Adelyn Baxter

Local education officials are applying for state money to replace and repair leaky roofs at several Juneau schools. About $5 million is coming in over the next five years earmarked for school maintenance from sales tax money that voters approved in the Oct. 3 election.

Tuesday night, the Juneau School Board will vote on a capital improvement plan.

The state’s budget situation means there’s less money for things like facilities maintenance, and in 2015 the state Legislature froze a program that forgave school maintenance and construction bond debt. That means there’s plenty of maintenance that’s been put off in Juneau schools.

The six-year capital improvement plan is a project list. And it’s the first of many steps toward actually replacing roofs.

“So what the board has to do is approve a list to submit to the state, then the school district is eligible to submit grant applications to the state and if a grant application were to be approved, then it would be a shared expenditure with the state Department of Education paying 65 percent and the city paying 35 percent,” said Juneau School District Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett.

The highest priority projects on the capital improvement plan are roof repairs: an estimated $2.4 million for Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School, $1.4 million at both Gastineau and Riverbend elementaries and another $500,000 for Juneau-Douglas High School.

Director of Administrative Services David Means said the district has taken a new approach to its maintenance.

“Because of the change in state funding, we’re trying to look at a different way to approach improvements on our facilities,” he said. “For many years, it was most beneficial for us to ask the voters to approve a bond and get paid 70 percent on a bond. And that was the most advantageous and that’s how we’ve done it for a long time. But with the suspension of bond payments we’re looking at grant applications on this.”

Means said the chances of getting state grants are low.

“Last year, I think Department of Education, I think, approved one grant application for the whole state,” Means said. “That’s because of the state’s financial situation, the Legislature didn’t approve money for anything else.”

The Juneau School Board’s Facilities Committee will work on a list of maintenance projects specifically for sales tax money at its Nov. 3 meeting. That $5 million is about 10 percent of what’s expected to be raised over the next five years through the extension of the sales tax.

In this newscast:

• The Juneau Assembly will revisit the senior sales tax initiative at tonight’s meeting,
• the Juneau School district has until Nov. 1 to submit a proposal to merge its two high school football programs,
• and the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth conference begins today in Anchorage.

Perseverance Theatre’s Young Company performed Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” over the weekend.

The cast, who ranged in age from 9 to 13, put on an abridged version of the play. Sunday’s show was for a packed house. Although the play was shorter than usual, it remained true to Shakespeare’s original text. The company practiced three times a week for two months leading up to their Friday premiere.

Listen to this audio postcard from Sunday’s show. Perseverance Theatre’s Tom Robenolt introduces the play. The actors include Finn Lamb as Theseus, Nina Rautiainen as Egeus, Clara Ferguson as Puck, Sydney Hood as Fairy and Seth Coppens as Oberon.

Alaska Natives and friends gathered Monday at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau to celebrate Alaska’s first permanent Indigenous Peoples Day.

And they made it count, with traditional music, dance and plenty of frybread.

Last June, Gov. Bill Walker signed legislation that made the second Monday in October Indigenous Peoples Day. Not coincidentally, that Monday is also the federal holiday Columbus Day.

Alaska is the second state to adopt the contrasting holiday.

“What an incredible, incredible state that we all live in,” Walker said Monday. “The only thing that matches it’s beauty is it’s culture, and that’s what we celebrate on this Indigenous Peoples Day, is the culture that binds this state together.”

Several states have since joined Alaska and South Dakota, as well as dozens of cities across the country.

The cultural shift has caused controversy in some places, much like the recent movement to tear down Confederate statues.

In New York City, where the nation’s largest Columbus Day parade takes place, a wreath-laying ceremony at a statue of Christopher Columbus was interrupted by protesters.

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Richard Peterson said he had little patience for those who fail to understand the significance of Indigenous Peoples Day.

“We’ve gotten a little bit of flack about Indigenous Peoples Day and how we’re disrespecting or not liking non-Native people because we don’t want to recognize Columbus and Columbus Day,” he said. “It’s these people who don’t know the true history and if you want to praise somebody who got lost at sea, landed on a rock and was welcomed by people and then turned around and tried to enslave, then you go on and go ahead and recognize Columbus Day, I won’t disrespect you for doing that. But I am going to recognize our indigenous people who have been here for thousands of years.”

The University of Alaska Southeast held academic and cultural events throughout the day at its three campuses. UAS Chancellor Rick Caulfield said the occasion offers important lessons for everyone.

“Indigenous Peoples Day is a perfect opportunity for all Alaskans, whether you’re from a Native cultural background or not, to learn about 10,000 years of history,” Caulfield said. “Today’s a day to learn about that for all of us and celebrate it.”

Indigenous Peoples Day is another win for Alaska Natives in recent years.

In 2014, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill making 20 Alaska Native languages official state languages.

In this newscast:

• The City and Borough of Juneau updated Oct. 3 Election results with absentee and questioned ballots,
• UAS and local native organizations celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day,
• Juneau police identified remains found near the base of Thunder Mountain last week as a hiker missing since June,
• and a Ketchikan man lay dead near a city street more than 12 hours before police were called.

The City and Borough of Juneau updated the unofficial elections results on Friday with additional absentee and questioned ballots. They did not change the outcome of any of the races in the Oct. 3 election.

According to the updated numbers, 7,040 ballots were cast, which represents 28 percent of registered voters.

The new numbers widen the gap between incumbent Assemblywoman Debbie White and challenger Rob Edwardson, who won all but two of Juneau’s 13 precincts.

A total of 462 questioned and 1,239 absentee ballots were counted.

The Canvass Board is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify the election results.