PALMER — A Mat-Su school board seat vacated when its holder resigned was filled Wednesday by board appointment.
Anthony “Brooks” Pitcher, an electrician from Wasilla who has never held or run for public office, was selected 5-1 by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board to fill the vacant District 5 seat. He will hold the seat until the borough’s next regular election in 2024.
The seat’s previous holder, Jacob Butcher, cited “personal reasons” for his resignation in an email sent to the district on Nov. 6, according to a district spokesperson. Butcher was elected to the seat in 2022 for a term set to expire in 2025. District 5 stretches from Big Lake to Point MacKenzie.
Pitcher was chosen from nine candidates through three rounds of voting during a special board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
In remarks before the vote, Pitcher told the board he is a father of nine, including two students who have graduated from district high schools. He said his focus will be helping students work toward careers and avoid unnecessary college debt.
“When it comes to education, I do not believe that there is a one shoe size fits all,” he said. “So when it comes to education, I’d like to focus on career options, positives and negatives.”
Pitcher in an interview after the vote said he learned of the seat’s opening through news reports of Butcher’s resignation, but was surprised to ultimately be selected.
The board vote to fill the seat was held elimination-style through a series of silent paper ballots. The candidate selections of each board member were not made public.
Other candidates for the position included Shirley Akelkok, a recruiting manager for Matanuska Electric Association who ran against Butcher in 2022; Justin Shoemake, an emergency dispatcher in Wasilla endorsed for the seat by Butcher; and Pat Martin, the Alaska Right to Life director at the center of a state house ethics investigation into whether two Wasilla Republicans allowed Martin to inappropriately use their Juneau office spaces. Martin was not a registered lobbyist but was in Juneau in April 2022 “lobbying for Alaska Right to Life,” according to an investigation conducted by the committee. The complaint was dismissed Nov. 29.
Pitcher was sworn in Wednesday.