Anchorage School Board member Starr Marsett announces resignation

Anchorage School Board member Starr Marsett announced her resignation from the board during a work session on Thursday afternoon, citing the desire to spend more time with her husband.

Marsett was elected to her second term on the school board in 2019 and has served since 2016. She served two years as president of the board and is currently treasurer and chair of the finance committee.

Her current term would have ended in April 2022. She said that her last school board meeting will be on Jan. 5, 2021.

“It was a struggle to make this dream come true being on the school board and I have loved every minute of my service,” Marsett said during the meeting.

The school board will go through an application process to select someone to finish Marsett’s term, she said in an interview shortly after the meeting.

Marsett also said it was a difficult decision to leave the board, but that “no one knows what lies ahead” and that she wants to spend more time with her husband.

“I don’t want to have any regrets and I want to spend the last of my years with my husband,” she said during the interview. He recently retired and Marsett said she intends to join him at their other home in Arizona.

Marsett said that during her last three months as a board member, she will focus on the district’s equity policy, suspension policy and getting kids back in to school classrooms.

Board President Elisa Vakalis said during the meeting that it has been an honor working with Marsett.

“We’re going to make the most of these next few months,” Vakalis said.