Jamie Diep

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Learning a language is hard. Learning a language without a teacher regularly checking in is even harder.

But this year, Kake City School District students got the chance to learn Lingít while creating multilingual poems that give people a glimpse of where they come from.

“I am from the air — daséikw. Salty — li.éil’,” reads third-grader Jessica Padgett. “Like summer. Like fish — xáat. Cold winter, like ice water — si.áat’i héen.”

Switching between English and Lingít, Padgett describes some sights and tastes of Kake in a poem about where she’s from.

This is part of “Stories of Kake,” a project where students from preschool to high school develop literacy skills in English and Lingít through storytelling.

Poems include descriptions of Kake through the five senses, including wildlife and food.

Third-grader Robert Wooten wrote about black bears in his part of the poem.

“I am from black bears —  s’eek,” he reads. “They’re always by my creek. They are big. They are black. t’ooch’ yáx̱ yatee. They eat coho — l’ook. They eat humpies —  cháas’.”

These poems and more will be featured in a community event and an episode of “A Piece of Kake,” a podcast that features stories and culture of the people in Kake.

“Stories of Kake” began as a grant funded project to improve literacy for preschoolers in Kake, but it expanded to teach elementary and high school students Lingít through storytelling and poetry.

X̱’unei Lance Twitchell is an Alaska Native language professor at the University of Alaska Southeast. He’s the main language teacher for the project. Twitchell said he hopes to give students the skills to speak Lingít more in the community.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to share these words with each other and start communicating in the language with the language to one another, as we sort of try and create a transformation, where you create generations that just use the language more,” he said.

Padgett and the other students said their favorite part of the project was learning more Lingít. Padgett said they learned by making up movements for different words.

“We had music on and we just made up movements, and she said a word in Lingít and English, and we had to do the movement and walk around and do the movement,” Padgett said.

Ryan Conarro is one of the project leaders. He said having Twitchell there means he and classroom teachers are able to learn the language with the students.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm in this school district for Lingít language, for project based learning. Lot of the classrooms have posters on the wall with Lingít language vocabulary, that the teachers are motivated and they also are looking for support,” he said. “And so we’re psyched that this project has provided some of that support, and that Sarah and I both come in and say, ‘Look, we’re like you. We’re also learning, but we’re going to try to be brave, and keep trying.’”

Sarah Campen is the other project leader and co-hosts the “Piece of Kake” podcast. She and Conarro are learning Lingít together alongside teachers and students with the project as Twitchell teaches the language. Campen said learning, making mistakes and improving together with students makes them more willing to try and improve. She said that’s shown in the podcast.

“One of my favorite pieces, is two students working with X̱’unei and working with Ryan, and saying some words over and over again, and just trying and practicing and not getting it quite right, but practicing and just seeing that evolution over time is so fun, because eventually we get better,” Campen said.

Kake City School District will hold the showcase at the school this Wednesday at 3:15. Campen said the podcast episode “Goodáx Xát Sáyá? / Where Am I From?” is expected to come out on the same day.

Correction: this story has been updated with the correct spelling of certain Lingít words.

The next season of the PBS KIDS show “Molly of Denali” will be the last for the foreseeable future. 

The team behind the award-winning children’s TV show will stop working on new content. Molly of Denali is widely celebrated in Alaska because it features an Alaska Native lead character and showcases Indigenous culture.

This comes as the Trump Administration is cracking down on federal funding for NPR and PBS. But Alaska State Writer Laureate Vera Starbard, who is a writer and story editor for the show, said that’s not the full story.

While she and other writers knew the decision was in the works before the presidential election last year, she said they didn’t get the official announcement until last week. And she said she doesn’t think there’s just one reason for the decision.

“What I don’t want is for a show this great and this exceptional to be put into this very polarized political lens of ‘it’s x person that did it. It’s this x action that did it,’” she said. “It’s actually a lot of sort of typical television reasons combined with, ‘yes, I do think [the] funding atmosphere that has been tough for a while, political atmospheres, those all for sure contribute to the much bigger reasons.”

