Jennifer Robinson is running for a second term on the Sitka School Board.
The freelance graphic designer and mother of two considers herself a little wiser as she contemplates another three years on the board.
Jennifer Robinson was the director of the Sitka Chamber of Commerce the last time she ran for school board. With two kids in school she was pro-child, and pro-public education, but a fiscal conservative.
The landscape of education has changed, but not her motives for running.
“I wouldn’t say different. I think I have a better understanding of some of the challenges that the district faces. And also some of the strengths that the district has.”
One of the district’s biggest strengths, Robinson says, is the community behind it. Robinson was raised in Port Alexander, the daughter of now-Sitka mayor Mim McConnell.
Robinson was raising her own family in California, but decided to move back to Sitka in 2008 — primarily for its schools.
Last year was especially difficult for the district, as state government wrestled with an ongoing budget shortfall. The board cut some beloved programs — like Community Schools — and Robinson believes more cuts are on the way.
With one recent Sitka High graduate, and a 15-year old in Pacific High, Robinson wants to remain positive.
We’re going to be okay. We’re going to make some hard choices. We’re going to have to make some really hard cuts. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to sting. Unfortunately it’s going to affect the quality of education for some of our students, and that’s the part that really gets to me. But we have to find the ways to make the cuts that have the least impact on our students. I want to be a part of that process. I think it’s incredibly important. And it’s not all doom and gloom. We live in an amazing community, and we survive the ups and downs. Sitka’s like this family. We don’t all get along all the time, but ultimately what we really care about is our community and education is at the heart of that.
Robinson has served as one of two legislative liaisons on the board, which meant advocating for school funding both in Juneau and before the Sitka assembly. On the school board, she’s been a consistent “no” vote when it comes to covering expenses out of the district’s savings account.
Part of being fiscally responsible to our students, to our district, to our community, is making sure that we have enough money to provide this education that we’re required to provide. If we can make some of the hard cuts now, and keep more in reserves, then that’s going to allow us to continue keeping as many teachers as we can, as many programs as we can, which are vital to the core education of our students. There are extra-curricular activities, sports — those types of things — which are so important to our community. So we need to find creative ways to keep those. If we aren’t being fiscally conservative today — if we’re giving everything we can now, and not planning for the future, when the future’s going see more cuts — where does that leave us? And so that’s absolutely a concern of mine.
Last year the district experienced some local pushback from parents opposed to testing under the newly-adopted Alaska Education Standards, which are closely aligned with the national Common Core Standards. Along with the new standards came new curriculum, new testing, and new teacher and administrator evaluation methods — all things that the district has been forced to implement without financial support from the state.
Nevertheless, Robinson believes the new standards are built on solid principles.
There’s a lot out there that isn’t true. I firmly stand behind the decision that the school board made in adopting Common Core. We have purchased curriculum, the standards are being implemented in our classroom, and we need to be teaching our children how to be successful in a changing world. We need to be educating our children so that they can graduate, get a job, and be successful, contributing members of society. And things are changing so fast. We need to be constantly evaluating the education that we’re providing for our students, and is it meeting the demands of today? Is it meeting the demands that they’ll be faced with tomorrow? By the time they graduate, within a few years, it’s going to be a whole new world.
Robinson says it’s important for education to evolve. And while the Alaska Standards may not be the best stand-alone thing ever, she says “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
The municipal election in Sitka is Tuesday, October 6.
