Dave Turcott is a commercial fisherman who has been trolling in southeast Alaska since the 1960s. Yet it was only two years ago that Turcott began transcribing his experiences from the sea onto paper, earning him the title of a “fisherpoet.” Standing behind a podium at the Sitka Public Library with the ocean at his back, Turcott reads to a room of over 30 attentive librarians an anecdote chronicling one of his earliest memories in Southeast, which involves him and his fellow fishermen improvising a solution to fixing a hole in their gas tank while on the road to catch a ferry in Haines. 

“Somebody freshened the chewing gum. We added a little gas, and eased on to the next roadhouse. Someone was always chewing a fresh plug in case the old one fell off,” says Turcott, much to the amusement of the crowd.

And Turcott is not the only fisherpoet sharing his work. Mariah Warren has worked as a fisherman across a wide variety of vessels for 20 years, half of them as a captain. One of the short readings she shared with the audience was a poem titled “Please Don’t Die at Sea.”

“Please don’t die at sea, my dears. Tell the story someday instead over burgers and beers, about the time the storm called your name and you chickened out. The kids are listening. Those are the times that they need to hear about,” says Warren. “Remember your heroes, those storm gray, bright-eyed women and Poseidon-bearded men. I know we all do. Please survive so someday you can be a grouchy, salt encrusted, wise and inspiring old timer too.”

Sitting in chairs propped up beside the podium, Turcott leans back into his chair with tear-filled eyes and pursed lips. Next to him, Paul Rioux says for a long time, he struggled to understand how his routine life at sea would interest readers. He shares an essay where he realizes the life of a fisherman offers a unique literary connection between self-reliance and fate.

“Rare days of pure winning are made sweeter by all the days of struggling, fighting weather, and during poor fishing and/or depressing crisis. All of this occurs in an awe-inspiring setting seen by an infinitesimally small percentage of the population, thereby a very exclusive club,” says Rioux. “You cannot fake your way in. You have to get salty to be salty.”

One of the visiting librarians in the audience is Sandy Lukes, the Outreach Librarian for the Anchorage Public Library. It’s Lukes’ first ever Alaska Library Association conference, and she says listening to the storytellers gave her a greater appreciation for how crucial fishing is for communities like Sitka. 

“Me being from Seattle, I know there’s a lot of fishing that goes around there, but I wasn’t as close to or familiar with it,” says Lukes. “So it’s really interesting seeing how how much that is part of the livelihood here, and what that looks like for people.”

Tele Aadsen is the 4th and final fisherpoet and moderator for the event. She shares a humorous and heart-warming story of a fisherman who inspired her to embrace her queerness in their line of work. She hopes the librarians are inspired to highlight the unexpected storytellers in their own communities, fishermen or otherwise.

“Sharing with librarians is awesome. Who better to share with than people who are professional story shares you know and appreciate that thought that goes into it,” says Aadsen. “I think the takeaway is, who are the people in your community who maybe people don’t know their writing, or have their own stories to bring forward, because we all have those folks everywhere.” 

As the event draws to a close, the fisherpoets and librarians mingle, with some snacking on the fish treats caught and prepared by the fishermen themselves. With shelves chock-full of books on one end, and a large glass window framing Sitka Sound on the other, the patrons are surrounded by stories.

Although it wasn’t an increase to the BSA (base student allocation), the deal struck by Alaska lawmakers late Saturday night boosts school funding statewide by $20 million and $30 million in each of the next two years. (KTOO photo)

Last-minute deal-making by the legislature is sending more funding to the Sitka School District over the next two years, but it won’t be enough to restore two laid-off teaching positions, or the Blatchley librarian. However, the Blatchley Art teacher and 21 other non-tenured teachers have all received contracts.

Downloadable audio.

School districts across Alaska will be getting a $20 million boost next year, and $30 million the year after that.

Lawmakers in Juneau cut the deal for $20 million in the wee hours late Saturday night, just before adjourning at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning (5-13-18).

