A committee dedicated to improving Sitka’s state-run boarding school met again last week (8-12-26). The Mt. Edgecumbe High School Ad Hoc Committee continued to discuss challenges and opportunities at the school, as it works to develop a list of recommendations for the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development. 

The ad hoc committee was established by the state board earlier this year in response to concerns about student mental health, school facilities, and an increased number of students pulling out of the school, mid-year. The committee has been gathering monthly this summer to review feedback from students, parents, and staff. At the August 12 meeting, it homed in on the residential experience, from the communication of dorm rules, to the cafeteria food and condition of the facilities.

Last school year, students expressed frustration over the new contractor NANA Corporation’s management of dorms and food service. Student government representative Kadyn Cross said repetition was a key issue with the lunch menu early on.

“If something repeats for more than once in a week, then students will get extremely irritated. In my own experience, it’s the quality as well. They’ll students at Edgecumbe will be happy with a certain quality, but if it goes under under that quality, then a lot of students will be extremely unsatisfied,” Cross said.

He said that between the first and second semesters, NANA’s services improved. Discussion also touched on maintenance issues, like leaky ceilings or chilly dorm rooms, and how to communicate those issues with maintenance staff.

Student mental health was also top of mind. Student government representative Ilana Kalke said she finds the two wellness coordinators on staff very helpful. But they’re spread thin.

“I know that some of the wellness staff were doing things like security or other jobs, and then they weren’t able to focus on wellness as much because they were being told to do other things, or they felt like that was what needed to be done,” Kalke said.

The two-hour conversation covered a lot of ground, briefly veering into school culture, which will be the focus of the committee’s September meeting. Facilitator Susan McCauley said the monthly meeting discussions will inform a list of recommendations that the committee will approve before it’s shared with the state board this fall.