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School Board incumbent Glen Alsworth Jr. stresses teamwork to address new challenges in Lake and Pen

KDLG file photo

Alsworth has served on the school board for three years. He said during that time, the school district has undergone quite a few changes. Ballots for the Lake and Pen elections must be postmarked by October 6. No late ballots will be accepted, so the sooner voters send them out, the better.

Incumbent Glen Alsworth, Jr., is running for re-election to the Lake and Peninsula School Board. There are three open school board seats on the ballot this year, and he's up against challenger Beth Hill of Kokhanok.

Alsworth is from — you guessed it — Port Alsworth. He's chief pilot for Lake Clark Air, and he runs the Farm Lodge at Lake Clark.

“My grandmother was originally from Pilot Point, she was Aleut, and my grandfather came from Minnesota," he said. "They homesteaded here at Lake Clark in the early 40s, so I’m third generation growing up right here at Lake Clark.”

Alsworth said he’s been involved with youth both in his community and in the Lake and Pen region for his entire life. 

“It’s an amazing group of kids that we have growing up in this unique place in southwest Alaska," he said. "My heart for them is just that they’d have every opportunity in life to be able to get out there and be world-changers. And that’s kind of how I see every one of these teens that I run into.”  

Alsworth has served on the school board for three years. He said during that time, the school district has undergone quite a few changes, especially since the Lake and Pen School District changed the school year to a shorter subsistence calendar.

“Different programs that we’ve tried to continue to develop and to put into place, just for opportunities for the kids, both with technical and career training, college readiness, career readiness type courses," he said. "So there’s a lot of good stuff that has happened that’s going on in the district that it’s just been a privilege to be part of.”

Alsworth said he’s running for re-election because he wants to continue to work to address new challenges in the region — especially in light of the many unprecedented situations resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Whether it’s the physical isolation, the COVID, the finances," he said. "How are we going to overcome these challenges and still put something out there where we can provide the most opportunities for the kids, and still be very respectful of the needs and the comfort levels and the desires of the different communities when you’re talking about all these different factors as far as the COVID and the travel, and different things like that right now."  

Incumbent Shannon Johnson-Nanalook of Iliamna is running for school board seat A, and Amber Christensen-Fox of Port Heiden is running for seat D. Both are unopposed. 

The Lake and Pen municipal election is exclusively by-mail, and all registered voters should have received a ballot by now. Ballots must be postmarked by October 6. No late ballots will be accepted, so the sooner voters send them out, the better.

Correction: Amber Christensen-Fox is from Port Heiden, not Port Alsworth as originally reported.

Contact the author at isabelle@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.

Izzy Ross is the news director at KDLG, the NPR member station in Dillingham. She reports, edits, and hosts stories from around the Bristol Bay region, and collaborates with other radio stations across the state.
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