Marissa Medford has filed to run for a three-year term on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School Board. There are two seats up for grabs in the upcoming municipal election and four candidates are running.
School board members are responsible for overseeing the district’s budget and adopting policies.
KRBD’s Hunter Morrison spoke with Medford about her goals and priorities if elected to office.
Marissa Medford: Hi, my name is Marissa Medford.
Hunter Morrison: Why are you running? And what are you running for?
Medford: Oh, so I am running for the school district, and I am running because I am a lifelong Southeast resident. Born in Sitka, moved to Ketchikan when I was a toddler, and this community has invested a lot in me. So, I would like to return the favor, which I’ve done in some other ways thus far in my life. But this seems like there’s a need for people, and I thought I’d throw my name in the ring and invest back into the community.
Morrison: And tell me about your priorities?
Medford: My priorities are – obviously that we’re having some budget issues and the financial crisis. I know that’s been top priority and big news. So that is something that I would like to use my experience that I have with – I was a city admin, and so I’ve got budget and budget mod experience to help maintain fiscal control. I’ve got decades of HR experience developing policies and procedures and benefits, and so I think a lot of my work history and experience would be beneficial on the school board.
Morrison: Yeah. If elected to the school board, what is something that you would like to do on the board?
Medford: Yeah. One of the things that I’ve really been looking at – and thankfully, to be able to run with a close friend is really great to have that support network. And so we’ve been chatting, talking about the budget, and I saw on the school board agenda tonight [WEB: last Wednesday] they’ve got a health insurance task force update, and so I’m really interested in that as an HR person, the budget and the health insurance side of things with the benefits. And so it looks like last year with the USI insurance, it was budgeted for a little over $8.3 million, but the actual cost was over $9 million, so about an 8% increase over budget on those fixed costs that were unexpected. That’s a pretty significant amount of money, and so they’ve presented a couple options for their benefits and what those costs look like. So anyway, that’s something that I’d be interested in, have been crunching numbers. It looks like based on the information that the HR director has provided, just in this agenda statement, it kind of looks like that public educator health trust is probably a good way to go, just based on what I can see here. But would be interested in evaluating the difference between all the benefit options.
Morrison: What community leadership roles, engagement roles, make you equipped for this role?
Medford: I would say that my prior experience, as I had mentioned, as a city administrator, decades of HR, quality control. I think those would all be really helpful in collaborating with the existing school board members. And the relationship with the district personnel, other borough personnel, and figuring out how we can all work together to try to right the ship.
Morrison: Gotcha. And what is something that you would like listeners to know about you?
Medford: I would like them to know that I’m eager to learn. I don’t mind asking the hard questions and gathering as much information as possible before I make a decision. And I want the kids to know that even if you’re not of voting age yet, your voice matters. We’re listening. Keep being engaged. Speak up about these issues, because people are making decisions that impact you currently and in the future. So, really going to be interested in listening to all community members, but making sure that our kids are heard as well.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