This isn’t the end for the show though. GBH produces “Molly of Denali.” In an email, a spokesperson wrote that there’s still another season that will air, but that PBS KIDS is not commissioning another season of the show.

“Molly of Denali” premiered in 2019 and was the first nationally distributed children’s program to feature Indigenous main characters. The show won its first Emmy Award earlier this year for an episode written by Juneau resident X̱’unei Lance Twitchell. He and Starbard are among several Alaska Native writers who contributed to the show during its run. 

Starbard said the news is bittersweet.

“It was just sort of a mix of emotions, hearing about it, being proud that we accomplished this thing all together, at the same time knowing it’s potentially over,” she said.

PBS confirmed new “Molly of Denali” episodes will continue to air through the next year and beyond. The show’s library of episodes, podcasts and games will still be available to people in the coming years.

A proposal that would create and fund tribally-run public schools inched closer to reality on Thursday. The House Tribal Affairs Committee moved House Bill 59 over to the Education Committee. 

If the Alaska Legislature passes it, five tribes would get close to $17.5 million for the first year to run pilot programs for tribally-compacted schools across the state. Despite the short amount of time left in this year’s legislative session and a nearly $2 billion deficit in the budget, bill authors and supporters are hopeful the program will happen eventually.

Mischa Jackson is a tribal education liaison for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She said she hopes public support during the legislative process highlights the importance of kickstarting the program sooner.

“I am really hopeful. I think I’m just so passionate about education,” Jackson said. “I truly believe anything is possible, especially as an educator, we can seem to do anything on a whim’s notice and get it done and do it really well.”

Jackson said Tlingit and Haida will move forward with plans for its own education campus even if the Legislature doesn’t approve tribal compacting this year.

The House Tribal Affairs Committee updated the bill with an amendment to shorten the timeframe of the project from Rep. Rebecca Schwanke, R-Glennallen, and sent it to the House Education Committee for consideration.

Rep. Andi Story, a Juneau Democrat, is on both committees and laid out next steps.

“We’d like to bring in some of the school districts from the area where the tribal schools will be, and just talk about issues, about how it will affect districts and if anything should be done,” she said.

Joel Isaak is a consultant for tribal compacting with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. He said the state and tribes will continue working on the program even if the bill doesn’t pass this year.

“We’re hoping the Legislature will keep this moving forward, and we’re also willing to keep working at this to make it be the bill that it needs to be – which we feel very strongly, that this bill takes us there, and that the Legislature can keep supporting this effort,” he said.

Washington is the only state that has tribally-compacted public schools. The New Mexico Legislature also passed a bill to create education compacts that was vetoed by its governor last month.

House Bill 59 is expected to be heard by the House Education Committee next Wednesday.

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Families, community members and dogs in superhero costumes gathered on the Airport Dike Trail in Juneau on a rare sunny Saturday morning. 

The Southeast Alaska Family Evaluation – or SAFE – Child Advocacy Center, Juneau Animal Rescue and AWARE, a nonprofit supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence, set up tents by the trail, handing out dog treats, bubbles and capes for their first Superhero Walk.

Six-year-old Rex Reid was at the event dressed in a Spiderman and T. rex costume.

“I was supposed to be Spider Rex, but my T. rex mask is kind of lost,“ he said.

The superhero walk is part of the three nonprofits’ effort to raise awareness on different types of abuse. It’s a lighthearted event that celebrates how anyone can be a superhero when it comes to preventing child and animal abuse. Reid said he lost his dinosaur mask, but he was still having a great time hanging out with the animals.

“I’ve been able to pet the dog,” Reid said. “I also gave some treats.”

The effort comes as state funding for child advocacy centers, or CACs, is on the chopping block while the Alaska Legislature considers how to resolve a nearly $2 billion deficit in the budget.

Jenny Weisshaupt is the program manager for the SAFE Child Advocacy Center in Juneau. It’s one of 19 developing or established CACs in Alaska. She said state funding for CACs used to come from a federal source that’s not available next year. For the past decade, the state used federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money to fund CACs, but an audit last year put a temporary end to that. A federal grant to expand rural services ends this year too.

Now the Legislature has to decide whether to add their funding to the state budget.

