The Unalaska School Board has appointed Abner Hoage to fill a vacant seat. Tonya Miller served on the board for nearly five years, but recently moved to Georgia.

Hoage is Unalaska’s fire chief. He moved to the community last June, and says he’s excited about the prospect of being more involved.

“After 20 years in the military, with the constant moves around, during that time, I wasn’t available to do this kind of service.”

Two of Hoage’s five children are in the schools -- one in 5th grade and another in 10th. He says he wants to make sure that Unalaska’s kids continue to get a great education.

“Anything that we can do to ensure that our kids coming out of the school are prepared to be good, producing members in society. And prepared to go on to college and better themselves.”

There were two applicants for the vacant seat -- Hoage and D. Tyrell McGirt. The School Board interviewed both candidates during their Thursday night meeting, and then swore Hoage in after a unanimous vote.

He’ll need to run in the October election in order to keep his seat. Hoage says that as of right now, he plans to do that.