Pacific High’s annual plant sale is Friday 2-5 pm, and Saturday 10-4 pm in the school’s new greenhouse. Garden coordinator Andrea Fraga and two of her students discuss their experiences working in the program, and growing food to use in the school’s lunch program.

What began as a tiny garden bed on the front lawn, has blossomed into a full-fledged Farm-to-Table program for Sitka’s alternative high school.

Pacific High in Sitka this year opened an 1,100-square foot  greenhouse on school grounds, supplemented by an extensive outdoor garden.

Principal Mandy Summer outlined the program for the Sitka School Board on Wednesday (12-6-23). She said that it’s not just about growing plants.

“So the purpose of our program is really to build career, technical, and general skills in youth that they will need to thrive in the future,” said Summer. “We have classes and activities that are 100-percent based in our farm-to-table program, and these include our spring gardening, our garden construction classes, our culinary classes that happen all year long, and our school-wide stewardship days. 

“And so the garden and culinary program also support other classes and learning opportunities by providing space for other projects in science classes, math classes, and our Alaska studies class. We have elementary school field trips from Baranof come over and do potato planting projects in our garden. We’ve had Outer Coast students come and do services. And there’s a high potential for more things like this to happen, as staffing and capacity allows, particularly by offering summer programming opportunities.”

Pacific High has a small student population, relative to the other high schools in Sitka. When the first garden plot was built in 2011, there was only one class associated with it, called “Reading and Weeding.” Now there are tie-ins to classes in all academic areas, and a grant-funded garden coordinator, Andrea Fraga, who corrals over forty volunteers in summertime to support student gardeners. And Mandy Summer says that at Pacific High, all the students are gardeners.

“When we have garden stewardship days, even our most disengaged students inside the building and inside the classroom, are very engaged outside in the garden,” she said. “The work is supporting their confidence and their pride, supporting their development of a good work ethic. And the kitchen and garden spaces also allow us to make connections with traditional foods for our majority indigenous student body.”

Pacific High’s Farm-to-Table program receives significant support from the Sitka Conservation Society, which at first served as administrator for the garden coordinator job, but has since spearheaded raising over $150,000 to construct the greenhouse. Gardening might not be at the top of the list of many conservation organizations, but the Society’s Chandler O’Connell said the program is in the SCS wheelhouse.

“We strongly believe in youth development as an essential pathway for building sustainable thriving communities,” said O’Connell. “The youth and Southeast are so amazing, and they often have so many incredible opportunities thanks to the environment and communities and cultures that hold them and surround them. And they also face really significant challenges. As you all know, people experiencing poverty, violence, trauma, struggling with mental health challenges. And so programs that focus on early intervention, prevention, and also early exposure to career pathways that are rooted and values in place can make a really big difference.”

Although the structure is complete, there is still much to do to make the new greenhouse fully functional. Principal Summer said that there are outstanding grant applications for funding to supply utilities to the building, and for other equipment to heat the garden beds in winter.

The Sitka School Board was impressed with the program. Member Steve Morse said the district owed “a big thank you” to the Conservation Society for their work to build the program.

Chandler O’Connell responded that “the students are building this program themselves right now. And that’s been going on for 12 years. And that’s really where the success lies.”

Closing Pacific High looks like it’s off the table as a cost-saving measure for the Sitka School District next year. Community Schools, however, is not.

Sitka’s alternative high school and after-hours activity program occupied much of the Sitka School Board’s attention at its latest budget work session on Wednesday (3-27-19).

The other area of discussion was a recent legislative visit by district superintendent Mary Wegner, who reported that lawmakers of both parties opposed the governor’s proposal to cut $300 million from the state’s schools.

“One thing that we heard loud and clear, from Sen. Stedman and other senate Republicans: There’s no history of reducing the BSA, and no interest in doing so,” said Wegner.

The BSA stands for Base Student Allocation, or in other words, the amount of money the state spends on education for each student in kindergarten through grade 12. The BSA is stirred into an algorithm called the “Foundation Formula” that produces the amount of money each school district receives.

For the last three years the BSA has been just under $6,000 per student. In Sitka, that translates to roughly $12.6 million for the schools.

Even if the legislature keeps the BSA right where it’s been — and overrides a possible veto by the governor — the Sitka School District will still have to make significant cuts.

But it appears likely that Pacific High won’t be one of them. The alternative school program is linked to a federal grant that would have to be partially repaid if the school was closed. Board members Eric VanCise and Elias Erickson researched issue to see if Pacific High could be closed “without penalty” and concluded that it wasn’t possible to do so.