“We were told that everything this year is going to be decided at the very end of session in a conference committee, and then up to the governor to decide what will be funded,” Weisshaupt said.

She said the changes mean Alaska’s CACs will be down $5.5 million if the state doesn’t fill the gap. So far this legislative session, lawmakers have added that money and taken it out of the proposed budget for the next fiscal year. It’s currently not in the latest draft budget. 

On top of that, the amount they receive in federal funding from the Victims of Crime Act is up in the air.

“It’s constantly, for years at the federal level, a question of whether that funding is stable for states,” Weisshaupt said.

She said the Juneau center has a small $75,000 grant meant to increase training and outreach across Southeast Alaska that can be put toward operations if state funding falls through. But it’s not enough to keep the center running as is.

She said that’s critical to the safety of one of the state’s more vulnerable populations. Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows Alaska has one of the highest rates of reported child abuse and neglect in the country and consistently outpaces the national average. 

If child abuse happens, or is suspected, the centers do everything from medical exams and mental health counseling to advocating for children through the life of a case. Staff work on a multidisciplinary team with members from the Office of Children’s Services, law enforcement, medical professionals, lawyers and more.

A major role of CACs is to do forensic interviews to confirm if a child has been abused. But not just anyone can do forensic interviews. Weisshaupt said the skill requires years of training that others may not have the time to dedicate.

Matt Dubois is the investigations commander for the Juneau Police Department and sees their value. He said it would be “devastating” for police without the work CACs do.

“The absence of CAC means children might have to endure multiple interviews with different agencies, which is not only emotionally distressing, but can also undermine the integrity of the evidence in these investigations,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Chaudhary said the forensic interviews CACs provide are important when it comes to prosecuting people while avoiding traumatizing children.

“With the CACs, that’s a good way to get that evidence, to get that video testimony to be able to play in court, so that child victims don’t have to come in and re-go over every single thing that they’ve had to talk about already before and go through all of that trauma again,” Chaudhary said.

She said CACs are a neutral space where interviewers can talk to children in a safe space away from other influences, like family members or law enforcement officers. She said adults around children may intimidate them.

Despite the uncertainties, Weisshaupt said she is hopeful the state will fund CACs. 

“I know what the government’s thinking and considering right now, but this is a cost that I just don’t see them not funding,” she said. “So I have confidence that someone’s going to figure out how to fund child advocacy centers in some way.”

The legislative session ends May 21, when lawmakers must pass a balanced budget or face a state government shutdown.

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More than 100 parents, children, lawmakers and advocates carried signs and babies outside the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday. They were asking the Legislature to prioritize child care funding.

The rally comes after the Alaska Senate cut more than $13.8 million in child care funding from the budget.

Hannah Weed is raising two children and runs Tumbleweeds, a licensed child care facility in Juneau. She said the only way she could afford taking care of her younger child was to start a business providing child care to others at the same time.

“I can’t actually afford to stay home with him, but I don’t have anywhere to send him,” Weed said. “So thankfully, I have experience working with children, and that route worked for me. But it doesn’t work for everybody.”

Child care is part of a long list of cuts as the Senate works on drafting their version of a budget that balances a nearly $2 billion deficit. Advocates also pushed for supporting several bills to bolster several early childhood education and development programs.

Blue Shibler is the executive director for the Southeast Alaska Association for the Education of Young Children. She’s advocated for child care support for years. She said it’s legislators’ job to look for ways to make money to fund child care, like through taxes.

“Parents are tired of having to, like, sing for their supper,” Shibler said. “We shouldn’t have to beg and plead for these things. They’re just basic things that every family needs to thrive in a state.”

At a Senate Majority press conference after the rally, Fairbanks Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel said she agrees with rally-goers on the importance of child care, but the state can’t afford to fund it.

“The problem is we don’t have any money. We’ve had to make serious cuts. And child care funding is one of them,” she said.

Giessel added that advocates shouldn’t give up as the Senate finds other ways to drum up revenue for the state.

“We’re not at a fiscal cliff anymore. We’re actually falling over the cliff,” she said. “And so what we’re trying to do is be creative, to find new ways and yet not place burdensome taxes on Alaskans that are struggling and businesses that are struggling.”

