The Ketchikan School District superintendent posted an update Friday about the status of the school restructuring plan approved by the School Board earlier this month. According to the update, teachers and administrators will soon learn which school they are assigned to for next year.
The actions taken so far include planning by various departments and open house time for elementary staff to tour the other schools. The restructuring plan combines the district’s three elementary schools by grade level, sending Kindergarten through third grade students to Fawn Mountain Elementary and Point Higgins Elementary and all fourth through sixth graders to Houghtaling Elementary. The geographic dividing line determining whether students attend Fawn Mountain or Point Higgins has been moved a few blocks, and is now set at Jefferson Street, near Safeway. It was originally set at Whitecliff Avenue.
As the plan will require shuffling of teachers, the superintendent’s update says that every elementary staff member has now met with administrators to review their options. Teachers have also had the opportunity to note the building they’d prefer to work at next year, according to the update. It says teachers will be informed which school they are assigned to by Feb. 28, and building administrators will receive assignments the first week of March. Open houses for families to visit schools and meet staff are also to be held at some point in the near future.
District officials say consolidating students will help cover a roughly $1.7 million budget deficit that’s projected to grow in future years. It’s also meant to allow for smaller, more evenly distributed class sizes and more focused instruction.
The restructuring plan has been met with strong community backlash since it was unveiled in December. The main concerns voiced have been increased distance from schools, the breaking up of families with students in different grades, and compromising a sense of neighborhood schools. Some parents threatened to homeschool their children or leave the community if the plan was enacted.
Earlier this week, a group of community members circulated their own, alternate cost-saving proposals on social media. The detailed digital presentation includes multiple options to make up the district’s projected budget deficits, using what they say are the district’s own budget numbers. One plan involves combining some classrooms within the elementary school, meaning first and second graders in the same class, for example. Another would move all middle schoolers into the high school building, which they say has plenty of room. Each plan would move administrators out of the district offices and into schools, with the idea that they could help cover for cuts to building administrators. The presentation also encourages community members to comment at next week’s School Board meeting and urge the board to reconsider the restructuring plan.
The School Board is scheduled to meet Wednesday, Feb. 26, and their published agenda does not include any items about the restructuring plan or alternate budget proposals.