“I felt like it was an area that hadn’t been looked into a lot,” said Erickson, “and was worth looking into because there were a lot of things that were unclear to us — and there still are some things. However, I think generally we feel a lot more comfortable with our knowledge on that building and Pacific High School, and it’s just not an area of savings for us.”

Community Schools was a different matter. For the last two years the after-hours sports and activities program has been outsourced to a contractor, Matthew Turner, for $100,000 a year. That dollar figure equates with what is commonly assumed to be the cost of a classroom teacher.

Board member Eric VanCise believes a teacher is a higher priority.

“This is no disrespect to Matt Turner,” said VanCise, “but I don’t want structural money that could pay for a teacher to be paying for that position.”

But it might not mean the end of Community Schools. Superintendent Wegner said that she would solicit proposals from contractors who might want to take on the program — and bear the full expense. “The assumption,” said Wegner, “is that the contractor would have raise the fees to cover the costs.”

The Sitka School Board will meet three times in the near future to hear from the public on budget proposals for next year:

— 6 p.m. Monday, April 1, the board will hold a work session and public hearing on the budget at Sitka High School.

— 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, the board will hold a regular monthly meeting, hosted by the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood at ANB Founders Hall.

— 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4, the board will hold a school budget work session with the Sitka Assembly in Harrigan Centennial Hall.

The meal consisted of king salmon with dill sauce, zucchini-carrot fritters, and local greens with huckleberry dressing. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Agriculture has never been a strong suit for rainy Southeast Alaska, so a farm-to-table event might not sound too exciting, but throw in some locally-caught king salmon, and suddenly you’ve got gourmet potential.

Sitka’s Pacific High School celebrated the end of October, which is National Farm to School month, with a salmon-studded feast.

Downloadable audio.

When I was in home ec class growing up we blended smoothies from frozen berries and baked cakes with store-bought ingredients.

That’s not the case at Pacific High. Students from Sitka’s alternative school cook with locally-grown vegetables, hand-picked berries, and, of course, fresh-caught salmon.

“I get the phone call, ‘Are you ready for fish?’ And I say, ‘Yes, we’re ready for fish. We’re always ready for fish,” explains Mandy Summer. 

Summer helps distribute seafood donated through Sitka’s Fish to School program. When she’s not answering phone calls about fish shipments, Summer serves as Pacific High’s principal. The school gets about 10 pounds of fish each week.

“We have salmon once and then we’ll have some kind of whitefish, either halibut or rockfish that we also serve,” Summer says.

Peter Vu cooked up king salmon for the school lunch at Pacific High School. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Peter Vu is the Americorps volunteer at Pacific High, where he teaches a cooking class once a week. Vu is from Texas and worked in restaurants throughout college, but, he says, the ingredients here make his work at Pacific High unique.

“Everything is so fresh and there’s such a big emphasis on making creative meals, so it’s been fun working with the kids,” explains Vu.

Vu worked with students to create today’s meal. There’s a crispy zucchini-carrot fritter, king salmon with cajun seasoning

“And it’s garnished with a homemade dill sauce,” explains Vu. “We’re also serving a salad that has zucchini, lettuce, carrots, and what are the flowers?” Vu asks.

“Nasturtiums,” answers Amy Kane.

Kane stopped by to help serve up today’s meal. She also has restaurant experience, being the former owner of Sitka’s Larkspur Cafe, where she was able to incorporate some local seafood, though she says it’s harder to do for hundreds of diners.

Pacific High School only has 36 students, so it’s easier to harvest enough huckleberries to make the salad dressing that’s drizzled on today’s greens.

“This huckleberry looks amazing,” remarks Vu.

“Isn’t it pretty?” Kane says. “It’s an easy way to get color.”

Americorps volunteer Peter Vu and local chef Amy Kane serve up local greens with huckleberry dressing. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

The dressing is a deep maroon color. Everything on the plate looks ten times brighter than any beige school meal from your childhood. It even looks better than most meals served up in high-end restaurants, especially the salmon.

One student jokes about how, since it is farm to school month, the salmon should be much paler on the palate.

“It’s farm to school. Why is it not farmed fish?” a student asks.

The salmon, of course, is wild, while everything in the salad is from St. Peter’s Farm, a community garden in Sitka. That’s also where the zucchini and carrots came from for the fritter, which are mixed in together with local eggs and Alaskan barley.

It’s a beautiful meal, and guilt-free, too. But the real test of a tasty meal? It’s the students.

“It was delicious,” confirms Philip Barker, whose plate is clean.

