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President ~ Lon Garrison
Phone: (907) 747-5863
e-mail: lon_garrison@nsraa.org
Term Expires: 2010

Originally from Colorado, I grew up on a small cattle ranch 70 miles southeast of Denver. Throughout my teenage years I was actively involved in 4H and participated in activities ranging from horsemanship to raising beef and sheep to livestock judging. I attended Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colorado where I received an excellent start to my education.

I graduated with a B.S. in Fishery Biology from Colorado State University in 1986. While at CSU, I was involved with the student chapter of the American Fisheries Society and became an avid rugby player. It was as a freshman in college when I first came to Alaska in the summer of 1981 as a volunteer for the US Forest Service on the Seward Ranger District. After my first summer in Seward, I knew Alaska would be my home. During my undergraduate career I worked for six seasons as a fisheries technician on the Seward Ranger District and spent one winter as a foreign fisheries observer on Japanese and Polish trawlers in the Bering Sea. That same year I spent one semester at the University of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh, Scotland studying fisheries in that part of the world.

I attended graduate school at the University of Vermont (UVM) and pursued a Masters degree in Fisheries and Wildlife where I studied the winter smelt fishery on Lake Champlain. It was at UVM that I met my wife Litia who was a graduate student in the zoology department. In 1988 I was fortunate to be hired by NSRAA (the Northern SE Regional Aquaculture Association) to fill a new fishery biologist position in Haines, Alaska. My wife and I arrived in Haines on Christmas day in 1988. We thrived in Haines and began our family there. We continue to have a strong attachment to that Southeast community. We moved to Salida, Colorado in 1994 where we purchased and operated a feed and farm supply store with my family. However, we missed Alaska far too much and returned in 1996 when I was hired by Douglas Island Pink and Chum (DIPAC) as the hatchery biologist at the remote Snettisham Sockeye Hatchery 40 miles SE of Juneau. In 1998 I took the position as Hatchery Manager at the Port Armstrong Hatchery on the southern end of Baranof Island until 2001 when we moved to Sitka and I returned to work for NSRAA. Since my return to NSRAA I have worked as a field projects biologist, managed the Hidden Falls Hatchery, the Medvejie Hatchery and am now the Operations Manager . My wife Litia currently works for SEARHC in the women’s health program. We have two wonderful and talented daughters at Sitka High School, Meghan and Maggie. My daughters were home schooled until we moved to Sitka in 2001, and both have thrived and excelled in the Sitka school system.

Vice-President ~ Cass Pook
Phone: (907) 747-0631
E-mail: pookc@mail.ssd.k12.ak.us
Term Expires: 2012

Member ~ Tom Conley
Phone: (907) 966-2411
E-mail: prophet@ptialaska.net
Term Expires: 2012

I was born and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa. where I did undergraduate and graduate work in history and then went on to medical school at the University of Chicago. After internship and residency in pediatrics at the U. of Washington and the University of New Mexico respectively and a stint in the Navy in the Philippines, my wife, Marylyn, and I moved to Ketchikan in 1975. While in Ketchikan I served for five years on the Ketchikan School Board. We moved Sitka in 1996 and I have been on the Sitka School board for the last 10 years. Here in Sitka I serve as a pediatrician at SEARHC.

We have two children, Alexander, 34 who graduated from Ketchikan High and is doing a postdoctoral fellowship in astrophysics at the University of Colorado and Anya, 24 who graduated from Sitka High, is a student at UAS and hopes to eventually become the dictator of a small South American country.

Education has always been very important to Marylyn and I both for our children and as a core value of a healthy community so we wanted to be involved in promoting excellence in the public schools. Though frequently a lot of work, School Board service has been rewarding and often a lot of fun.

Member ~ Tim Fulton
Phone: (907) 747-3776
E-mail: smallfry@ptialaska.net
Term Expires: 2011

Graduating from high school is the extent of my formal education. I am very fortunate that I found a job that I like and that offers me a lifestyle where I can have amazing experiences. I have worked for Alaska Airlines for thirty two years. In that time I have worked from Deadhorse to Seattle and I found home when I came to Sitka in 1989.

I am a single dad raising a teenage daughter, so at times I am the biggest dork that ever lived and at other times I am a super hero. I care that Sitka remains a great place to live and to raise a family and, to me, a healthy school system is paramount.

I am committed to all our children and believe our public schools should ensure our children receive the experiences necessary to be successful adults. I believe in the importance of creating memories and experiences necessary to prepare students for college, trade schools, work, homemaking, and for life. We need to address the physical and mental health of our youth, continuously remembering special needs as well as basic needs. Everyone should have the same chance to prosper. We should instill a drive in students to push themselves to succeed. It is important that they have the knowledge that they can be anything they want to be. The choice is theirs.

I enjoy watching our youth grow and mature and I always ask what is best for our kids when making decisions that will help shape them during this important, formative time in their life.

We really can’t appreciate what we have until we see what others have. My daughter and I travel regularly in the state, the lower forty eight and foreign countries. I believe that this experience helps both her and I be more tolerant and understanding of others and to realize how fortunate we are to live in Sitka.

The community’s support of our schools is so important and with out that commitment our schools would be sorely lacking.

School board members are responsible for finding the balance between our administrators, teachers, parents and our community in order for our children to obtain their maximum potential.

The more involved I become the deeper my passion grows for making a difference in our children’s lives. I am enthusiastic about serving on our school board and encourage you to contact me personally with any suggestions, questions or comments you might have.

Clerk ~ Mollie Kabler
Phone: (907) 747-5819
E-mail: mollie@coastalaska.org
Term Expires: 2011

I was raised in Wisconsin and completed a B.A. at Carleton College in Minnesota before moving to Sitka in 1981. Pursuing a graduate degree while working, parenting and serving on the school board was a challenge. Recently I completed the Master's in Public Administration degree at the University of Alaska Southeast.

While living in Sitka, I have worked as a fisheries biologist, a public radio broadcaster, in the tourism and fishing industries, as a preschool administrator and a college advisor. I am now the Executive Director of CoastAlaska, Inc., a regional public radio organization.

My husband, Charlie Wilber, is a commercial fisherman. My oldest daughter is a graduate of the Sitka School District and my younger daughter is thriving in the Sitka School System.

I believe in parent involvement in the School District. I participate on the board to help provide a parent and community perspective to school district issues. If you have a concern regarding the Sitka School District please let me know.