Bridget Dowd

Juneau’s Riverbend Elementary School may soon be getting a new Lingít name.

Kax̱dig̱oowu Héen translates to “going back to clear water.” It’s used to refer to a part of the Mendenhall River. And could soon be used to refer to the elementary school that sits on its banks in Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley.

Juneau’s board of education discussed the proposed name change at its Tuesday night meeting. A’akw Kwáan elder, Bob Sam spoke at the meeting. He said the name honors the strength and resilience of the Lingít people who were able to set fish traps in unforgiving currents.

“It requires great strength to hold the fish trap and the fish net in the river and we’re going to use it as an allegory for the school,” Sam said. “The fish net will be seen as a safety net to wrap around the students and make them feel safe when they come into the school.”

Sam and Fran Houston worked together to come up with the name. Houston is the tribal spokesperson for the A’akw Kwáan. Her Lingít name is Seikoonie and she’s from the Yaxté Hit. Houston said when she talked to other members, they were thrilled that the school wanted a Lingít name.

“It is so beautiful that these children have that opportunity and what’s being taught to them now,” she said. “Even back in my day, it wasn’t even thought of and I know it makes all of us stand tall and be proud.”

The school also put a video together about the new name, featuring its students.

Houston said when she saw the video, she was “tickled pink.”

“It’s a gift for these students, and they can say the Lingít name better than I can,” she said. “It is so wonderful that these schools want the Lingít names and I don’t think we’re done yet.”

Other schools in Juneau have added Lingít names to their existing titles, but Riverbend Principal Elizabeth Pisel-Davis said they want to replace their name completely.

“It’s very important to bring these names back to life,” Pisel-Davis said. “So we see it as not eliminating a name, but reclaiming the name that was always here.”

The hope is also that by having only a Lingít name and no English option, the students will get in the habit of using it. The board is expected to vote on the name change at its next regular meeting on May 10.

Most students who attend public elementary schools in Alaska spend their days learning indoors, but one Juneau teacher is making sure his students have at least a little time with Mother Nature.  

Geoffrey Wyatt’s third grade classroom at Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley School in Juneau looks like most others.

There’s a whiteboard lined with children’s books, tiny desks and chairs, and lots of colorful posters. But on some Friday afternoons, Wyatt’s students throw on their raincoats and Xtratufs to head to the forest.

“The very first time I ever took students out here, I had this little boy who was really, really quiet, and he started signaling for me to come over,” Wyatt said. “He’d found a little inch worm.”

Wyatt had never seen that student get so excited before. 

“That was the first time I saw that kids find things in the forest that really bring out their personalities,” Wyatt said.

About five years ago, Wyatt was listening to a podcast about educators who were teaching lessons outdoors for one day a week. 

“I started doing some research, and I found out that there’s so many benefits to bringing kids outside,” Wyatt said. “Kids tend to be happier, and it actually will improve reading and math scores.”

So he decided to give it a shot in his classroom, taking the kids out to the woods about once a month for half a day.

“The kids loved it [and] I loved it,” Wyatt said.

Eventually, he dubbed those field trips to the woods “Fridays in the Forest.” At first it was just play time, but now it’s a little more academic.

“The first time we went to the forest, one of the students really freaked out a lot and he was afraid of the devil’s club,” Wyatt said. “He’d never seen it before, and another kid said it was poisonous because they thought it was.”

After that, Wyatt took the kids back to the classroom for a lesson about the plant.

“We took a little bit of devil’s club, we looked at it and we felt it,” Wyatt said. “We talked about its uses with Alaskan culture, medicinal uses and then it became a really celebrated plant in our class.”

On a lot of Fridays in the Forest, Wyatt asks his students to sketch what they see around them. Makayla Fisi is one of those students.

“I’m drawing the branches on here because I like the way the trees give us oxygen,” Makayla said.

Another student, Ben Catalioto, decided to sketch some devil’s club.

“Devil’s club is like a guardian of the forest. Like, if you touch it, it would hurt,” Ben said. 

The third-graders have also been learning Lingít words and songs for what they see in the forest, like skunk cabbage. At the end of their lesson, they always have a little time to just run around and be kids.

“I like how nature moves and how it’s so much green and moss and trees,” Ben said. “One thing I don’t like is that it’s just very rainy whenever we go on Fridays.”

Wyatt has also been recognized by the Juneau School District for his creative lesson plans.

Wearing face masks inside Juneau’s public schools is optional as of Monday. The district’s board of education made the decision last month after the city’s COVID-19 risk level was lowered. 

But, on Monday morning, many of the students who filed into Juneau Douglas High School Yadaa.at Kalé still wore face coverings. Jowielle Corpuz was one of those students. 

