The Juneau school board will have two new board members and one returning member following the release of final election results Tuesday.
Steve Whitney and Melissa Cullum won three-year terms, and Jenny Thomas will serve a two-year term on the board.
The board appointed Whitney to fill a seat after Will Muldoon resigned earlier this year. He previously served on the board from 2016 to 2019. Whitney did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Cullum is a homeschool parent and a former teacher. She said she’s looking forward to working with other board members.
“We’re in a good spot of transition, and I’m really kind of excited about moving us towards a more positive feeling or climate in our district,” she said.
Jenny Thomas will serve the remaining two years of Muldoon’s term. She said she’s excited to bring community engagement and new ideas to the board.
“Hoping to make the meetings a little less bureaucratic where it’s just reading reports and getting a little bit more into the like, the meat and potatoes of actually what’s going on,” she said.
Thomas was one of the leaders of an unsuccessful recall campaign against board members Emil Mackey and Deedie Sorenson after the school board closed and consolidated schools last year to fill a $9.7 million deficit.
Sorenson filed to run as a write-in candidate two weeks before Election Day. The retired educator and current school board president said she’ll find other things to keep herself busy after she steps down.
“I’ve always been, you know, an advocate for public education. So, I mean, I don’t think that I’m going to take that hat off,” she said.
Jeremy “JJJ” Johnson also was not elected. He said in a text message that he’s proud to have received close to 20% of the vote, but he’s disappointed by the results of the ballot propositions and now plans to support his wife’s desire to leave Juneau.
“I can’t justify keeping her and the children here in a community that is steering towards some of the most challenging experiences a school system can face, just because I’m committed to the people I worked with, went to school with, and enjoyed casual time with,” he wrote.
Board members will be sworn in at the next school board meeting on Tuesday.
