Carlson stresses equity, access and community in schools
School Board candidate seeks flexible education system that recognizes the diversity of Juneau
Two very different personal experiences with the Alaska public school system have affected Phyllis Carlson's approach to education. As a student, she attended a one-room elementary school in the village of Chignik, a fishing community of less than 100 yearround residents on the Alaska Peninsula. As a parent, she sent her two daughters through Juneau's public schools, a system that accommodates about 4,900 students.
Both experiences influenced her desire to work toward a flexible, responsive system that recognizes the diversity of the Juneau community and provides opportunities for those who don't fit into mainstream profiles.
"There's a road map (for success), but not all the travelers are arriving in the same vehicle," she said.
Carlson is one of five candidates who will compete for three seats on the Juneau School Board in the municipal election Oct. 6. The other candidates are incumbents Mark Choate and Andi Story, and challengers Bill Peters and Mary Marks.
Carlson, 59, first joined the board in 2003, and has served as both its president and vice president. During her two previous terms, she said she worked for strong, consistent and clear policies, and has been especially responsive to issues of equity and access for students.
Carlson said there needs to be a balance between parents' understandable desire to get the best out of the system for their child, and a more community-centered approach that recognizes the needs of other students, some of whom may not have active advocates.
"I see all kids as my kid," she said. "I don't want any less for anybody else."
Carlson said she decided to run for another three-year term on the School Board in part because she wanted to follow through on some of the big changes that have been put into motion recently. The district has a new superintendent, Glenn Gelbrich, and it will soon be hiring a new principal at Juneau-Douglas High School. In addition, several far-reaching issues have recently been implemented, such as the district-wide changes to school start times that began last month (which Carlson supported), and a new policy on drug testing due to begin in October (approved by a unanimous vote of the board).
"That was a factor in my wanting to come back and serve for another term, because I have some of the institutional knowledge about how we got here, why we got here and why we made those choices," she said.
Carlson, a multigenerational Alaskan who has lived in Juneau for the past 34 years, currently works as a project administrator for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. As a young mother, she worked as a commercial fisherman in Chignik with her father in the summers, commuting to the Alaska Peninsula with husband and daughters. She also has worked as a preschool teacher, and has a minor in education as well as a degree in sociology.
In addition to her work on the School Board, she has been involved in many community groups such as Communities in Schools, the Juneau Alliance of Mental Health, the Juneau Youth Services board and the United Way board, among others.
Community support is key, she said, in the operation of exemplary schools, as the school system itself has neither the time nor the resources to address many concerns.
The Next Generation program, a project Carlson said she is proud to have worked on, in part owed its success, she said, to the range and number of opinions gathered from the community. The program, designed to address the needs of the secondary school students, organized nearly 20 public forums around the city.
"We were able to access some of those voices that sometimes are silent with this process," Carlson said.
On the issue of drug testing, community input was crucial, she said. The board decided to follow the recommendations of the task force, including mandatory testing for athletes and voluntary testing for others, after hearing hours of public testimony
"We heard loud and clear from many, many community members that this has a devastating effect on kids," she said.
As far as programs that she has not supported, Carlson and two other board members voted in June against the charter school expansion to middle school, citing concerns with additional costs and the diversion of funds from other, more pressing areas.
"I have trouble reconciling programs that our data doesn't point us to," she said.
Carlson said in making any School Board decision, she tries to keep the students at the forefront of her mind.
"The first thing I go to is, how is this going to impact kids?" she said. "I think the most important thing we do as parents, as community members, as adults, is educate the next generation. And that's not just for the next generation; it's for us, too."