Jayme Howell is running for a seat on the school board in the Oct. 6 municipal election, hoping to turn years of hands-on parent involvement into direct leadership and stronger public engagement.

An agent for the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, she has lived in Wrangell since 2007. With two children attending school and more than a decade of involvement in childcare and volunteer work, Howell felt the time was right to put her name directly on the ballot.

Her bid follows an informal campaign last year as a write-in candidate after neighbors and friends urged her to step up.

“People asked me to put my name in and said they were going to write me in whether I wanted to or not,” she said. “A lot of people gave me a hard time for not having my name on the ballot sooner. I told them next year I would get my name in early.”

Howell, 36, is one of three candidates for a three-year term on the board, competing against incumbent John DeRuyter and challenger Franki Gablehouse.

She previously served four years on the Parent Teacher Community Club, including two years as chairperson, helping organize events like Friendsgiving, where students invite adults to a decorated dinner table at the school.

She decided to step back from the PTCC so she could focus entirely on school governance without dividing her attention.

“There’s a lot of time that should be invested in looking into the agenda packet to know what you’re voting on and do your research,” she said. “I want to know what you’re agreeing to and pay attention to what direction our school is really going, not just blindly say OK.”

A driving priority for the candidate is boosting transparency and encouraging broader participation from families. Attending recent board meetings, she often found herself as the only parent sitting in the audience alongside school staff.

“People have a lot of things to say, but they don’t show up to those meetings,” she said. “If they showed up, they wouldn’t have a thing to talk about on Facebook. Social media is where people battle over problems, but it doesn’t solve them.”

She also believes communication between school leaders and the borough assembly needs improvement. She pointed to instances where discussions took place with municipal officials before the full school board was informed. While acknowledging that legal and personnel matters require privacy, she wants general deliberations to remain as open as possible.

Addressing district finances will be another key challenge. While a one-time addition of state funding has eased the district’s immediate budget pressures, she noted that fiscal uncertainties are never permanently resolved. She hopes to bring a collaborative problem-solving approach to upcoming fiscal cycles.

“The budget issues are never going to just go away,” she said. “They might be OK for the rest of this year and next year, but after that, who knows? I like to problem solve, and I’m good at putting the time and effort into the work.”

She hopes her deep ties to families, teachers and students will help her serve as an approachable bridge between the community and district leadership.