Beau was adopted from Juneau Animal Rescue in January. The shelter has taken in dozens of pets during the last several weeks. (Katie Anastas/KTOO)
Juneau Animal Rescue has taken in dozens of pets over the last several weeks and is asking Juneau residents to consider adopting them.
Executive Director Samantha Blankenship said 72 animals have been brought to the shelter in the last 50 days.
“We are at cat-pacity,” Blankenship said on Juneau Afternoon. “And we abound with hounds.”
As of Monday, the shelter had 23 cats, seven dogs and two lizards up for adoption. The rescue is also looking for people to foster pets that need additional care before they’re ready for new homes.
Last summer, Juneau Animal Rescue had its highest number of cats in two decades.
“Shelters nationwide are seeing populations soar,” Blankenship said. “So if you’re thinking about adopting, now is the time.”
The shelter will offer half-off adoption fees in April. For cats and dogs, fees include spaying or neutering, microchips and vaccines. Adoption applications are available online.
Tlingit tribal members moved from Auke Bay to the area known as the Juneau Indian Village in the late 1800s. (Photo by Katie Anastas/KTOO)
The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska is one of five tribal organizations to receive a state-tribal education compacting grant.
Education compact agreements allow tribes to develop their own K-12 curriculum and schedule. Unlike charter schools, they’d be independent of existing public school districts. Supporters say tribal schools could help improve educational outcomes for Alaska Native students by providing culturally relevant, place-based lessons.
Last year, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a bill to kick off the multi-year process of creating state-tribal compact schools.
To start, the five selected tribes will work with the state Board of Education to develop their own schools and work on legislation that could make them more widespread. The grant to Tlingit and Haida will fund someone to serve as a liaison to the state board.
Tlingit and Haida President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson spoke in support of the bill to the Senate Education Committee last year.
“The state of Alaska supports local control in many ways, including in education,” he said. “Tribal compacting is the epitome of local control.”
Peterson said the Tribe, which has more than 33,000 enrolled members, has a strong track record of administering programs throughout Southeast Alaska. Tlingit and Haida runs Head Start for kids aged 3 to 5 and offers cultural learning opportunities for public school students of all ages.
The other grant recipients include the Ketchikan Indian Community, King Island Native Community, Knik Tribe and Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope.
The State Board of Education met at the Alaska State Museum on March 16, 2023. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/KTOO)
Alaska’s State Board of Education passed a resolution in favor of banning transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams.
The resolution asks the Department of Education and Early Development to divide sports teams into two categories: instead of boys and girls, there would be one for students assigned female at birth and one open to students of all gender identities.
Senate Education Committee Chair Löki Tobin sent a letter to the board on Monday opposing the resolution, saying it targets an “extremely small number of vulnerable students.”
“I find this divisive, I find this abhorrent, and I find this utterly disappointing,” she said in an interview. “We are watching the Lower 48 culture wars come to Alaska.”
Board member Lorri Van Diest introduced the resolution during a board meeting last week in Juneau. She said it was meant to ensure fairness and safety for cisgender girls.
“It really is impossible to balance the values of competitive fairness, inclusion and safety because they conflict,” Van Diest told the board. “Therefore, one has to prioritize them.”
The board voted to pass the non-binding resolution and send a copy to school districts, legislators and the Alaska School Activities Association Board of Directors. Student advisor Maggie Cothron abstained from voting.
Billy Strickland, ASAA’s executive director, said he only knows of one transgender student athlete who has competed in a state championship in Alaska during his nine years on the job.
Strickland said the association’s current bylaws leave the decision to allow transgender girls to play on girls’ teams up to school districts, as long as they have the policy in writing. For example, the Anchorage School District’s guidelines allow transgender students to participate in sports “in a manner consistent with their gender identity consistently expressed at school.”
Last year, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District approved a policy banning transgender girls from girls’ sports teams.
Strickland said if the state Department of Education changes its regulations, ASAA would follow suit.
“Our basic intent right now is to work with the Department of Education and see what they’re basically planning to do, and then just be ready to for sure be able to change it if need be,” he said.
Alaska Department of Education Legislative Liaison Laurel Shoop said she’s not aware of any new regulations in the works at the department. She said any proposed changes would go through a public hearing process through the state board.
The resolution passed a week after Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced a bill requiring parent permission before students could change their names or pronouns at school and separating bathroom facilities by gender assigned at birth.
Frank Hauser, Carlee Simon and Thom Peck have been named finalists for the Juneau superintendent position. (Photos courtesy of the Juneau School District.)
The Juneau School Board has announced three finalists for the district’s superintendent position.
All three candidates will be in Juneau next week to meet with students, parents and staff.
Frank Hauser has been superintendent of the Sitka School District since the fall of 2020. He announced his resignation last month.
“While I am not sure what the future holds or if I might be called to serve elsewhere, I look forward to spending more quality time with family,” he wrote in a letter to district families.
Hauser was a finalist for superintendent positions in Anchorage last year and Fairbanks earlier this year. He was previously a music teacher and principal in Anchorage, where he was named Alaska’s 2019 Principal of the Year.
Hauser is the only Alaska-based finalist for the job.
Carlee Simon was superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools in Florida for two years, where she defied Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by enforcing a mask mandate in Fall 2021. The school board voted to terminate her contract last March, though according to reporting by WUFT, many members of the public supported Simon. Mildred Russell, a member of the school board appointed by DeSantis, made the motion to terminate Simon’s contract.
Simon founded Families Deserve Inclusive Schools, an advocacy group that calls for adequate education funding and local control of school districts in Florida.
Thom Peck has been superintendent of Lewistown Public Schools in Montana for six years. He was previously superintendent of two other Montana school districts and is president of his region’s superintendents association. He began his career as a science teacher and coach.
“I would like to serve in this position because I desire the challenge of a larger school district with the tremendous diversity that Juneau offers,” he wrote in his online bio.
Peck was named a finalist for the Missoula County Public Schools superintendent position in January. After interviews with the finalists, the school board reopened that search, saying the finalists lacked the right experience.
Hauser, Simon and Peck will visit Juneau next week to tour schools and meet with students, staff and community members. The district will host a public forum on Monday, March 27 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Thunder Mountain High School. The school board will interview the candidates on Tuesday, March 28.
The Alaska Capitol on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (Nat Herz/Alaska Public Media)
Susan McKenzie has declined the role of commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed her to the position at the end of February. He announced Wednesday that she would not accept it.
In a statement, McKenzie said she will continue her work as the director of DEED’s Division of Innovation and Education Excellence.
“Due to personal reasons, I’ve made the difficult decision to decline the offer of position as Commissioner,” she said.
McKenzie did not respond to a request for comment.
The State Board of Education will search for a new commissioner and forward a candidate to Dunleavy for his approval. The new commissioner will replace Heidi Teshner, who has been the interim commissioner since July. The previous commissioner, Michael Johnson, resigned in June.
