Communication is key. That’s what members of a committee dedicated to improving Mt. Edgecumbe High School said at their second meeting on Wednesday (7-8-26).
The state-run boarding school in Sitka which serves students from rural communities throughout the state, has faced scrutiny over the past year after a high number of students unenrolled mid-year. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development board established the ad hoc committee in March, in response to mounting concerns about student mental health and the quality of school facilities.
At its meeting on Wednesday, the group discussed a set of survey results from parents, students, and teachers, and honed in on a recurring issue highlighted in the feedback – communication.
Gretchen Kelly is a parent representative on the committee. She said there were times when she did not know her child’s location, after changes in student activity travel plans were not communicated with her. She said communication is crucial at a boarding school like Mt. Edgecumbe, when parents are often hundreds of miles away.
“Communication to parents from any school setting is super important,” Kelly said. “Parents are always going to want it, but when we can’t see what the kids are doing, when we’re not there to hear, ‘Oh, hey, we can only take 10 kids instead of 20,’ then the communication aspect becomes more important, not less.”
Dorothy Chase, the committee’s alumni representative, said the need for better communication extends to academics. Parents want to hear from teachers more often, and not just when their kids are struggling.
“When my children were, my daughters were there…I used to get phone calls, just telling, giving an update, and saying, ‘Oh, it’s so wonderful to have your child in class,'” Chase said. “It doesn’t have to always be a negative thing. We don’t need to get phone calls that are just negative.”
The committee discussed several areas where communication can be refined, from teachers and administrators increasing parent outreach, to residential staff improving its dialogue with students.
Joel Isaak is the committee’s tribal representative. He said parents and students are engaging with three branches of the school experience- academic, residential, and administrative. That makes communication more complicated. Isaak said the school needs to develop a streamlined approach so families can navigate all three. And since most parents aren’t in Sitka, Isaak said they needed to create virtual spaces for parents to engage.
“If you’re in a community where you’re going to sporting events locally, or going into the school, you start to network with the parents who you might see at a performance, or whatever it is,” Isaak said. “How do we virtually create that, or how do you distance create those types of networks when you’re interacting with those three facets of Mount Edgecumbe?”
Several tools for improving communication were referenced, from specific apps the school can adopt, to mass emails and newsletters.
Susan McCauley is a Mat-Su-based educator and administrator acting as a co-facilitator for the ad hoc committee meetings. She said instituting an app at her school was a game changer. But, reflecting on the comments, she said the communication issues seemed two-fold. The method of communication needs work, but also policies and ethics behind it.
“Just because somebody implements a way, a method, whether that’s a program or something else, does not mean that those other things happen automatically,” McCauley said. “There still have to be expectations for when routine regular communication is supposed to occur.”
The ad hoc committee will meet monthly this summer with plans to make recommendations about school improvements to the state board this fall. Its next meeting on August 12 will focus on residential life. The ad hoc meetings are virtual and open to the public.