But unlike most diners in high-end restaurants, he doesn’t linger over the meal. After all, he’s got class to get back to.

Mandy Summer (l.) and Lyle Sparrowgrove have decades of combined experience in the classroom. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Many students arriving at school today in Sitka (8-27-15) were greeted by familiar faces — but in new roles. Both of Sitka’s high schools have new principals, both of whom have spent years in the classroom.

Downloadable audio.

Here’s the complete picture of the administrative team in the Sitka School District this year: Superintendent Mary Wegner is back for her second year, while former Pacific High co-principals Sarah Ferrency and Phil Burdick now share the role of assistant superintendent. Sondra Lundvick will remain as assistant principal of Sitka High, working with Lyle Sparrowgrove. Lindsay Jorgenson is the new Activities Director. Ben White is continuing as principal of Blatchley Middle School; he’ll be assisted by Laura Rodgers, who’s moving to Sitka from New Hampshire. Casey Demmert is now the most-senior principal in the district; he’ll continue at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary. Mark Lee will remain as principal of Baranof Elementary School. Pacific High will be headed by Mandy Summer, and Summer’s old job, as director of Community Schools, will be handled by district business manager Cassee Olin, until Community Schools is turned over to a private contractor in October.

She moved from Oregon to join Sitka’s alternative high school, teaching English and Health for four years. Last year, she jumped into administration, performing double-duty as assistant principal of Blatchley Middle School and director of Community Schools.

Mandy Summer says returning to Pacific High is a homecoming.

“The way that we see education, and the way that we deliver education here at Pacific High is very intrinsic to my being — to how I’ve always taught and to how I’ve always learned.”

Enrollment at Pacific High is limited to around 40 students. Some are there because they haven’t had success in traditional public schools; others seek out the school’s alternative approach to education. Summer says her background at Pacific High taught her to look at the whole student.

“There were times, as a teacher, where I recognized that it’s much more important to focus on a student’s needs than — socially or behaviorally what they need in their life — than on writing that essay or passing that test. And that’s really what Pacific High is all about.”

Summer is replacing two people. Her predecessors, Phil Burdick and Sarah Ferrency, job-shared for five years as co-principals at Pacific High before moving into district administration. Summer says that although she’s only one person, she doesn’t feel like a solo act. She describes the school as a collaboration among all staff, administration — and even students.

If anything, Summer would like to see students step outside themselves even more.

“You know, one thing that’s always been an important as a teacher and as just a part of my life is providing service. I think that’s one way to get at the hearts of students. To get at their heads, we get at their hearts. I have seen some students really blossom when they have been a part of something much bigger than themselves.”

But not every teacher is eager to move into the top job — at least that was the case this year at Sitka High.

“I originally said no.”

Lyle Sparrowgrove will take over as principal at Sitka’s traditional high school. But he’s not as reluctant as he sounds. He reconsidered, after thinking about the students, families, and staff that make a school.

“The other part is I’m not doing it alone, I’m doing it with all those people together, attempting to make the high school principal’s position sustainable.”

Sparrowgrove understands sustainability. He taught Math for 13 years at Blatchley, beginning in 1987, before becoming assistant principal and activities director at the high school in 2000. After four years in that job, Sparrowgrove returned to the Math classroom until his retirement in 2009.

It’s not a natural transition to move from career teacher to administrator, but Sparrowgrove understands that “it all happens in the classroom.” He knows firsthand that good teaching can turn a student’s life around.

“I was not a good math student. I got excited when I had a quality instructor at the college level. I wanted the kids to feel the passion and exuberance I felt about learning math, because I’m sure there’s other things they would rather have been doing.”

Sparrowgrove describes the last six years as “quasi-retirement.” He’s been active as a consultant, working with the district to develop new Math curriculum across all grade levels. But, he says the social aspect of school is very important, and he misses that.

And he also thinks he’s got some ideas to offer, as schools evolve along with the needs of students.

“Education has been very good to me over the years. And I feel like, to be able to continue to have education improve and grow we need to give back to it. And this is one of those ways.”

Lyle Sparrowgrove will replace Karen Macklin,who stepped in last year to cover the resignation of former principal PJ Ford-Slack.

The first day of school in Sitka is Thursday, August 27.

Sarah Ferrency and Phil Burdick at Pacific High. Ferrency says she puts job sharing in context: “When you’re one person, you can’t be in two places at once.” (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

It’s a two-for-one deal that’s likely unprecedented in Alaska. This fall when students and teachers return to the Sitka School District they’ll be greeted not by one assistant superintendent — but two.

