By Gabrielle Gasser EBS STAFF
BIG SKY – A vacant Big Sky School District board trustee position was filled on Aug. 12 by parent Kara Edgar just 13 days after former trustee Whitney Littman resigned.
The board’s decision to appoint Edgar was unanimous. One of five applicants, Superintendent Dustin Shipman said Edgar stood out when she reached out to him to meet about the position. She also attended the board meeting where she was appointed.
In cases where a position on the board is vacant outside of regular election times, trustees on the board can and must appoint a new trustee who will serve only until the next regularly scheduled election.
Edgar hails from the East Coast and moved out to Big Sky full-time with her family of five in 2020. Prior to the move, the Edgar family had been spending summers in Big Sky and coming out on longer visits since 2010. Now, Edgar’s three children, soon-to-be-9-year-old Grace, 10-year-old Owen and 12-year-old Ruby, attend Ophir Elementary and Middle schools.
“Education has always been an integral pillar of my own upbringing,” Edgar said in an Aug. 12 interview with EBS. “I was fortunate to have a family and public-school community that recognized and prioritized early educational discipline. My academic experiences instilled a lifelong curiosity of learning and I am forever grateful for all of the support I received from teachers, coaches, administrators, and the community at large. I hope to bring this same support and energy to my new role and to advocate for each student.”
Edgar said she was fortunate enough to attend Harvard University. She studied government in college but gravitated toward finance after an internship with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee didn’t feel like quite the right fit.
For 20 years now, Edgar has either worked at or with hedge funds and she started her career on the trading side of the finance world. Her business, Edgar Strategic Consulting Services, allows Edgar to serve as a consultant to hedge funds and venture capital funds.
Now, Edgar will also fulfill the role of trustee on the school board, serving as a voice for younger parents on the board, she says.
“An effective Board needs representation from all parts of the community and school system, Kara Edgar, as the only current board member with children in elementary school, represents an important voice for the Board,” wrote Board Chair Loren Bough in an email to EBS.
Edgar will serve on the board for the remainder of this cycle, according to Shipman, and the seat will be filled by an election again in May 2022. Whoever is elected next May will then serve out the remaining year of Littman’s term until May 2023. The winner of the 2023 election will then serve a three-year term.
After sitting in on the school board meeting on Aug. 12, Edgar was impressed with her new peers.
“It’s amazing how dynamic this team and group of thinkers has had to be to do great problem solving,” she said.
Edgar looks forward to contributing to the education system, an institution that she feels indebted to because of all the doors it has opened for her along the way.
“I feel very humbled,” she said, “As well as appreciative of all of those who have made this opportunity for my family and I to move here possible.”
