Departing school board leaders look back as new members are sworn in
- Jasz Garrett
- 19 hours ago
- 7 min read
Reorganized school board faces search for new superintendent and creation of five-year strategic plan
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
Both former Juneau Board of Education President Deedie Sorensen and member Emil Mackey were recognized at a meeting last Tuesday at Thunder Mountain Middle School, before the appointment of their replacements.
Mackey served as a board member for nine years, holding the roles of vice president, board clerk, chair and assisting on various committees.
Sorensen thanked Mackey for stepping in for her while she was hospitalized in Anchorage, undergoing chemotherapy. She attended meetings remotely for three months while he ran them.
“It was a pretty chaotic time and he was really solid,” she said.
In his final comments, Mackey said he holds a Ph.D. in education policy, but was never able to find a permanent job doing what he really loves “which is public education.” He said he chose to run for school board in 2015 to “fill that void,” and “on one hand, it did — in another, it’s been extremely excruciating.”
Mackey turned to acknowledge the room full of Juneau Education Association and Juneau Education Support Staff union members waiting to testify. He said they are all owed gratitude, as well as the administrators and school board members.
“I hate this time we’re in,” he said. “Public servants are blamed for everything wrong by the people that are actually committing the crimes against our societies.”
He said one of the reasons he chose not to run for reelection was to spend more time with his son. He added that his past decade on the board has not been spent improving public education, but has been an attempt to “mitigate the damage of the neglect of the people who run this state.”
Mackey apologized to the teachers and paraeducators that he “could not do more.” He said his next step will be to support public servants in getting what they deserve — “which is just basic respect, a pay that you can live on, and a simple thank you.”
Vice President Elizabeth Siddon said goodbye to Sorensen, recounting her six years on the board. Along with being board president, Sorensen served as chair, a member of numerous board committees, site councils and other community committees.
“I’ve sort of dreaded this day for a long time because I don’t think I’ve served with another board member from whom I’ve been able to learn as much as I’ve learned from you and that’s in part because we haven’t always agreed,” Siddon told her.
Mackey recognized Sorensen’s six years on the board and also noted she had been involved with the Juneau School District for 40 years. In her outgoing remarks, Sorensen thanked all of the people she served, past board members and those she taught with.
“I understand the district is hiring and I still have a certificate, so,” she said with an emotional laugh. “I can retire, but it won’t be because there’s not work available. I am looking forward to some time off. I got my all-clear from my oncologist last week.”
After Sorensen and Mackey left the library, newly elected board members Melissa Cullum, Jenny Thomas and Steve Whitney were sworn in by City and Borough of Juneau municipal attorney Emily Wright. Later the board reorganized, with Siddon nominating Britteny Cioni-Haywood to be the new board president. Amber Frommherz was elected as board clerk and Siddon was chosen to remain vice president. All three were unopposed for their new roles on the board.
Siddon said she chose to nominate Cioni-Haywood because of her willingness to serve and her rising leadership over the last few years.
“Her first year, anybody’s first year, you’re sort of getting the lay of the land,” she said in an interview. “But in her second year, she really took on chair of the Finance Committee. Her involvement in site councils, really just in meetings, right? Her participation and in our discussions, the comments that she’s contributing, the thoughts she’s contributing to the conversations that we’re having as a board, just show her commitment to the work we have to do.”
Siddon said she thrives as vice president and the board president is a big job with additional time she does not have the capacity for. Instead, she said she looks forward to bringing her institutional knowledge to support Cioni-Haywood in her new role.
“I was happy to serve,” Cioni-Haywood said in an interview. “It feels right now a little overwhelming. I’m starting my third year and I feel like I’ve got a little experience under my belt, but still sometimes it feels relatively new. It’s been a pretty hectic tenure with the budget deficit coming up months after David (Noon) and I were sworn onto the board.”
She said she looks forward to working with both the new and existing board members.
