Lisa Phu

House Bill 233, also known as Erin’s Law, would require school districts to implement sexual abuse education to public school students. It passed its first hurdle in the Alaska State Legislature Friday.

In another part of the country, the effects of sexual abuse education in schools is already being seen.

After Erin Merryn, the woman behind Erin’s Law, spoke to middle and high school students during a school assembly in Scott City, Kan., last year, five students came forward and disclosed they were victims of sexual abuse.

“Couple of the kids said, ‘Oh my gosh, it was like she was standing up there telling my story,'” said Kelly Robbins, executive director of the Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center. She was at Merryn’s talk.

“We saw the impact of having this knowledge, this education and really bringing it out of the closet. It’s OK to talk about this stuff and it’s OK to tell. As she says, she found her voice. Well, she gave voice to at least five kids,” Robbins said.

Erin’s Law is a bill requiring school districts to implement sexual abuse education to public school students.

After Merryn’s visit to Scott City, sexual abuse education is now being taught in its middle school. But it isn’t required in all Kansas schools, because Kansas hasn’t passed Erin’s Law.

Robbins still hopes it will. She says she couldn’t believe the effect Merryn had on the students in just one hour. And that’s what Merryn is asking for in her law – 1 to 2 hours of sexual abuse education being taught in classrooms every year.

During its first committee hearing in the Alaska State Legislature, Merryn testified before the House Education Committee about her own experience with sexual abuse as a young child.

“Did I have the language to go home and tell my mom as that little 6-year-old what this man had done? No, I didn’t. I didn’t know how to speak up and tell and explain to her or my father what had happened. So I kept it a secret,” she said.

If students aren’t taught in school how to speak up about sexual abuse, Merryn said all they’re left with are messages from offenders to stay silent.

“There are people in the schools where it will cost nothing to educate kids. You have here in Alaska your health teachers. I spoke with the superintendent when I arrived in Anchorage and they’ve been doing this for 15 years in numerous of their schools. The health educators, who are already salaried positions, coming in and teaching the kids this,” Merryn said.

With support from the Department of Education and Early Development, members in the House Education Committee praised Erin’s Law. Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux said the bill is a step in the right direction.

“Kids are taught all the time – beware of strangers, don’t get candy from strangers. And yet, most of this happens within the family and with people that they know. It’s not the boogey man coming out in the middle of the night. It’s somebody that you think is your friend. So I definitely support this bill,” LeDoux said.

Erin’s Law, sponsored by Anchorage Democrat Rep. Geran Tarr, has been referred to the House Finance Committee.

Alaska would be 13th state to adopt Erin’s Law.

The deadline to enroll for health insurance is March 31. If you’re still uninsured after that, you’ll likely not be able to enroll until November. And you’ll also have to pay a tax penalty.

With only four days left, nationwide enrollments have increased. More than 6 million Americans have gotten health insurance under the Affordable Care Act as of Thursday. To maintain the momentum, the Obama administration is reaching out to as many people as possible.

Valerie Jarrett is a Senior Advisor to President Obama. Besides traveling to cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix to talk about the Affordable Care Act, she’s also been given a list of 10 states to call. She says others in the administration have been given similar lists.

“We don’t want to wake up on April 1 and say, ‘Somebody didn’t sign up because they hadn’t heard about this opportunity,'” Jarrett says.

The Obama administration wants to make sure that if you try to enroll for health care by March 31, you will get it, even if you haven’t quite finished the application process.

“This is going to be on the honor system. People who just verify that they began the process, but they haven’t had a chance to finish it yet, will be given a reasonable period of time to complete it. We don’t want to cut people off who are starting the process, particularly because we’ve seen a great increase in the traffic on our website just in the last couple of days,” Jarrett says.

According to Jarrett, 1.5 million people were on the healthcare.gov website on Wednesday. Even with the high traffic, Jarrett says the website is holding up really well, “but as more and more people are on the website, it’s possible that you could have to wait for a bit.”

Within Alaska, enrollment activity has also increased.

With the March 31 deadline just days away, Juneau’s United Way Navigator Crystal Bourland is the busiest she’s been since enrollment started in October.