“I have a lot of things coming up with the Alaska Association of Student Governments and a few interviews for a summer job,” Corpuz said. “So I have a lot going on right now. I just don’t really want to risk it.”

Corpuz said so far, it looked like about 70% of people in the school were still wearing masks, but she expected people to take them off throughout the day. She said she thought some students might not have known yet that masks were optional.

Both Corpuz and her friend, Sydney Carter, said they were worried that as more people take their masks off, the number of cases of COVID-19 might spike again.

Esteban Demmert, another student headed to class Monday morning, had his mask pulled down to his chin. He said he was looking forward to having a little more normalcy.

“I only brought a mask in case I go anywhere besides here,” Demmert said. “It’s just gonna be good to see people’s faces again.”

A few miles down the road, at Riverbend Elementary School, Principal Elizabeth Pisel-Davis said kindergartners stared at her in amazement that morning as they unloaded from school buses.

“Because I didn’t have my mask on, they were looking at me with these big eyes,” Pisel-Davis said. “I could just hear their thoughts of ‘Woah, that’s what you look like?’” 

By mid-morning, students were running around in gym class, mostly mask-free. Fourth-grader Alani Zeller said she was excited to take her mask off.

“When we were in gym, we would just sweat and then sweat goes into your mask and you have to change it all the time and it breaks so easily,” Zeller said. “I’m kind of fed up about it.”

Other students said they looked forward to eating lunch without plastic dividers between them and their friends. Most of the staff appeared to be maskless too. 

Natalie Ward teaches fourth and fifth grade at the school. She said most of her students weren’t wearing them, but still respected those who were.

“Some of them I feel like I’ve never seen their full face before,” Ward said. “So when some of them were walking in I was like ‘Who is that?!’”

Ward said she was happy to see their faces again too because reading aloud and communicating non-verbal queues had been a struggle with masks on.

Christi Martz, who teaches third grade at Riverbend, is keeping hers on for now.

“You just never know what’s going to happen,” Martz said. “COVID is very good at throwing curveballs.”

Martz said by continuing to cover her mouth and nose, she hopes to protect her child, who is too young to be vaccinated. 

By early afternoon, it was a mixed bag at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School. 

Sixth-grader Ariel Washington said most of the kids in her classes weren’t wearing masks and she wasn’t wearing one either.

“I think the virus is getting better as the days go on, so I’m not wearing it as much,” she said. “Sometimes I used to forget my mask and if I forget it now, it doesn’t really matter.”

Other middle schoolers were still wearing face coverings because they were afraid it wasn’t quite safe yet or because they didn’t want to stand out among their peers.

Masks are expected to remain optional in schools as long as Juneau is at a medium or low risk level.

Second COVID-19 booster shots are now available for certain people in Juneau. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending another shot for those who are immunocompromised or over the age of 50.

People who received their first booster dose at least four months ago are eligible.

To get a second Pfizer or Moderna booster, residents can visit the Juneau Public Health Center every Friday in April. Those shots have also been approved for anyone who received an initial dose and booster from Johnson & Johnson.

To make an appointment, visit the city’s website or call  907-586-6000. Walk-ins can also register on site from 8:30 to 4 p.m. on those days.

First doses and boosters of COVID-19 vaccines are available for anyone age 5 and up at the Juneau airport, Costco Pharmacy, Genoa Healthcare, Juneau Urgent & Family Care, Safeway, and SEARHC.

The Juneau Assembly has made a change to the city’s long range waterfront plan, allowing for the development of a fifth cruise ship dock in town. 

At their regular meeting Monday night, members voted seven to one to modify the plan. 

Prior to the vote, several members of the public testified against the change. Some said that even though the change doesn’t guarantee the construction of a new Norwegian Cruise Line dock, it does set the stage for one.

Juneau resident Laura Stats said she was concerned that a new dock would go against the city’s plan to lower Juneau’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“Given the crisis that our climate is in, unless local government leaders rapidly prioritize serious change in reducing our greenhouse emissions, methane, reducing our carbon footprint at a community level, we’re missing the only opportunity that we have left,” Stats said.

Other residents were worried about the potential for increased traffic downtown, and that not enough feedback had been collected from the public.

Assembly member Christine Woll proposed the amendment. She explained her reasons behind the changes at the meeting.

“I was afraid that if this ordinance passes, that people would take it to mean that a cruise ship dock being built at the cruise ship dock at the sub port was a foregone conclusion,” Woll said.

Woll said she wanted to make it clear that the assembly would continue to consider community input before moving forward with another dock. 

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said she was concerned they were putting the cart before the horse by taking another step toward a new dock without fully considering the pulse of the community.

“I ask myself what is the rush here,” Hughes-Skandijs said. “From Norwegian’s perspective, I understand entirely, and I appreciate their desire to build and begin, but we’re not here to represent Norwegian’s interest. We’re here to represent the entire community’s interests.”

