Anchorage Daily News

Alaska Native Mary Marks is leaving the Anchorage School Board but wants a Native or other minority to take her place on the mostly white panel in charge of a public school system that is half minority.

So far, she hasn't been able to convince any minorities to run for election.

"I fear that ... the Native population is going to fall back a couple of steps because there's not going to be a ... liaison to the district," Marks said.

Seven members make up the School Board that manages 49,000 students in the city's public schools. With Marks' departure and no minorities yet running, Macon Roberts, a black, will be the lone minority.

Students in Anchorage schools are 12 percent Asian, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 10 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Alaska Native or American Indian, 6 percent black and 13 percent multi-ethnic. More than 90 languages are spoken.

The educators the students see every day are predominantly white. The administration has been trying to increase the number of minorities on staff. Of the 2,800 classroom teachers in the public schools in October 2006, 2,500 were white. Of the 145 principals and assistant principals at that time, 120 were white.

Marks, a Tlingit, is finishing her second term on the board. She plans to move to Juneau to work on statewide education issues on behalf of Natives, she said, although she does not have a specific job.

School Board President Tim Steele agrees that the schools would be better served with more minorities on the board but says other categories of diversity are equally important, like different education levels, political backgrounds or careers.

Two people have filed to run for Marks' seat: C. Scott Pryde and James Bailey.

Bailey is a 30-year veteran of teaching or administering in Anchorage's schools. His last job was as principal at West High School. He retired in 2006.

Incumbent John Steiner is running for his third term in seat D. No one has filed to run against him yet.

The deadline to file to run is 5 p.m. Friday. Elections are April 1.

Marks is concerned that Native students have lower standardized test scores and graduation rates than their white counterparts.

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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