The Legislature is required to pass a balanced budget by the end of the session or face a state government shutdown. The last day of session this year is May 21.

A crowd of teachers filled the Thunder Mountain Middle School library earlier this month. 

Dressed in Juneau Education Association t-shirts and vests, they voiced their misgivings to the school board about contract negotiations.

Deborah Rakos has taught at the district for 25 years. She said the district’s proposed pay scale is divisive and favors certain levels of experience.

“I’m looking at bringing home less money next year,” Rakos said. “In the meantime, the cost of living in Juneau continues to rise, and we all need to be able to pay our bills.”

Johnson Youth Center teacher Janette Gagnon said she’s now finding it difficult to recommend prospective teachers work for the district.

“If negotiations continue to drag out this time and again next time my faith in the district is getting shattered,” she said.

Electra Gardinier sat in front of board members with a two-month-old baby on her hip. She and her husband are both teachers raising three children. She said the low pay and high cost of living in Juneau means her husband needs to work a second job to make ends meet.

“Three nights a week, he works 13-hour days so that we can do extravagant things like pay for our health insurance,” she said.

They’re pushing the district for better pay and benefits against a backdrop of uncertain state funding. 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a bill that increased the state’s per-student allocation by $1,000, and the Legislature is considering several other school funding bills. 

School funding in Alaska hasn’t gone up significantly since 2017. Because of this and other budget issues, the district consolidated its middle and high schools last year to make up for an almost $10 million deficit. 

The initial proposals from the union and district have some major differences when it comes to salaries and health insurance contributions. The district is budgeted for a 2.5% increase to salaries for the first year of the contract. The proposal also includes a 1.5% increase in the second year in addition to a 1% retirement plan match. Both of those increases also include step and lane movement. The union is asking for 10% each year.

The district is also flat funding health insurance contributions for the next two years. Meanwhile, JEA is asking for the district to cover 85% of annual premiums. Right now, educators have a few options for health insurance plans, including an employer-compensated option that is free. 

Superintendent Frank Hauser wrote in an email that state funding controls how much the district can offer in salaries and benefits. He said the district estimates JEA’s proposal will cost $30 million over two years versus the district’s $2.2 million proposal.

Hauser declined to discuss the terms of contracts outside of the bargaining process, citing negotiation rules signed by both parties.

“We value our teachers and the vital role they — and all staff — play in student success, and we remain committed to working through the formal negotiation process to reach a fiscally responsible and sustainable agreement,” Hauser wrote.

Now the negotiations have passed the two month mark. JEA president Chris Heidemann said in an interview with KTOO they haven’t made progress with the district, despite counteroffers from both sides. He said the district refuses to negotiate individual financial elements within the contract proposals.

“We’re ready to bargain,” he said. “They’re just not working with us.”

Heidemann said there’s a lot of distrust between the union and the district because of a drawn out negotiation cycle for the current contract. 

They reached an impasse during the last negotiation cycle that escalated to teachers working only during the hours they were paid for. 

Heidemann said if negotiations don’t progress, he fears teachers may go into the next school year without raises.

“There’s a lot of pessimism about that,” he said. “And I think there’s just a lack of trust between teachers and the district administration right now.”

Heidemann added that a combination of flat funding from the state and poor budget management from the district resulted in a concerning contract proposal.

“They chose to attack our health plan, and if we take $0 in additional health care contributions, that means that everybody who gets insurance through us next year will take home less pay,” Heidemann said.

Contract negotiations depend on how much money the district has. Its budget for next year relies on a $400 increase in per-student funding. But that’s not guaranteed after Dunleavy’s veto.

While there are several bills that would increase district funding, Heidemann is concerned that another year without additional state money could lead to another year of staffing cuts the district can’t handle.

“We’re down to the point now where if we keep having to cut, we’re just not going to be able to keep the building safe,” he said. “We are at the bare minimum personnel to keep kids in the buildings going to school.”

The district is also in negotiations with unions for support staff and administrators.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional comment from Superintendent Frank Hauser and to correct language around the district’s initial salary and health insurance proposal.