And it doesn't seem to be as uncommon as I think people think it is (for a student to go unaccounted for). There needs to be more awareness around students in general.” 

“As far as special education systems, the stronger your system is for special education, the better it is for all students. Because then teachers have more capacity because they know that if a student has extra needs, that their needs are being met…And teachers are able to address the whole classroom better.”

Q: What is your impression two school years after the consolidation? 

“I feel like, for the most part, everybody's settled into how things are going. I think that there's still a lot of moving pieces and figuring out how to manage the high school class sizes. But this is my understanding talking to teachers and families. Again, as I said, I don't have a lot of high school student input. My children are still elementary age.”

Q: How do you think you would react if you were on the school board and you were receiving heavy criticism?

“I've received criticism a lot. I worked at a hotel, and so people would regularly come to me very upset about things that I either can't control or we had nothing to do with. I feel like that position alone set me up for a lot of experience and practicing handling very upset people in the moment.” 

“I rely heavily on systems. I know exactly what I can offer. I know exactly what the next step is to help alleviate whatever the concern is…And I also recognize we will never be able to make everybody happy, but I think that as long as it's approached in a way where everybody feels like they were heard, it helps.”

Q: What sets you apart from other candidates?

“I think that having elementary-aged students is different than all the other candidates I'm running against. I feel like I ask a lot of questions. I've also been in the parents' role advocating for teachers and school administration to the board. I understand what it feels like; I understand the process, and I've heard from a lot of parents and teachers and have brought that into my advocating.”

“I think the biggest thing is that I'm running because I care and I want what's best for the students in Juneau and I want them to be able to access their education in the best possible way.”

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.