Larson elected President after 12 years on the School Board

PALMER — With the certification of election results for the Mat-Su Borough last week, Ole Larson was not only reelected to continue serving the Mat-Su Borough School Board for his 13th year, but also elected president of the board.

“Ole brings an intensity with him that as we move forward he will definitely keep us on track,” said school board member Tom Bergey.

Bergey had previously served as board chair and was elected vice chair at the Nov. 18 meeting of the school board. Ryan Ponder was elected to serve as secretary. Larson won the seat in District 3 with 2,353 votes, finishing ahead of the 1,783 votes for Jeanne Troshynski.

Longtime Wasilla High School Principal Dwight Probasco won the election in District 6 with 2,555 votes over 1,446 votes for Leland Baugus. Probasco was sworn in last Wednesday to serve his first term on the school board.

“I’m a rookie and the other members of the board you know are maybe in their third or second year and I do think Ole is going to work with us and provide leadership and some training for us which I value just having worked in the schools for so many years. The role of a school board member is different from say a classroom teacher or a school administrator so how to function in that role is very important. I think Mr. Larson will provide that, I’m sure Ms. [Sarah] Welton will also be a big asset to us,” said Probasco.

After serving as school board president for the last year, Bergey said he could not have prepared to lead amidst a global pandemic. Larson has served every position on the school board in his 12 years of service which Bergey feels will be valuable to the school board.

“With everything that has been going on it has been like grabbing a tiger by the tail. A lot of things happened, the covid has taken us since March into an area that we’ve never been before and we‘ve been spending the last, more than six months now just coming up with systems and programs and concepts that we just had no idea that we were going to need to do and they had to be done quickly and the result is with the staff work that has been done and everybody pulling together, we’re able to keep our schools open to a degree,” said Bergey. “If you had asked me when I became President if that was going to be in my future, I probably would’ve chuckled and laughed but It was invigorating seeing the district come together like that and just move forth in the manner that they did.”

The school board discussed legislative priorities after administering the oath of office to Probasco and electing leadership. After being sworn in last week, Probasco has been moose hunting and discussing issues that will come before the school board shortly. At the next scheduled meeting, the school board will discuss math curriculum and the 95 percent approval of the Houston Middle School replacement design.

“Our district over the years is evolving to provide choice for parents and students,” said Probasco. “Since the last board meeting here a week ago, items that are coming up that I have worked with curricular issues like we’re having a work session on Wednesday before the regular meeting that has to do with the adoption and the selection and adoption of a math curriculum which is in the process. So this past week it’s been a lot of homework for me.”

In the seven years since his retirement as an administrator with MSBSD, education has changed since Probasco last worked in schools, increasingly so with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Valley schools experienced a short term closure through Thanksgiving week in order to help schools stay open longer, according to Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani.

Trani also said more than 300 staff are unable to attend school buildings as contact tracing and quarantine forces staffing shortages in Mat-Su Schools.

“Our staff is working very hard and their response has been just unbelievable. I mean it’s what they’ve taken on so I think our district is somewhat blessed, I really do, with the heart that our staff have you know it’s very commendable on their part,” said Probasco. “I see a big hill in front of us with the responding to the virus but I also at the top of the hill I think there’s a shining light with the vaccination coming on.”