The school board said goodbye to retiring members and swore in new ones at their Tuesday meeting — a busy session that also saw the board discussing delayed test results and resolving to fight a bill that could close two Nome schools.
Before diving into a packed agenda, the board thanked outgoing members Betsy Brennan and Paula Davis for their years of service and welcomed newly elected members Nancy Mendenhall and Keith Conger. The revamped board then elected Barb Amarok as president, Conger as VP and clerk, and Jennifer Reader as treasurer.
That settled, the board passed a resolution calling for minimum enrollment to stay at 10 students per Alaska school. Superintendent Shawn Arnold said the resolution comes in response to a bill aimed at raising the state’s benchmark from 10 students to 25 — an increase Arnold said could shut down more than 60 schools in Alaska, including two in Nome.
“If the student enrollment [requirement] goes up to 25, we have the possibility of losing two of our own schools — Nome Youth Facility as well as Nome Extensions,” said Arnold. “In the Bering Strait region, there are also schools at risk. Those students have to go somewhere. If they lose a school, for many small communities, that might mean the death of the community. It’ll be devastating.”
While the bill is being introduced by MatSu legislators as a way to save money, Arnold said the change would only shift spending around. Whatever the potential savings may be, Mendenhall said it’s not enough to justify the damage done to small towns, where schools are central to community life.
“I know the state is in trouble financially, but I think this is an absolutely terrible way to save money,” said Mendenhall. “Many people can’t homeschool their kids, so they pack up and move out. And that’s the end of the community.”
The board emphasized the proposed change would be particularly harmful to Alaska Native students and those from rural areas. Amarok said that even though small communities would be affected, there would be a large impact.
“I added up the number of students in each of these schools that could possibly be closed down, and I think it’s 919,” said Amarok. “And that is a large number of students and large number of families that would be affected.”
The board’s resolution — which was passed unanimously — will be sent to the state legislature. Arnold said he hopes it will be one of many resolutions from school districts and organizations statewide.
At the meeting, the board also discussed state testing — namely, that the state has not released results from the Alaska Measures of Progress (AMPs), even though they were due to the district earlier this month.
The AMPs are more rigorous than previous state assessments, and the Alaska Department of Education has already told school districts that just a third of students passed the new test statewide. While Nome Public Schools are eager to see how students performed, Arnold said implementation of the test has been rushed — and the results may not be reliable just yet.
“What I told the board and staff members is not to stress and not to worry as much about these AMP results,” said Arnold. “The psychometrician — the assessment specialist from the University of Kansas, who’s designing the state test — said it’s going to be several years before it’s valuable and reliable.”
The superintendent said Nome schools will continue using other assessments to gauge student progress while the state refines the new test. Still, Arnold said he hopes to get a hold of the results in the next week so the board can discuss them at their next meeting — a work session on Oct. 27.