Phil Burdick and Sarah Ferrency have most recently been job-sharing as co-principals of Pacific High, Sitka’s alternative high school.

Now, the husband-and-wife team will try their winning formula in the highest levels of district administration.

Downloadable audio.

Phil Burdick and Sarah Ferrency are serious about splitting their work. They sit at the same desk, and answer the same phone — but never at the same time.

Just tracking them down would challenge even a sleuth like Inspector Clouseau.

Pink Panther
Clouseau – What is your name?
Man – I’m Chalk, the gardener.
Clouseau – What do you do?
Man – I’m the gardener.
Clouseau – Why didn’t you say that to me in the first place?

Ferrency – It’s this funny thing, where we are one person and you never see Phil and Sarah in the same room together. If you’re one person, you can’t be in two places at once. We try to set those boundaries… It took us a couple of days for us to get together in the same room to make the phone call back to her, and then she floated this idea.

Ferrency says she thought they were in trouble when district superintendent Mary Wegner left a message that she’d like to speak to the two of them — at the same time.

Instead, it was to offer them a promotion to the district office. Burdick says he was shocked at first.

Ferrency, though, could see the logic in it.

“We have really complementary skill sets. Together our skills are the complete package. We’re better at more things than any one person ever is. You have people who are head people, and you have heart people. He’s the heart and I’m the head, and together we’ve got it all covered.”

School administrators in Sitka — anywhere for that matter — work extraordinarily long hours. The days are often bookended by meetings, and in between are the challenges of supporting teachers and families.

Burdick says job-sharing brings extra capacity to school administration.

“Two people doing one job is really one person doing a job-and-a-half. Because we only have half a day, we have to be efficient to get it all done. So in the course of a day we get more done than one person could because it takes too much energy, too much mental space.”

And then there’s this whole heart and head thing: Ferrency and Burdick are not being figurative. It defines their working relationship.

Ferrency – I do numbers. I do boxes. I do reports. I do technical writing. I make the case for people to give us money. I cross t’s and dot i’s. And I create systems, and…

Burdick – I make connections with outside agencies, with families, with kids. Everyone thinks that I agree with them all the time. And so I am the sounding board. I gave the commencement speech this year for Pacific High’s graduation, and it was all about invitation. One of my strengths as the heart is being able to invite people in — as often as it takes — until they just say yes.

The pair admits that having two players in one role sometimes has a downside. Ferrency says a parent might come to Pacific High hoping to see Burdick and, because he’s established trust, that parent may not want to meet with her. But if someone has a grievance with one of them — a staff member, for instance — they could take it to the superintendent.

And they’ve found a way to make it work, although the head and heart don’t necessarily agree on how long.

KCAW – So how long have you been co-principals at Pacific High?
Burdick – 4 years.
Ferrency – This is our fifth year. Because we started the year Iona was born.
Burdick – And she’s 4.
Ferrency – And she’s turning 5 in September.
Burdick – So next year would have been our fifth.
Ferrency – 2010-11, 11-12, 12-13, 13-14, 14-15. Our fifth year, and her fifth year.
Burdick – All I know is that I love my job. I don’t know how long I’ve been doing it!

The couple typically divide their days: He takes 7:30 AM to noon; she takes noon to 5. But now that their daughters are a bit older — and given the expanded responsibilities of the job of assistant superintendent — they say it may be possible to find them working in the same room at the same time. But you may have to be a Clouseau to spot them.

Clouseau – And there is a very good chance that someone in this room knows more about the murder than he is telling.
Woman – Murder?
Clouseau – What was that you said?
Woman – I said murder.
Clouseau – Murder? What murder?

Burdick tells students that it’s not his responsibility to learn. “I already have a degree or two. I’m not going to stand here and do your homework. It’s your turn.” (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Pacific High co-principal Phil Burdick told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce this week (Wed 1-8-14) that the remodeled space was actually the product of the school’s core mission to give students ownership of their education — a ten-year long homework assignment that has finally been turned in.

He explained how “experiential learning” works at Pacific High.

Listen to iFriendly audio.
If you go to a traditional school you’ll get a biology class that will start at the cell and go to the macro, and it will be two semesters long, and you’ll get a little bit of everything all the way across. So what we do is flip that script, and we take biology and ask, How Does Meth Impact the Body? And we drill all the way down. And we do that in all our classes. We do it with History. We don’t do a survey history class, we’ll do something like Civil Rights. Or we’ll do the herring fishery for Alaska Studies. It’s a very different model of education.

