The Juneau School District Board of Education is considering giving $1.05 million dollars earmarked for child care back to the city at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The money was left over after the district ended its afterschool Relationships and Leadership Learning for Youth program, known as RALLY, last summer.
Private child care provider Auke Lake Preschool is now running a new program called Auke Lake RALLY, but instead of operating at four neighborhood elementary schools like the district did last school year, it’s at three: Harborview Elementary School downtown, Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx – Glacier Valley Elementary School in the Mendenhall Valley and Auke Bay Elementary School. Sayéik: Gastineau Community School on Douglas Island used to have a program.
The district is still paying to bus students from schools that don’t have the new RALLY program to schools that do. At the school board’s October meeting, members discussed the possibility of using some of the left over funds to pay for some bus transportation going to the new RALLY sites instead.
The district’s Chief Financial Officer Nicole Herbert said last month she could look into the feasibility of doing that.
The school board will also decide on its six-year capital improvement plan at Tuesday’s meeting. The proposed plan outlines the deferred maintenance and capital projects the district is prioritizing and requesting funding for over the next six fiscal years.
The board meets Tuesday at the Thunder Mountain Middle School library. The board will have a work session at 4:30 p.m. to discuss its new strategic plan draft before holding its regular meeting at 6 p.m.
Attendees can sign up to testify in person on a sheet provided by the district before the meeting begins, but anyone can provide public comment when prompted during the meeting.
