Contributed by Sarah Welton
I want to serve my community. I have a passion for education and public service.
My involvement in public service began when I served on the Knik-Fairview Community Council in the 1980s. After moving to the city of Wasilla in the 1990s, I engaged in the public school issues of the times, which included the over-crowding of schools, the change from junior high to the middle school model, and the discussions about “outcome-based” education.
I had two children of my own in the Wasilla schools, and was involved in attending many school functions and supporting my children in their academic and co-curricular activities. I also had a foster child during that time and later fostered a young adult who had completed school, but was unstable in her ability to care for herself. I attended school board meetings, Wasilla City Council, and Mat-Su Borough Assembly meetings during this time. I testified on many issues related to the health and welfare of the community including better roads and safety concerns.
During the 1990s and 2000s, I worked with youth in diversion programs and in the community mental health agency. After completing my master’s in psychology (1998) and becoming a licensed professional counselor, I opened my private practice in 2002. I worked as an adjunct instructor at Mat-Su College and at the Eagle River campus for a total of 14 years.
I threw my hat into the ring to run for school board in 2003. During the 15 years on the school board, I decided to seek out a PhD in organizational psychology to improve my understanding of leadership, labor relations and organizational professional development needs for different types of organizations. I am a proponent of strategic planning and evaluation of an organization, including assessing how a governing board operates. In the past 20 years, I have served on a variety of non-profit boards, and currently serve on the Valley Community for Recycling Solutions board as president and the Daybreak Services, Inc. board as secretary.
Best practices of school boards are to review district policies on a regular basis. During my tenure on the board, I have been insistent that the board and the district review, revise and update policy and procedures. To really evaluate what the district has as policy and compare it to changes in protocol, due to government standards or community changes, the review needs to be done not only when there is a specific need.
The total review has been done by the Mat-Su Borough School District policy committee and the administration working together two times in my tenure, at my request. The policy committee is currently doing the third review, which was also at my request. It is now in policy to review every three years the entire manual. Hopefully, the school board will follow this policy.
My personal mission statement is, “To serve others and find joy in doing so.” Public service has been rewarding, frustrating and meaningful. The core of my focus is education for our community. It is not just reading, writing and math, but art and science, history and co-curricular activities. I also am working to improve mental health for our district through supporting trauma-informed schools, social emotional learning and recognition that our families may be struggling with more than just poverty, but issues of well-being, safety and relational concerns. Education that is dynamic and robust accepts these challenges and works to continually assess where changes need to be made to improve individual performance and overall performance.
I have been on the board for 15 years, and know how to work with other board members and the community for all of our children. The experience and knowledge of the workings of the board and the district were not by osmosis, but by engagement and participation at all levels. I believe children and ultimately the whole community benefit from a school district that seeks to be the best. MSBSD has set the bar high through the board’s insistence at “being a model of excellence in teaching, learning, and engaging all students.” (Vision Statement of the MSBSD)
Sarah Welton, PhD
Licensed Professional Counselor
Pastor, Church of the Covenant