Another Ketchikan School Board member has resigned, following the resignations of the board president and district superintendent, all within a few weeks. Keenan Sanderson emailed the board last Tuesday, asking them to formally accept his resignation. Sanderson served as vice president of the board from 2021 to 2024, and was elected to his second three-year term last fall.
The turnover comes amid an intense community backlash following the board’s approval of a plan to restructure the island’s elementary schools by grade level.
During last Wednesday’s meeting, the board elected Katherine Tatsuda to be the new board president. Superintendent Michael Robbins is finishing out the school year before stepping down. During his report to the board, he thanked the community for their support.
“And I would just like to thank all of the people for their kind words,” Robbins said. “I got hundreds and hundreds of emails thanking me and thanking my family for being here. So just a huge thank you to you guys out there.”
The board also unanimously approved a reduction in force plan, in order to comply with state law and agreements with the local union about teacher layoffs. Robbins made clear that approving the plan does not enact any layoffs and is mostly precautionary, in case state funding doesn’t come through as expected.
“We don’t want to do a reduction in force,” Robbins said. “We don’t believe we need to, if we [get] $680 and we do some sort of structural change, which has been asked of us from you guys as a School Board and from the borough.”
The district has projected a roughly $1.7 million budget deficit next school year, based on receiving the same amount of state funding as the current year. But that deficit jumps to $5.8 million if the state legislature doesn’t pass any new funding, including a one-time increase, like it did last year.
Robbins also provided some savings estimates and feedback about an alternate cost-saving plan involving multi-grade level classrooms. The board requested more specific information about that, which Robbins said he could produce with help from the business manager once he recovered from an illness.
Members also discussed ways to better communicate with the community. They resolved to take a number of steps to improve outreach, like posting updates and reminders to social media and emailing parents a recap of School Board meetings.
The board accepted the resignation of former president Michelle O’Brien, who resigned March 13. They plan to fill both vacant seats left by O’Brien and Sanderson during their April 23 meeting. Those appointed would serve until the October municipal elections. Interested applicants can contact School Board Clerk Chloe Hall at chloe.hall@k21schools.org or 907-247-2109.
