Jayme Howell is running for a seat on the school board in next month’s municipal election. The 36-year-old has two children attending school and more than a decade of involvement in childcare and volunteer work.

Last year, Howell had an informal write-in campaign after neighbors and friends urged her to join the board.

People asked me to put my name in and said they were going to write me in whether I wanted to or not. A lot of people gave me a hard time for not having my name on the ballot sooner.

This year she’s officially on the ballot as one of three candidates looking to fill a single open three-year term school board position.

Having lived in Wrangell since 2007, Howell works as an Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles agent by day. She previously served four years on the Parent Teacher Community Club, including two years as chairperson.

She decided to step back from the club to focus entirely on school governance without dividing her attention.

The School Board,there’s a lot of time that should be invested in looking into the agenda packet to know what you’re voting on.

A driving priority for her, she says, is boosting transparency and encouraging broader participation from families. Attending recent board meetings, she says she was often the only parent in the audience.

And that’s kind of disheartening, especially when it comes to pretty important things. I mean, it’s our school, it’s our kids’ education. People have a lot of things to say, but they don’t show up to those meetings.

She also says she believes communication between school leaders and the borough assembly needs improvement. She points to instances where discussions took place with municipal officials before the full school board was informed. While she acknowledges some matters require privacy, she wants general deliberations to remain as open as possible.

Addressing district finances will be another key challenge. She’s looking to bring a collaborative problem-solving approach to upcoming fiscal cycles.

She says she hopes her deep ties to families, teachers and students will help her serve as an approachable bridge between the community and district leadership.

Adapted from original article by Jonathan Dawe for the Wrangell Sentinel