Huzzah for home-grown leadership

While it may be premature to spill ink singing the praises of an untested politician who has been on the job for only a few hours, we see good reason to cheer the newest member of the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board, Tiffany Scott.

This coverage represents her return to the Frontiersman’s pages; Frontiersman Sports Editor Jeremiah Bartz recalls covering her career as a standout Colony High School softball player a decade ago.

That’s one of the reasons we are cheering. Historically, Scott is not the first district graduate to later serve on its school board. Neal Lacy, who was unseated in October, was another.

But as a 2003 graduate of Colony High School, Scott brings not only her experience as a student in Mat-Su schools, she also represents the voice of a younger generation on the board.

Her interest in serving also sets Scott up as part of an up-and-coming generation of new Valley-grown leaders.

When people fret and wring their hands over the quality of our schools, we feel compelled to put forward people like Scott who were educated here and have gone on to accomplish good things, sometimes at a very young age.

There is no shortage of local business and political leaders who are products of the local public school system. Scott is just the latest in a long, strong line of homegrown leadership we are proud to laud.

In her presentation to the board Wednesday night, Scott said that when she and her husband decided to buy a home, she was surprised to find that most of the people she worked with — real estate agents, bankers — graduated from local schools around the same time she did.

When we discuss school funding, this is what we are talking about, investing in our future. Every dollar spent on public education is an investment in the development of a group of people capable of running our banks and our construction firms, of serving on our school boards and building our community.

We are proud to see someone who our local investment helped to reach her potential decide to re-invest in us, the Mat-Su Valley. It’s refreshing to see a hard-working, bright local woman elevated to a position of leadership and responsibility. But all the sweeter because she belongs to us.

In looking at problems and proposing solutions, we think being Valley grown will benefit Scott, and by extension Mat-Su schools, students, parents and other taxpayers.

It’s far too soon to say how she will do representing her neighbors on the school board. But it is not too soon to express our thanks to Scott.

She and her husband could have raised their two children anywhere, but they picked the Mat-Su Valley. Thank you, it’s an honor. We also thank Scott for her wise stewardship of the public resources we invested in her education, and for thinking enough of us to return home and help nurture this place that gave her roots and wings.