This week, KUCB is profiling candidates running in the October 2 municipal election.Today’s profile focuses on Melanie Magnusen, who is running for reelection to the school board. All the candidates will appear live on KUCB and Channel 8 on Wednesday at 7pm to answer your questions.

Melanie Magnusen’s approach to serving on the school board is this: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. The two-term veteran says Unalaska is a great school district and her main goal is making sure it stays that way.

She points out that Unalaska has two of the best schools in the state and that one of them won a Blue Ribbon award this year. She wants to make sure the schools maintain those standards - both as a school board member and the parent of two high schoolers.

“I think the big issue we always deal with is funding - how to get funding, how to keep it coming in, how to make sure that we’re able to have the teachers and the staff that we do, keep the facilities up, keep our technology as modern as we can get it.”

Magnusen says Unalaska is doing better than most districts when it comes to money, but she thinks the state could do more. Magnusen represented the school board on the annual lobbying trip to Juneau last year and she says it was a tough sell.

“We heard a lot of ‘we give you money, do better before we give you more.’ But we’re fine in Unalaska, so it was a little uncomfortable. Our testing scores are fine, we’re keeping up with No Child Left Behind. It just didn’t feel like they were very receptive last year. But we just keep going to them, keep trying.”

In the meantime, Magnusen is focused on preparing students for a variety of paths after high school – and that starts with teaching them how to be independent. Magnusen says travel can play a big part in that, especially as a way to teach students how to manage competing responsibilities.

“It’s a way that the students can learn about life. You have to juggle, you have to squeeze it all in.You have to learn how to be with the team and be in other towns and compete and keep up on their studies. It’s a great opportunity and I’m glad that we’re able to offer that to them.”

Locally, Magnusen thinks vocational education gives students a chance to discover their aptitudes and interests outside of the traditional classroom. During her last term, she advocated for the Alaska Tech Prep program, which allows students to start training for a career or apprenticeship while still in high school. She thinks that program and the school’s vocational course offerings should expand in the future.

“We’ve got metal shop, woodshop, we’ve got CAD, we’ve got a business lab where students can take a variety of classes independently, with teacher oversight. Personal finance. I would like to see some auto shop, auto repair, but that would take funding, facilities. You know, it’s something I would like to see down the road.”

In the immediate future though, Magnusen doesn’t anticipate a lot of changes to how things are run - and she’s just fine with that.