Hughes-Skandijs was the only member to vote against the change.

The Juneau School District has chosen Shawn Arnold to be the next principal of Thunder Mountain High School. Arnold is the current director of student services for the school district. In that role, he manages the district’s special education program as well as counseling and student activities. 

KTOO’s Bridget Dowd sat down with Arnold to find out what he plans to accomplish in this new role. 

Listen here:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Bridget Dowd: So, let’s start out with some of your experience in education. This was your first year with the Juneau School District. What did you do before this?

Shawn Arnold: Before coming to Juneau, I was a superintendent for three years in Valdez, Alaska. Prior to that, I was superintendent for the school district up in Nome, Alaska. And then prior to that, I was a teacher, principal and district administrator in Mat-Su. And that’s where I kind of spent most of my education career.

Bridget Dowd: How would you say those roles have prepared you for this position?

Shawn Arnold: I think I was a good principal. I moved into the district office and oversaw several other principals and some of the high schools in Mat-Su. I learned a lot. As the years went by, I just had more and more experiences on all aspects there of our student learning and district operations, how all the pieces in the education system kind of fit together. I understand from a school standpoint, how it fits into the larger role and goals of a school district, how the schools that feed into, you know, a higher level of school — so, how the middle schools impact the high schools with what they’re doing and how they fit together. I’ve just grown in my experience. I still have a lot more to learn. We’re always learning. But I feel like everything has kind of prepared me for this.

Bridget Dowd: Do you have any kids enrolled in JSD?

Shawn Arnold: No, no kids. My wife is a teacher here. She’s an elementary teacher, and it’ll be great to be able to be on a similar schedule as my wife, too. It’s been a long time since we’ve had the same schedules. 

Bridget Dowd: How much time have you spent inside Thunder Mountain High School, and how familiar are you with those students?

Shawn Arnold: My office and my department is located at Thunder Mountain, and so I’ve had really a great opportunity over this last school year. You know, every day, I’m in the building. I’ve gotten to know the staff and the students, and that was part of me that, you know — what attracted the position is I was familiar with it. And I thought that I’d love to be a part of that team. And I’d love to be part of that school. It’s a great school, and it was something I just wanted to jump into and be a part of.

Bridget Dowd: I know you had a chance to talk to parents and other stakeholders throughout the hiring process for this position. What kinds of concerns have you heard from them, and how do you plan to address those?

Shawn Arnold: One of the concerns that parents have is staff shortages. Not that we have shortages in the building now, but they’re worried about the trend of teachers leaving the profession and they want assurance in making sure that we have the best teachers in the building for their kids. As the building principal, it’s something that’s going to fall on me to make sure that we support the teachers that are there. But when we do have openings, to make sure we get the best ones available and get them in the classrooms.

Bridget Dowd: I spoke to a Thunder Mountain teacher last week. She talked about how difficult COVID-19 has been for families and school staff alike. Do you have any plans for how to strengthen relationships with families and work together on those issues?

Shawn Arnold: Yeah, it’s — it’s been difficult the past two years. In my various roles I see it in the staff, I see it in the kids. I know that it’s been wearing for our parents. Hopefully here soon, we can put much of the impact of the pandemic behind us. The big thing is not necessarily a return to normalcy, but it’s reestablishing those traditions, the things that were successful before. Part of it is school spirit and school pride. We haven’t been able to do assemblies, pep rallies, bringing the kids together, and building on that — allowing them to, kind of, communicate and see each other face to face. Also, there are a few things that we learned during the pandemic, and I know that Thunder Mountain was very successful at, with some blended learning, offering some hybrid options, and some of those we might build upon and kind of keep.

Bridget Dowd: Why did you want to be the principal at Thunder Mountain?

Shawn Arnold: I think, at its essence, it’s working with kids and with teachers. I really enjoyed my time in the classroom. I think I was a pretty good teacher, and I really enjoyed leading buildings before. Being in district administration has been rewarding in its own ways, but I’ve missed my daily interactions with students and staff. Often, you don’t go from superintendent to director to a principal, but it’s [a job] that I’m really happy to do. 

Bridget Dowd: Is there anything else you’d like to say about the position, or that you want the community to know?

Shawn Arnold: I look forward to the opportunity and the trust that’s been given to me to lead Thunder Mountain. It hasn’t been around a whole long time, just over 10 years, but already built kind of a special culture and climate. [I’m looking forward to] expanding on that, and getting the opportunity to make it stronger is just something I’m excited for — jumping into the new school year refreshed and energized. I think it’s gonna be a good time and a good year for everyone.

Bridget Dowd: Alright, that’s Shawn Arnold, the newly appointed principal of Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau. Shawn, thanks so much for taking the time today.

Shawn Arnold: Yeah, thank you!