Candidates for the Haines school board joined a live on-air forum on KHNS Thursday. Three of the five candidates discussed COVID mitigation efforts, budgets, and supporting diversity and inclusion. KHNS’ Corinne Smith hosted the forum, and reports on where candidates stand ahead of the October 5 election. Audio of the entire one-hour forum is posted here.

Five candidates are vying for four open seats on the Haines school board. Incumbents Brian Clay and Michael Wald, and first-time candidate Kevin Shove joined KHNS for a live discussion on school board issues. Shannon Dryden could not attend due to work obligations, and Jonathan Wray did not respond to several invitations.

Candidates were asked to “grade” the district’s handling of the COVID pandemic since March 2020, and explain why. Brian Clay has served on the board for the last 18 years, works as a counter technician at BigFoot Auto and as a volunteer firefighter, and has a granddaughter currently in third grade. 

“I would give ourselves an A plus, an A or A plus,” Clay said. 

Incumbent Michael Wald has served on the board for the last five years, works as a wilderness guide and outdoor educator, and has two kids in the schools. He gave the district a B plus.

“You know, hindsight is 2020, I don’t fault anyone,” Wald said. “We could have been clear about communicating with parents what the quarantine regulations were last year. We could have been a little bit more in sync with, with some of the state requirements, or early in the pandemic.”

But Wald says Haines students still did relatively well on standardized tests. 

First-time candidate Kevin Shove has two children, ages three and nine, and works as the general manager for the Housers IGA Supermarket. He’ss been a vocal critic of the masking policy at school board meetings this past summer, but said at the forum he’d give the district an “A”. 

“I think it’s great for the kids to be in school, the social development and all that. And I think I’d give them an “A”, you know, I think they did a good job with the uncertainty of everything, and really the lack of information and, and data on how to proceed,” Shove said.

Haines district reported three COVID cases in the schools last week, and there have been dozens of students quarantining since the start of the school year. The district requires masks to be worn indoors, and provides COVID testing for asymptomatic close contacts and twice a week for athletes; so far no outbreaks or clusters have been identified from classrooms. 

Candidates were asked how much teacher input they’d weigh before making a decision. Brian Clay added that teacher input is crucial for creating solid policies.

 “If that plan is not where they can execute it, then they will never be able to do it, and the plan will fail. That’s kind of why the Smart Start plan worked well. Everybody had buy in, everybody had their thoughts on it. And we knew what we needed to do, and how to get there,” Clay said. 

Candidates talked about their thoughts on diversity and inclusion in the district, and incumbent Michael Wald suggested the schools’ curriculum could do more to reflect the Haines community.

“We have 10 or 15% of the community that is Native, whether that’s Tlingit or from another part of the state, you know, is that representative within our curriculum? Does our curriculum, you know, support the variety of lifestyles and cultures and languages that we have in our community,” Wald said.

Candidates were also asked about inclusion for LGBTQ students, the budget and spending priorities, and collaboration with the seven-member school board. 

You can listen to the full one-hour forum here.