By Margaret Friedenauer
There were not enough people interested in serving on the Haines District School Board earlier this year to fill all the empty seats. That means the remaining board members had to appoint people to the board.
On Tuesday night, the board chose Mike Wilson and Tiffany DeWitt out of five people who submitted letters of interest for the open seats.
Those seats were left vacant by Brenda Josephson, who did not run for re-election this year, and Scott Doddridge, who recently resigned his seat. Wilson and DeWitt’s terms lasts only one year, since they were appointed to the seats. They will have to run for election in October if they want to retain their seats.
Wilson and DeWitt were interviewed by the board during the regular board meeting Tuesday night. The other candidates were Dee Owens, Patrick Shallcross and Kathleen Fitzwilliam, although Fitzwilliam was out of town and not at the meeting Tuesday.
Wilson is a retired educator and principal who worked in schools in Anchorage and near Tucson. He taught all elementary grades and middle school math and health classes.
DeWitt is a case manager with Lynn Canal Counseling with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She volunteers with Community Youth Development and has a second grader who attends Haines School.
After the board interviewed each candidate in public, the group voted 4-1 to go into closed door session to compare and contrast the applicants. They convened for less than a half hour before coming back to the public session and making their appointments. Wilson and DeWitt were approved in a unanimous vote.
After they were sworn in, the board made officer appointments. The vote was unanimous to keep Anne Marie Palmari as board president Sarah Swinton as Vice President. Lisa Schwartz and Wilson were each nominated to serve as treasure, although both declined the nomination. Brian Clay was then nominated and agreed to serve as school board treasurer.
