The Sitka School Board has appointed a Mt. Edgecumbe teacher to fill a one-year vacancy.
The board named Social Studies teacher Dionne Brady-Howard to the seat after five rounds of deadlocked balloting.
During her interview prior to the vote, Brady-Howard outlined her educational philosophy.
“We’re at a really unique time in education right now. We’ve left behind No Child Left Behind, and moved into this era of every student succeeds. To be honest, it feels like this replacement is nebulous, and gives us some room as parents, as educators, and community members to try to figure out again what education looks like in our own locality.”
Brady-Howard is in her 17th year teaching at Mt. Edgecumbe, the state-run boarding school in Sitka. Her own children, however, are enrolled in the Sitka district: a 7th-grader at Blatchley and an 11th-grader at Sitka High.
Brady-Howard is no stranger to board work and close collaboration with the school district. She’s served 13 years on the parent committee of the Sitka Native Education Program, including several years as chair.
Dionne Brady-Howard in her classroom at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in 2015.
Brady-Howard is a lifelong Sitkan. She is the caretaker of songs for the Kiks.adi Tlingit in Sitka. She inherited a tradition of outspoken activism from her family. But she doesn’t want to be defined by her past.
“People who have known me since I was young and full of vim and vigor — and a severe lack of tact, when I was younger. I think that over the years , having worked with freshmen for 16 years now, I’ve developed a lot more patience and interpersonal skills that I bring to wherever I go.”
It took the school board six balloting rounds to get to Brady-Howard. The assembly deadlocked four straight rounds with two votes for Brady-Howard, and two for Jennifer Carter, a former public school teacher and current Fine Arts Camp instructor. After a five minute recess, the school board reconvened and acting president Cass Pook and member Tom Conley switched their votes to Brent Edwards, a lawyer and stay-at-home dad, to try and break the tie, but they did not get a third.
In the end, member Jennifer McNichol — who voted for Brady-Howard in the first three rounds — returned to her original preference, and she, Conley, and Pook aligned to give Brady-Howard the seat.
Member Eric Van Cise — despite commending each candidate — never veered from Carter during all six rounds.
Dionne Brady-Howard will be sworn in prior to the next school board meeting on Tuesday, October 4. She was unavailable for an interview immediately following her appointment due to a family emergency.
Brady-Howard will serve in place of Tim Fulton until October of next year. Fulton resigned his seat on the board on September 1, too late to put his seat on the October 4 ballot this year.
