A committee dedicated to making improvements at Alaska’s state-run boarding school in Sitka is set to kick off a summer of work this month.
Paul Reid is the project coordinator for the Office of Education Advocacy. He said the ad hoc committee for Mt. Edgecumbe High School would meet on the second Wednesday each month all summer long, and would base a lot of their early work on results from surveys that were sent out in May.
“The feedback that we received from these surveys was was very thoughtful and meaningful. I was very pleased to see the responses that we got,” Reid said. “We received 186 responses from students…I received 14 of 18 staff members’ respondents, and then for the parent survey we’ve had 60 responses so far.”
Reid was speaking at last week’s Alaska Department of Education and Early Development board meeting. Earlier this year, the state’s board of education voted to form the ad hoc committee in response to concerns about student mental health, deteriorating school facilities, and an unusually high number of students pulling out of the school, mid-year.
The ad hoc committee, which will be composed of parents, students, staff, and alumni, is tasked with doing a deep dive into the functions of the school, and delivering its findings and recommendations for improvements to the state board in the fall. Reid said the meetings would be hosted on Zoom, and transcripts would be available to the public.
Board Member Pamela Dupras, a Mt. Edgecumbe alum, said she wanted to be sure that the committee’s focus was on the future.
“I’m a little concerned the focus will be on this year, where we want improvement, and the same standards that were there when I was a student,” Dupras said. “I’m glad that the ad hoc committee has been created, but how exactly it’s going to help to create that outcome?”
Education Commissioner Deena Bishop said the goal of the ad hoc committee is to both move forward while understanding the past. And she said that work would extend beyond the committee to staff’s responsibilities, from directing millions of dollars in unspent state funding for the school, to updating the schools business practices and policies, all the way down to student handbooks.
“This isn’t a one-stop shop, one-time thing. We have a vested interest in the success of the students and the staff and the school and the tradition of Mount Edgecumbe High School,” Bishop said. “It is all hands on deck for this to really move it forward, and have it continue to grow.”
The ad hoc committee convened on June 10 for its first meeting. It will deliver its recommendations to the state board in October.
While the ad hoc committee is only temporary, the state board was also tasked with appointing two new members to the school’s permanent advisory board. Mt. Edgecumbe Superintendent David Langford recommended appointing Doug Walwrath, of Nome, to the parent seat and Candace Nielsen, of Wasilla, to the alumni seat. Walwrath is a former middle school teacher who has led the Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center for the last 17 years. Nielsen graduated from MEHS in 2010, and currently works for the Aleut Corporation. The board approved their appointments unanimously.
