Herrick for School Board
Parents Matter
I am running for one simple reason: to give parents a voice, the predominant voice, in how our school system is run.
My name is Robert Herrick, and I am running for Fairbanks Board of Education. Year after year, the important decisions of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District are made behind closed doors and rolled out as foregone conclusions, and as a parent our only role seems to be to beg for clemency. I think that the key to a successful school district is parents believing that the school district was constructed with their guidance and for their children’s best interests. I will be presenting specific policy recommendations in the coming weeks on these pages; some of the basic changes that need to happen are:
Accountability - District Administration and the School Board need to answer the tough questions, not just ones of their choosing. Progress can only occur if failures and shortcomings, not just successes, are acknowledged.
Engagement - Frequent, meaningful, and unbiased (no push polling) surveying of parents, teachers, and community should occur before major decisions are made. Substantive public discussions must take place.
Transparency - Parents need to be presented with thorough information, organized in an intelligible way, and presented honestly. The current “control the narrative” tactics of using word games to deceive, withholding critical information, cherry picking statistics to present, etc., need to end.
About Me
As part of my day job as a professor studying the planets in our solar system, I have conducted educational outreach for over three decades. This includes developing a portable planetarium program that has taken me to schools throughout the state and within the Fairbanks North Star Borough. I have worked with students and teachers spanning the full spectrum of ages, backgrounds, and educational settings. Within our district, I served as a parent representative on the Budget Committee for the 2022-2024 school years.
I am happily married to my wife Keiko, and our son is currently attending Randy Smith Middle School.
Fun Fact: When I moved to Alaska in 2004, I bicycled up from Houston, Texas (it took 79 days).
Education
PhD Geophysics, Southern Methodist University
MS Geophysics, University of Houston
BS Geophysics, Texas A&M University
BS Physics, Texas A&M University
