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Skagway City School Board

2008-2009

School Board

Darren Belisle, Vice-President
Christine Ellis, President
Chris Maggio, Treasurer
Stuart Brown, Clerk
Joanne Korsmo, Member

Board Goals

  1. Encourage academic excellence for staff and students
    • College readiness, study skills, advanced placement and honors
    • Continuation of the Foreign Language program
  2. Ensure the continued improvement of the school environment
    • Student pride in school and community
  3. Continue to improve school/community communications
    • Develop student community service
    • Open up channels of communication through community and media
    • Develop website
  4. Examine ways to increase enrollment

Committee Assignments

  • Policy - Brown and Ellis
  • Evaluation - Entire Board
  • Negotiations - Belise and Ellis
  • Curriculum - Korsmo and Maggio
  • Voc. Ed / Technology Advisory - Brown and Maggio
  • Legislative Liaison - Korsmo
  • Child / Youth Advocate - Belisle
  • Staff relations - Brown and Ellis

School Board Members

Darren Belisle

Darren Belisle

Vice-President

Age: 42
Occupation: Lineman, Alaska Power and Telephone
Education: College
Years in Skagway: 17
Public offices held: School board last several years
Interests, hobbies: My family, fishing and camping

The reason I want to be on the school board is the children of Skagway. The children are our most valuable asset, and without the great education we give them here in Skagway where would they be. I want to be able to continue to offer them that ability to learn, and we need to find ways to keep the funding to keep offering this. People are starting to look at the school as a reason to move to Skagway which in turn helps us all. I want to keep up the fight for our school. Enrollment issues are a huge issue going on right now. We need to find a way to bring people to Skagway and want to enroll their children in our school. If numbers do not go up we are looking at cutbacks at the school. WE DO NOT WANT THAT. It would be nice to have public input at the meetings to help brainstorm ideas to help this happen.

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Christine Ellis

President

Age: 46
Occupation:Landscaping
Education: High school, 2 years college for business
Years in Skagway: 46
Public offices held: School board, 9 years
Interests, hobbies: Family, gardening, learning

I enjoy the students at the school and being involved in different aspects of their education. We have an outstanding student body and I’m proud to offer them support, at the board level and on a personal level, to assist them in becoming successful individuals.

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Chris Maggio

Chris Maggio

Treasurer

Age: 59
Occupation: Pilot
Education: AA degree
Years in Skagway: 16 ( 7 years full time res.)
Public offices held: School Board member
Interests, hobbies: Guitar, woodworking, metal fabrication

My name is Chris Maggio. I have been a member of the Skagway City School Board for the last six years and love to serve this school and give something back to this community that is very dear to me. My background for this position was working for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the maintenance division in my younger years and my current position on this board here in Skagway.

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Stuart Brown

Clerk

Age:
Occupation:Owner of S.M.A.R.T.
Education: 6
Years in Skagway: 3
Public offices held: School Board Member
Interests, hobbies: Family, music, fishing

I

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Joanne Korsmo

Joanne Korsmo

Member

Age:51
Occupation: Station manager, Wings of Alaska
Education: 3 years of college
Years in Skagway: 25
Public offices held: Two terms on School Board, Library Board
Interests, hobbies: Hiking, reading

My reasons for being on the school board are simple. I have one child attending Skagway School. She is getting a wonderful education with qualified teachers, strong curriculum, and the latest technology tools offered. I have worked closely with my fellow school board members the past few years tackling many problems and challenges facing our district. We have seen some exciting new programs emerge, such as Drama, Debate and Forensics, Physical Education PEP grant, Robotics, and Foreign Language Learning with technology equipment in place to keep foreign language studies alive in our small school. My goals would be to keep a few of these programs alive and reinstate music back into the school curriculum. Serving on the Skagway School Board has been a very rewarding experience, and I would like the opportunity to learn more and hopefully contribute more.

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