Small schools are important

For some, its easy to say to just close down the smaller school sites. But small schools are a center of these bush communities. They provide employment, meals, and also are gathering places where athletics or arts can happen. Whenever a small school is closed down, families either have to move to another community or stay where they are and not send their children to school. Online homeschool is not a viable option for many of these people where a monthly internet service can be close to $350.

I am working at the largest school in the district and they have been hit here by school choice. Almost the entire 9th grade class & is spread out to boarding schools, which means that the enrollment is down here. I have an assistant who went to a boarding school last year, but returned this year who says that she didn't like it there because of bullying.

As a parent, I do believe in school choice. I was privileged enough to attend private schools and as my sons grow older, I worry about sending them to public school. If a voucher program were to be instituted in Alaska, it would have to be to attract students from the larger school districts to come to a boarding school at one of these rural schools where they could get a smaller class size and more personalized instruction. It CANNOT be to open more charter schools in a large district where there are already options.

These bush schools need to be a priority. I never realized how much they need support till I started working here such as access to formal Physical Education, Arts, and Music instruction is needed or support for libraries outside of school hours. Governor Walker says that they want to ensure excellent education every day and so, we need to raise up the schools that we already have instead of trying to open & maintain more.

When the larger districts serve more students, its easier to think about their needs outweighing the needs of these smaller communities. These smaller communities are important. They are unique and distinctly Alaskan. Their constituents don't have loud rallying voices, so its often easy to forget them. These small schools matter.