Kaycie Alanis, a Vashon Island School District school board member, has resigned from her position as of Nov. 15.

The resignation was approved by the school board at its Nov. 14 meeting. At the meeting, Lucia Armenta, board chair, said that Alanis’ resignation stemmed from her need to attend to urgent and ongoing family matters.

In her resignation letter, Alanis expressed her faith in the current board and staff of the district.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this … team of board and superintendent would do anything to sustain and build on the rock-solid foundations of educational skill and generosity seen in every classroom in our district,” Alanis wrote.

Alanis was unavailable for additional comment.

At the Nov. 14 meeting, which Alanis did not attend, all four remaining board members praised her work on the board.

“I have long admired Kaycie’s commitment to educational excellence for all Vashon students,” said Board Vice Chair Juniper Rogneby, in an additional statement released by the district. “Her curious mind, keen eye for detail, deep intellect, and obvious passion for educational equity will be missed.”

Alanis joined the board in December 2023, after being elected along with Rogneby, Armenta, and former teacher Martha Woodard. Her tenure took place amid a backdrop of additional turnover on the board in February, when Allison Krutsinger, who had not been up for re-election in 2023, resigned. River Branch, an islander who had been a candidate in the August 2023 primary for school board members, was appointed to fill Krutsinger’s seat in late March.

In a district email sent to the community on Nov. 18, board members reflected on their work in the year since the 2023 election, again noting Alanis’ contributions to the board.

The email said the board had, in collaboration with Superintendent Slade McSheehy, developed a new model for the superintendent’s evaluation, drawing on approaches used in other districts, and had also worked with McSheehy to revise and craft a school board communication, policy and governance document which more clearly outlines the process of school board actions.

“Our goal was to create a structure that recognizes and honors the role of the school board in relationship to the rest of the district staff while promoting as much transparency in communication, policy and governance as the law permits,” the email said.

The statement again thanked Alanis for her “expertise, countless hours spent making sense of complex data, and the creation of the evaluation document.”

During her tenure, Alanis made news by pushing back on staffing cuts proposed by McSheehy in the spring of 2024, asking that the district consider 10-day furloughs for those in top leadership positions as a way to mitigate direct impacts to the district’s most vulnerable students — a course of action that was not ultimately taken by the administration.

Alanis also regularly pushed for changes to the district’s monthly financial reporting to the board — something she said was necessary for board members to better understand the district’s overall financial health and budgeting constraints. In recent months, these reports have been revised and expanded.

As of Nov. 19, the board began to accept applications for the seat and will continue to do so until Dec. 6. Interviews of selected applicants will take place at an open meeting on Dec. 17, and action will be taken at that time to appoint a new board member, who will be sworn into office on Dec. 19 to serve until the November 2025 election.

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