Tensions in Ketchikan have reached a fever pitch over the school district’s plan to restructure the island’s elementary schools. At a protest in late February, parents and educators questioned whether the plan would really save money. And the Feb. 26 school board meeting saw roughly two-and-a-half hours of public comment.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District is facing a roughly $1.7 million budget deficit that’s projected to grow in future years. Last year, district administrators issued layoff notices and cut programs when it became unclear if they’d be able to fund the $44 million budget amid battles over education funding in the state legislature. Many of those layoffs were subsequently recalled, but the district still lost several educators and eliminated a number of elective classes.
Now, in an effort to avoid a repeat of last year’s last-minute slashing of staff or resources, the school board has approved a plan to consolidate all three of the island’s elementary schools into two K-3 schools and one school for grades four through six.
Superintendent Michael Robbins says the plan — which won out over another option that would have cut staff and programming — could save the district $1.3 million a year without cutting programs.
But the plan is facing pushback from all sides. Many parents are now looking at much longer drives to school – or needing to drop their kids off at more than one school. A group of parents and teachers has formulated its own plan, which has gained significant traction in the community.
Amid all of that opposition, the school board will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether they should amend or even rescind the plan — even as the district works on plans for moving the schools’ furniture and computers to their new homes.
The plan
The district’s plan is to divide the island in half along Jefferson Street. Every kindergartener through third grader who lives north of that line would attend Point Higgins Elementary – about a thirty minute drive from downtown Ketchikan. Children who live south of Jefferson Street would become students of Fawn Mountain, about 15 minutes out the road heading south. For grades four through six, everyone would go to Houghtaling Elementary.
Robbins, the superintendent, said education costs continue to rise with inflation but student enrollment in Ketchikan is declining. Meanwhile, state funding has remained stagnant and below the national average.
He said the plan could cut class sizes and promote equity and instructional consistency. But he admitted it may be only a temporary solution.
“While the specialization model provides savings over multiple years,” Robbins said in a presentation during a district budget meeting, “it may require future adjustments if enrollment further decreases and state funding remains stagnant.”
A Demonstration
Ahead of last Wednesday’s highly anticipated school board meeting, more than two dozen adults and young children stood at the intersection of Jefferson Street and Tongass Avenue, the proposed dividing line for the restructuring.
Some drivers laid on their horns as they passed. A very young boy held a sign that said “I get car sick.”
Frankie Urquhart has been teaching middle and high schoolers in the district for nearly two decades.
“The restructuring doesn’t save any money,” she said. “It’s the cutting of staff that saves money, and that could be done without anybody having to move anywhere.”
Urquhart is part of the group of parents and teachers that recently formulated their own collection of alternate cost-cutting proposals, which focus more on eliminating positions. They organized the protest and distributed a presentation of the proposals via social media beforehand.
“We have to cut the budget by between $1.7 and $6 million. As a community we need to consider making tough decisions to reach that amount,” the group wrote in the opening of the presentation.
Those figures are dependent on how education funding shakes out in the state legislature this session. If lawmakers fail to boost public school funding at all, the Ketchikan school district could be roughly $6 million in the hole. The $1.7 million figure is based on a school funding bill introduced by Rep. Jeremy Bynum in February.
In light of the group’s alternative proposals, a reconsideration of the restructuring plan was endorsed by school board member Ali Ginter, and is on the agenda at the next meeting.
A packed meeting
On Wednesday, two days after the protest, dozens of community members packed the assembly chambers in the White Cliff Building for the school board meeting. Many said they wanted the board to reconsider its restructuring plan.
“If we go to Houghtaling, this will add 30 minutes to my drive every day. This means I have to wake up earlier for the whole school year,” said Point Higgins fifth grader Hunter Rodgers. “Lastly, this is my final year to be with my siblings. I want to be there for them because my little sister is new to the school.”
Roger Axelson, another Point Higgins student, submitted a letter to the board.
“I love Ketchikan, and we will figure it out together, and I will be okay and learn a new building or go to homeschool if I need to. I’m just a little mad and confused and worried about kids and families who might not be okay at all,” the 10-year-old wrote.
Penny Leighton is a former teacher in the district and parent of a first grader at nearby Houghtaling Elementary. She said that consolidating schools could exacerbate trauma for students.
“We cannot overlook the fact that administrators have told parents in the past that the best option for them would be to transfer their child to another school to avoid severe bullying. This is not an option anymore,” she said.
Other residents expressed concern that the longer commutes would increase traffic congestion. Some called for more community consultation on school budget issues. Some said they would begin homeschooling their kids or even move out of the community if the restructuring moves forward.
Both mayors of Ketchikan’s municipal governments spoke at public comment against the restructuring.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor Rodney Dial said the causes of the district’s deficit run deeper than state funding issues — he pointed to a pandemic hiring push and a 2018 contract with the Ketchikan’s teachers union that lowered teachers’ health insurance premiums but put the district in significant debt to the borough amid growing nationwide healthcare costs.
“This overspending has consequences,” Dial said.
School board member Ali Ginter was the only board member that voted against the restructuring plan.
“While this plan may look good on paper, there is very little research supporting this type of restructuring,” she told Superintendent Robbins from across the dais. “As one of the only parents on this board, I’m not willing to let our children’s education be an experiment.”
School Board President Michelle O’Brien declined to comment on the meeting or the restructuring plan, citing her absence from the meeting due to illness.
In an email after the meeting, Tabb said he believed the community could find creative solutions “if we listen to each other and assume that people who disagree with us also want what they feel is best for kids.”
“I hope that we can continue to disagree wildly about many things and still treat each other with compassion,” he said.
Robbins said that the district has already begun planning the migration of furniture and technology between the schools. Over the week leading up to the meeting, his staff had met individually with educators to answer questions and discuss their new assignments. He said 93% of the teachers had gotten their first choices of where they’d like to end up.
Robbins said the district was waiting from approval from the state education commissioner to move to the next step of the restructuring process.
Meanwhile, a bill that would boost education funding is making its way through the Alaska House. The current version of the bill includes a $1,000 increase to basic per-student funding for public schools next year.
The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School Board will be reconsidering the FY25/26 elementary school restructuring plan during a work session at their meeting on Wednesday March 12 at 6:00pm. The public meeting is held in assembly chambers on the first floor of the White Cliff Building and livestreamed. Written public comments can be submitted to Board Clerk Chloe Hall at chloe.hall@k21schools.org.