“We’re going to again have a lot on our plate with the strategic plan, finding a new superintendent, but looking forward to continuing to make that progress for the school district,” Cioni-Haywood said.
During the meeting, she said her hope is the Juneau School District will interview potential candidates in January or February. Superintendent Frank Hauser announced his resignation on Oct 10, effective June 30, 2026.
New board members raise concerns through many questions
During the board meeting, Thomas made her first motion to discuss the school year calendar. She suggested certified staff should have Veterans Day off from work, stating it is the first time in many years they have not received the holiday off. She asked two weeks before Veterans Day.
“Whether it’s too late this year, I don’t know what that entails, but I definitely think that next year the calendar needs to be looked at to address that issue,” Thomas said. “That might help ease some of the tension that they’re feeling right now.”
However, it was too late to change for this school year, as the calendar for fiscal year 2025-2026 was adopted and approved during the 2024-2025 school year, according to Hauser. He said it went through vigorous discussion at the time. For the 2026-2027 calendar, the holiday is marked as a day off.
Thomas added she does not think JSD intentionally removed Veterans’ Day as a holiday this year, but rather that the calendar for FY 2025-2026 was chosen during the consolidation process and was likely overlooked in the chaos.
David Noon, chair of the policy committee, said it was a learning moment for the board to be mindful of the process in place and the conversations happening between board representatives and the calendar committee. He said the holiday off for this year could be put on the policy committee’s agenda.
Thomas said she would want feedback from teachers before continuing with the change. Frommherz said as a veteran, she would like the district to offer the day off, but at the same time, the process and policy for this calendar year is already in place and should be honored. Board members also noted staff were expected to participate with community partners that day.
Cullum requested the missed holiday for this year be recognized as an error and considered carefully in the future.
Hauser, like Noon, suggested the issue could be placed on the policy committee’s agenda and asked the calendar committee to be mindful of Veterans’ Day as a holiday in the future.
For her first board meeting, Cullum questioned Hauser’s data during his superintendent’s report. He presented the same data at a recent Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon, stating there was an increase in participation following consolidation.
“We had some great showings this season for our fall sports,” Hauser said, showing a slide with middle and high school participation. The schools will soon be entering the winter season with basketball, hockey, Nordic ski and wrestling.
“JSD recognizes fall sports student athletes at the December board meeting and we look forward to celebrating our athletes,” Hauser said.
Cullum questioned missing data.
“Most of them are going down for your high school activities,” she said. “You have less participation in well over 50% of them. I’m really curious because the way it’s broken down, you have JD for ’25-26, you have JD for ’24-25, you have JD and TM ’23-24, and you have TM for ’22-23, but we don’t have any data for JD for ’22-23.”
Cullum said that makes it difficult to determine the trend because the board cannot compare each high school for the 2022-2023 period.
“We’re looking at one school, and then all of a sudden we’re looking at the consolidated school, but we’re not looking at one school and one school to see how many kids we actually had that first year when we had two high schools, versus what we have for participation now when it’s consolidated,” she said.
She said it’s hard to tell if there’s improvement or not and the same applies for middle school activities.
“I feel like all of this is a nice snapshot of where we are now, but it doesn’t really show me whether we’re growing, whether our programs are increasing or whether they’re decreasing,” she said.
The data was not collected at Juneau-Douglas High School Yadaa.at Kalé for the 2022-2023 school year. The fact Thunder Mountain High School featured its own activities, such as its sole wrestling team, was also a factor. Declining enrollment was also suggested to play a role.
As for the answer on what the school board was doing to increase participation, Frommherz said the activities committee had begun the discussion this school year. She said she had requested to know if the Alaska School Activities Association could increase the district’s roster, but noted it would possibly be constrained by funding. Frommherz added she was concerned about female participation declining in particular.
In part, questions by Cullum and Thomas surrounding different processes led to the meeting’s extension until 1 a.m. However, most school board meetings are long and often involve late-night pizza, so it was likely only their first taste of spending an entire evening at the TMMS library.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
