Pair vie for seat on Mat-Su Borough School Board

PALMER — A bookstore owner and a man who works for a program that rehabilitates troubled youth are squaring off in one of two contested Mat-Su Borough School Board races this year. Here’s a quick look at the candidates.

David Cheezem

At a recent forum for candidates sponsored by the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, Cheezem shared an anecdote about employees of his bookstore organizing an event without direction from him and really, he said, without much in the way of motivation.

“I can’t pay them very well because you’re all reading Kindles,” he told the attendees.

In choosing to organize the event, he said, the employees were displaying “intrinsic motivation.” That’s something he hopes Mat-Su students will also display.

“Our students aren’t going to have people throwing out trinkets to get them to go from one hoop to the other for the rest of their lives,” Cheezem said. “They’re going to have to make the hoops themselves, be creative, be innovative.”

Cheezem is the incumbent in the race, but only barely. He took his seat in January to fill in behind Lynn Gattis, who left to take a seat in the state House of Representatives.

Cheezem said in his tenure he’s been proud to see the Alaska Middle College School come online, offering students a chance to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. He’s also proud to see the new middle/high school going in off of Knik-Goose Bay Road.

“The Redington Jr./Sr. High School, and eventually the elementary school, are going to relieve some of the overcrowding in Wasilla,” he said.

Ray Michaelson

Michaelson works for the state in the juvenile justice division. He was the first person to oversee the Mat-Su Youth Facility, but has since moved on to a different job in the division.

He’s also the junior varsity offensive coordinator for Colony High School’s football team and a parent of two graduates of the district.

“I feel like at this time in my life I’ve got experience and I’ve got some skills I think that could benefit the board and certainly benefit the school district,” he said.

He said he’s not running because he has any particular beef with any particular policy or program.

“I don’t have an axe to grind,” he said.

But he believes he can be an asset to the board, especially as it navigates things like the implementation of the new rating system for school and teacher evaluations.

“There’s a level of anxiety with something that’s new to the district with regards to this five-star rating system,” he said.

He said he thinks his experience implementing new programs at juvenile justice will be an asset.

“I’m really interested in being a part of the conversation about managing money and really making sure we’re serving the right kid at the right time with the right program,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.