News Photo by Julie Goldberg The Alpena Public Schools Board of Education meets in this 2018 News file photo.

ALPENA — On Wednesday, the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education appointed parent Stacey Parr to fill an open position.

The board interviewed Parr and Aimee Sweet for the position. Board President Gordon Snow, Vice President Jackie Krawczak, and Trustee Tom Hilberg interviewed the two candidates with Superintendent John VanWagoner sitting in during the interviews.

The vacant position was created after Daniel Florip resigned in July after three years amid conflicts with work and a young family.

Parr and Sweet were asked a variety of questions. They were asked what they believe is the role of a board member, what contributions they could provide to the board, and what challenges they see occurring throughout the district, among other questions.

Parr said the role of a school board member is being a steward of the community’s resources and there’s a lot of trust that’s given to a school board member.

“I think being a careful steward of those resources is probably the most important role for a school member in any community, especially a community that’s demographics are smaller and a little more focused on where those resources might go,” Parr said. “I see the role as mainly stewards of the community and then we represent the schools, employees, students, and parents of the students. It emcompasses a huge entity.”

For challenges that she sees in APS, Parr said it’s making fiscal decisions with a limited amount of resources. Parr said other challenges facing APS are the tough decisions that will be made with the aging infrastructure, staffing and funding issues, and retaining staff.

“I’m not as familiar with these issues, but based on my past experiences, I would say that the challenges that APS faces are probably similar to what any organization up here faces,” she said.

After the interviews were completed, the board met as a whole to discuss the two candidates. Snow said either candidate would be a good fit to the board.

“They both gave really good answers, had thoughtful answers, they had pretty good questions for us, and they seem to understand the role of a board member,” Snow said. “If appointed at this point, they would be willing to be a candidate to fill the position in the year 2020.”

Hilberg agreed with Snow that both candidates would be good fits for APS and said that, if there were two openings on the board, both would be perfect because they understand the role of being a school board member.

“Both have students in the schools,” he said. “I like both of them.”

Krawczak said Parr and Sweet were opposite of each other with how they would approach situations.

“They both have definite strengths to the board,” she said. “They’re definitely both here for the right reasons, there’s no underlying reasons why they’re here.”

In regards to a potential bond or millage issue, Snow said Parr would be more of an asset because she would be more comfortable with talking to the public about it.

Parr had previously attended the board of education meetings as a member of the public and had reached out to Krawczak in the past about what it’s like to be on the board.

Parr is married and has a daughter attending Thunder Bay Junior High School and another daughter who recently graduated from Alpena High School.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.