SCHOOL BOARD

The polls have closed for Unalaska’s runoff election for School Board Seat B, and Brian Rankin received the most votes. Rankin received about 54% of the vote, coming in ahead of Nicole Bice who received around 46% of the vote.

Two candidates are going into a runoff after no one won outright on Oct. 3.

Six candidates will be running for five open seats in Unalaska’s upcoming general municipal election, according to the city. The filing period to declare candidacy in this year’s local election closed Monday.

Unalaska’s school board swore in new member Amanda Schmahl Wednesday evening. She’ll serve on the board until the island’s municipal election on Oct. 3.

On Wednesday, the school board approved a ninth and final new teacher contract, marking the end of a challenging effort to recruit amid a nationwide teacher shortage. To help with other hiring efforts, the board also approved a new salary schedule for administrative coordinator roles.

The Unalaska City School District has filled nearly all vacant teaching positions for next school year.

Unalaska City School Board members voted unanimously to reelect Jolene Longo as board president Wednesday. Longo was elected to the board in 2020 and this will be her second year serving as president. The board also swore in newly elected members Bob Cummings and David Gibson.

The final results for Unalaska’s Municipal Election are in and they confirm Darin Nicholson as City Council seat C winner. It was the only race in this year’s election that was undecided based on preliminary election results. City officials canvassed 37 absentee and questioned ballots Friday morning. 32 of those were tallied by the canvas committee, while 5 were deemed unqualified and were not counted.

The superintendent of Unalaska’s schools, Robbie Swint Jr., has resigned. The school board accepted his resignation in a unanimous vote at a meeting Wednesday night. According to a statement from the board, Swint is moving off the island to be closer to his family. Swint said he is sorry that he won’t be fulfilling his commitment to the district. He was just over a year into his three-year contract. But he feels that he wasn’t supported by the school board and wants to put his family’s needs first. “I don't want to say any derogatory thing against anyone,” Swint said. “I will just say I don't believe it was a good fit for me for a number of reasons. And so that's why I submitted my resignation.”

The filing period to declare candidacy in the 2022 Unalaska Municipal Election has closed. In all, eight people signed up to run in the Oct. 4 election.