A committee that will recommend improvements for Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka is meeting for the second time this week.
The state-run boarding school’s ad hoc committee was established by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development last fall. It was created in response to concerns about student mental health, school facilities, and a high number of students leaving the school, mid-year. The committee will spend the summer diving into some of those concerns, and will make recommendations for changes to the state board of education at its October meeting.
At its first meeting on June 17, the group reviewed expectations and goals for the summer. Paul Reid is the project coordinator for the state’s Office of Education Advocacy.
“What we’re really striving for as we move forward past these sort of a structural meeting today, is a real organic open dialogue where folks can share their feelings,” Reid said. “We’re going to share a lot of data that we’ll be going over to determine what our recommendations will be come October, but, but our hopes is that is that we have a type of setting where everyone’s invited to have their voice being heard
The committee is made up of parents, students, an alumni representative, a tribal representative, a state board of education member, and a member of the school’s advisory board.
Reid co-facilitated the meeting with Susan McCauley, a Mat-Su school administrator and policy expert. They gave committee members a homework assignment– to review parents, student and staff feedback from a recent quality of education survey to inform their discussion at the next meeting.
“Some of you have multiple hats. You’re an alumni, you’re a parent,” she said. “Some of you have perspectives of working in education yourself. We certainly have a student perspective, so it isn’t that the survey data alone is going to inform the recommendations of the committee. Your experiences, your opinions will inform those recommendations.”
The ad hoc committee will meet for the second time on Wednesday, July 8 from 1 to 3 p.m. on Zoom. The meeting is open to the public. Click here to attend.