The $30-million deal (HB 287) was made earlier in the session during negotiations over the first-ever use of Permanent Fund earnings to help close the state’s budget deficit.

The two, one-time grants will be welcome in school districts across the state, but they’re not the $100 increase to the base student allocation — or BSA — that education advocates had sought.

Increasing per-student funding for education has become an unpopular idea in Alaska’s Republican-controlled senate.

Sitka Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins — a Democrat, and a member of the bipartisan majority that controls the House — skirts the idea that everyone’s just agreed to raising the base student allocation, without calling it that.

“Without getting too technical, effectively yes, although technically no. It’s going to be money that — if it comes through — would be dispersed to school districts through the base student allocation formula, but it wouldn’t be technically a change to the BSA. I know that sounds oxymoronic.”

Kreiss-Tomkins made these remarks last week, just prior to the marathon conclusion to the legislative session. The money did come through in a capital budget amendment, and is the equivalent of an increase in the BSA of almost $80 per student next year. In 2020, it’s the equivalent of a $117 increase.

Whatever you call it, the funding totals over $200,000 for the Sitka School District next year.

Sitka superintendent Mary Wegner is clearly relieved to have this aspect of the district’s finances settled through 2020.

“We still have our work cut out for us, but it is a huge relief to think that we could actually focus on education for a whole year!”

So why won’t $212,317 from the legislature restore two teaching positions in Sitka?
1. The district’s budget already assumed a $30 increase in the BSA (base student allocation from the state), or $81,515. Subtracting that from $212,317 leaves $130,802.
2. The district assumed that the City of Sitka would contribute $79,492 more than it actually did. Subtracting that from $130,802 leaves $51,310 — about half the cost of a teaching position — which the school board will likely move to district reserves.

The rough numbers rolled in from the Department of Education on Monday evening (5-14-18), just a few hours before the deadline for the Sitka School District to deliver contracts to its 22 remaining non-tenured teachers on Tuesday.

The district was forced to lay off two teachers next year due to reduced enrollment — the first time the district has ever done so — but that was going to happen regardless of any last-minute deal-making in the legislature. The English/Drama position at the high school is gone; so is a second-grade position at Keet Gooshi Heen.

The next two positions on the chopping block were at Blatchley Middle School: The librarian and Art teacher. The surprise boost in state funding was not enough to save both. The Art teacher — who is untenured — received a contract. However, Blatchley staff are going to have to figure out another way for students to check out and check in books.

“And that teacher position is a tenured teacher, so the librarian will have a job elsewhere in the district. But the position is currently stated to be eliminated.”

Wegner says that the Blatchley librarian is certified to teach Science, and may move into that classroom, after the current middle school Science teacher moves up to the high school to take a position being vacated by a retirement.

The unexpected increase in state funding leaves the district with about $50,000 in unbudgeted cash next year — not enough to restore the library job, unless the school board met in special this session and adjusted the budget. Wegner says that the board is more likely to deposit the money in district’s reserve account — which currently has nothing in it above the state-required minimum.

Restoration might be possible (according to SEA president Tim Pike) for the Keet Gooshi Heen position, if a tenured teacher moves into a grant-funded job.

That leaves the absence of a drama teacher at Sitka High as the only foregone conclusion next year.

“We’re hoping one of the other teachers can pick it up, or we’ll have to have a coach from outside the teaching pool,” says Wegner. Historically, the drama class has fed the high school’s award winning Drama, Debate, and Forensics team, which is run by coaches from the community, as are many other sports and activities in the district.

A patron peruses the young adult section. (Brielle Schaeffer/KCAW photo)

Greg Mandel is the electronic outreach librarian at the Sitka Public Library. He’ll be teaching an adult computer class beginning June 1. Students will learn basic computer skills, from surfing the web to creating Microsoft Word documents and sending emails.

Downloadable Audio