A Grateful Goodbye: Reflections on My Journey with AASB

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Timi Tullis, Associate Executive Director

I consider myself one of the luckiest people in Alaska—and I genuinely mean that. Over the last 24 years, I have been blessed to have a job that I love, and I felt as if I could make a difference in our state and for all the students served by our public schools.  

Growing up, my teachers seemed to have a theme when it came to my report cards: “Timi is joyful and fun to have in class, though she is a little bossy and talks a lot.” Today, we know that being “bossy” is just a sign of incorrectly defined leadership skills. Fast forward and think about how fortunate I am to have found a place to embrace leadership, express myself and TALK a lot—definitely a win-win situation.  

I have had the privilege of traveling across this incredible state, working to help students succeed. I’ve supported school boards in understanding their roles, assisted districts with strategic planning, and spent time with youth to enhance their leadership skills. Each experience has taught me something new, and I cherish every opportunity to learn.

For years I looked at the binders on the bookshelf outside of my office filled with every Commentary AASB ever published. As I began my path to retirement I thought I would take the time to read through each of them and pull out notable pieces of history. I never dreamed how much I would enjoy digging in and reading such interesting aspects of the state and AASB. The Historic Highlights graphic above is really a shortened list of all I learned, but it does highlight a few key aspects of our association. Click on the image to see it larger.

During my time with AASB, I’ve collaborated and worked directly in districts with nearly every school board in Alaska, the only exceptions being Aleutian Region, Kuspuk, Lower Yukon, and Yukon Koyukuk. While I may not have visited those four boardrooms, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting most of their board members through our conferences and academies. To date, I’ve conducted 175 regional school board workshops, primarily focused on self-assessments and priority setting. I have also facilitated strategic planning sessions 39 times and led advisory board training 28 times. Lastly, since we launched a track for charter schools in 2015, I’ve hosted 26 individual sessions and five academies for their APCs.

My journey at AASB has seen a lot of change. I owe a great deal to my mentors—Carl Rose, Sharon Young, Sally Rue and Joseph Reeves—who believed in me even when I wasn’t sure I was the right fit for this role. I now realize they were right; this has become my perfect home.

Throughout my years at AASB, I’ve been part of several milestones. I developed and hosted the first Maintenance Employee Academy in 2014 (where I learned that a skirt can be too overdressed!), conducted our first-ever regional board training in POW and Fairbanks, and have a lot of knowledge about how our Charter Schools in Alaska function. I even facilitated the State Board of Education’s self-assessment process a few years back. We’ve gone from a small, intimate number of staff members to a much larger, robust group of dedicated individuals. 

I’ve been honored to speak at various state school board association conferences, including in Arizona, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Idaho, and Illinois. I even presented to the school councils in Whitehorse, Yukon. Additionally, I have led the NSBA “Ready Set Govern” track to support new members, similar to what we offer at AASB, for a number of years.  

Collaborating with statewide partners has also been a joy. During the Alaska Education Challenge, the group I facilitated the development of the key initiative around Tribal Compacting. I have worked with ALASBO (business officials), SESA (special education), ANDVSA’s prevention project Pathways (Network on domestic violence and sexual assault), the State Library and Museums, the UA system, and BBRCTE (Bristol Bay Region Career Technical Education) just to name a few.

During my travels, I survived two tsunami warnings, one at 3 a.m., when I was abruptly woken up by the superintendent banging on my hotel room door, I spent an hour in his truck with his wife, daughter and cats waiting out the warning. There were at least five earthquakes, alongside countless weather-related delays, often meaning I had to apologize for missing personal events due to being “stuck” in a community for a few extra days.

The time has come for me to stay home and spend more time with my family: my wonderful husband, Harry, my niece Amanda and my dog, Railay. Harry has been incredibly supportive, often glancing at the calendar and saying, “You’re leaving again this week?” To which I would respond, “But it’s only for a few days!” I am endlessly grateful for his patience. Amanda is very special to me; she is the child I never had, and I am blessed she moved to Juneau and is paving her own path to success. Lastly, Railay the Yellow Lab won’t get sad seeing the suitcase come out anymore. 

Above all, I will miss each and every one of you. You have all left a lasting mark on me. Many of you are just starting your journey, and a handful of you started out with me all those years ago. Over the years I have been blessed to work with so many amazing colleagues and the list is too long to acknowledge everyone of them, however, Lori Grassgreen and Laurie Miller have helped shape the work of AASB and Steve Nelson will now become the most ‘veteran’ member of the AASB staff as he and I were originally hired around the same time. A shout-out to Lon Garrison, Tiffany Jackson, Katie Oliver, Norm Wooten, and Lisa Worl; you were all board members who later became colleagues, and I learned and grew so much from working with each of you. Superintendents,  I will miss your patience, wit and ability to juggle all that is on your plates; your dedication to providing a positive experience for your students is work of the heart.  I will miss you all dearly.

To you all, thank you for keeping kids at the forefront of your decisions. Thank you for dedicating your nights and weekends to meetings and training. Most of all, thank you for being wonderful human beings who have brought joy to my life.

 A more detailed list of AASB’s historical milestones can be seen here.

If you know of any milestones that are missing, please email aasb@aasb.org to have them added to the list.

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