newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — While elections can get ugly, Oct. 7’s school board elections will remain low-key.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District has three open seats and four candidates.

Seat F, held by Sharon McConnell Gillis, is the only contested race. Sean Rice is running against Tara Geoffroy for the seat, which has a three-year term.

Rice, a general laborer for the city of Fairbanks Public Works Department, has run for the school board before and said he is running again this year because it is something he strongly believes in. He said he is particularly concerned with school safety and the teacher contract negotiations.

“They’re people too, and they have bills to pay too,” Rice said.

The diversity and different ideas people bring in are a big strength for the school board, Rice said.

If elected, Rice said he would like to travel to the less-visited corners of the school district, like Salcha, to talk to people there because he realizes it would be harder for those residents to attend school board meetings, especially in the winter.

“People should vote for me if they believe I will make a difference,” Rice said.

His opponent, Geoffroy, is running for the first time.

“I’m a mom; I bring a fresh perspective and hope to add good input,” she said.

Geoffroy, a mother of six who works at Sam’s Club, said she has dealt with a number of issues as a parent, but she also is concerned about the welfare of students who are lagging behind. She said she would like to see more afterschool programs implemented and an increase in opportunities to reward students, such as scholarships.

“I don’t want to see kids get left behind,” she said.

She has decided to run for the school board this year because she is concerned about the state of the school district.

The other two seats, E and G, have candidates running unopposed. Leslie Hajdukovich, the current school board president, will repeat in office at Seat E, while Patrick Lee will replace Jennifer Schmidt in Seat G.

Hajdukovich, who works in the accounting department at FlorCraft, returns for her second term. She said the most important thing she has learned so far is that there are rarely simple solutions.

“There is just not an easy answer,” she said.

She also gained a deeper appreciation for the employees of the school district, she said, from the school district administrators to the individual teachers.

Hajdukovich served in the Parent Teacher Association at Nordale Elementary when her sons attended the school. During her time with the PTA, she also served as president.

The experience she gained during her first term is why she has decided to return for another three-year term.

“It seemed kind of a shame to not use it again,” Hajdukovich said.

Patrick Lee is hoping to gain experience. Lee, assistant athletic director of external affairs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said he is running for Seat G because it was the right thing to do.

“I want to get as involved as I can,” he said.

Lee said his first priority is to help provide students in the district with a quality education. He also hopes he can be a positive role model for young people.

He first thought about running for the school board last year but didn’t know if he would have the time to fulfill his obligation, Lee said. He decided to throw his hat in the ring this year, though he says he is just as busy as last year.

“If not now, when?” Lee said.