Burdick was a teacher at Pacific High for twelve years, before becoming co-principal 4 years ago. He incorporated a book on sustainable school design into his own teaching, and involved students in developing the ideas that would create a better space for education.

He told the chamber audience that Pacific High represents a radical departure from typical schools.

Listen to iFriendly audio.
Did you know that the model for traditional schools — the architecture — is the same model that we used for prisons? You probably didn’t. However, I bet your high school looked a lot like a prison. Mine did. It’s the same thing: a central office where the ward… — I mean the principal — sits. And your cell… classroom, and your common areas: the gym, where you all go to workout, and the lunchroom, where you all get to eat. It’s the same model. It turns out that’s not a great model for education. It turns out it’s a great model for prisons. But when you want a student to learn there are lots of different ways and places and types of learning. Students need quiet places. They need soft places, they need cave spaces. They need indoor/outdoor connections. So our classrooms are big, they’re flexible. You can do a lot of things. We have messy areas, so people can work on projects. We have quiet areas, so people can sit down and read. We have conference rooms where students can break out in small groups and work on a project together. The picture that you saw in the paper of the rotunda when you walk in: That becomes a meeting space. We had our first all-school meeting in it today. It was great. There’s nowhere to hide.

Burdick discussed the outdoor connection. While a lot of learning at Pacific High takes place outside, it complements the learning taking place inside.

Listen to iFriendly audio.
We have a door that goes out of every classroom. I have a gardening class. Last year Hillary (Seeland) taught a herring class. She was out on the boats, she was bringing in experts. Everybody now has access to the outside, because that’s where education happens. I was fine in a high school, you were fine in a high school I’m sure. But boy, it’s sure nice for students who high school is not good for to get out and do something that’s active, that still engages them, and still connects to the learning. It’s not that we’re digging rows at St. Peter’s and not learning English. We come back and we reflect on that, and we write on that. We teach you how to write a paragraph about what you’ve done. We’re hitting the Standards, but we’re doing it in a way that engages as many people as possible.

School board member Tonia Rioux was one of two Pacific High alums in Burdick’s audience Wednesday. She attended Pacific High when it was located in an unused building on the Mt. Edgecumbe campus on Japonski Island. She said great teachers had made the difference in her education then. Now, she was happy that Pacific High students had great teachers, and a great building.

Listen to iFriendly audio.
If you come into a place of learning and there’s water coming through the ceiling and a bucket under it, and the window’s broken, and it’s hard to walk up the steps because they’re crumbling, and you’re already having challenges in education, what does that say? You’re just not that important. That’s why I’m really excited about the building, and that’s where the impact truly lies.

Classes resumed in the new Pacific High building on Tuesday. Phil Burdick invited the public to attend an open house on campus on Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, Sunday, February 16.

Pacific High junior Paulette James, and friend. (PHS photo/Hillary Seeland)

“When you go in to look at the stories of meth and everything, they didn’t know that their life would completely turn over, that they’d lose their job, lose their family, and everything that they had or cared about — within months, or a year.”

Pacific High is tackling the meth problem by throwing light on it — first in a science class taught by Eric Matthes, and then in a community engagement class taught by Mandy Summer.

James and another student became interested in exploring the upside of meth recovery early in the school year with an event of some kind. That student left Pacific High, and James has decided to continue her effort solo. She says talking about meth can be difficult , but the stakes are high.

“This whole class has actually been a Debbie Downer, but when it comes to the positive side, it becomes a passion for the teachers and myself because there are people that we care about who are affected directly by meth. And we want to get that message out before it affects all the people we care about, and the community.”

James and the other students in Pacific High’s Community Engagement class have organized an event in early May at Sitka’s Crescent Harbor. It’s called “Got Resiliency?” They’re planning a performance by the Gaja Heen Dancers, a film screening, and a concert by local musicians, including Silver Jackson.

Resiliency means that there is a way to resist meth, and support to find your way back.

“The biggest message that we want to get out there is that, We care, and that you have value. That things may be rough, but you can always bounce back. There’s always something you can do better for yourself and you don’t need to turn to drugs or alcohol because we have resources, and if you need them, we can help you find them.”

This entire Pacific High program — the science class, the community engagement class, and the “Got Resiliency?” event — are not a project of any government agency, nor are they the result of any grant funding. The initiative for the project came from within — from Pacific High’s students and faculty.

Hillary Seeland, another teacher at the school, says, “We’d identified that meth was becoming an issue, and decided to face it head on.”

Got Resiliency? will be held from 7-9 PM Saturday May 4 in the Crescent Harbor Shelter in Sitka.

KCAW’s Holly Keen contributed to this report.