“I think I’ve enrolled over 20 people at this point just in the last week,” she says.

United Way navigators in Alaska have assisted with more than 500 enrollments. Bourland says the people she’s been helping recently aren’t all procrastinators.

“Some people have just gotten lost in the website and some of the features of the website, or they’re trying to send in supporting documents or people that forgot their passwords two months ago and now are trying to get back in. That’s a big one,” Bourland says. 

At Enroll Alaska, chief operating officer Tyann Boling says staff and agents have been working 12-13 hour days and they’ll be working through the weekend.

“But the appointments are filling up very quickly so people need to call us,” she says.

As of Monday, the health care broker enrolled over 1,900 people. Boling thinks another 200 or more have been enrolled just this week.

The deadline to enroll for health insurance is 8 p.m. Monday. Boling says Enroll Alaska agents will still be available after that for people who may experience a life-changing event.

“Say if they lost a job or they lose coverage or they have a child or they get married – any of these life changing events creates a special enrollment people where they can enroll,” Boling says.

And Enroll Alaska plans to work hard this summer thinking of new ways to reach out to the uninsured for the next open enrollment period in November.

On a sunny but blustery Juneau Thursday, around 150 people gathered and marched down Main Street, including Michael Uddipa, a Thunder Mountain High School varsity basketball player.

“We are a team that chooses respect,” Uddipa said after marching to Marine Park with his team.

Although Gov. Sean Parnell’s Choose Respect campaign is geared towards eradicating domestic violence and sexual assault in the state, Uddipa said there are other ways to embody the message, which he and his teammates learn about from basketball coach John Blasco.

“We go over, like, what we can do if an opposing team tries to start a fight in the game and see which ways we can handle it without using violence. And we talk about how it is appropriate to compliment women and to not say anything too rude,” he says.

Lt. Kris Sell was one of many Juneau Police officers who marched Thursday. She says law enforcement is intricately entwined with domestic violence and sexual assault.

“We respond to so much domestic violence. We’re in the homes. We see the victims. We see the devastated expressions on the faces of the children who have witnessed it. And we watch the multiple generations that suffer when this is going on,” Sell says. 

By participating in the event, Sell hopes to show victims that police officers support them and want to stop the violence.

“This is not okay. We may come from a macho culture but taking domination into the homes is a weak thing to do,” Sell says.

Choose Respect marches took place in more in 170 communities around the state. Throughout the year, these communities are invited to participate in state-sponsored domestic violence and sexual assault webinars that focus on education and prevention.

The Juneau School Board “regretfully” accepted Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich’s resignation at a special meeting Tuesday night. Board members praised his work and condemned some community critics.

School board Vice President Sean O’Brien said he was disheartened at how the community sometimes treated Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich.

“I am embarrassed as a community member to see the degree of personal attacks, unfounded, and mischaracterizations of an individual who is truly so remarkable,” he said.

O’Brien said Gelbrich was criticized in various venues, including school board meetings, for not being invested in the community. He said Gelbrich always took the high road.

Board member Lisa Worl referred to this as Gelbrich’s constant state of professionalism.

“I guess it’s unimaginable to me – not unimaginable, but very impressive. It’s one thing to have a disagreement on a professional level, but it’s another to be taken to task and given personal attacks on one’s character, and that’s really unfortunate and I appreciate your calm and your professionalism on all levels.”

Worl said criticism increased during recent contract negotiations between the district and teachers union. At a board meeting last October, a Juneau teacher said Gelbrich was not a permanent or voting member of the community. Later that same meeting, Gelbrich clarified that he is indeed both.

Worl said, contrary to what community members may have thought, Gelbrich made an effort to become part of the community.

“You have become a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of the Rotary, I think, the Alaska Native Brotherhood,” Worl said to Gelbrich at Tuesday’s meeting.

Gelbrich said being criticized is part of public service, but emphasized the warmth of Juneau, calling it “a community that embraces.”

“There are many, many people in this community and in this school district who have welcomed me into their homes and into their lives and into their families and I’ll be eternally grateful. These are lifelong friends that I’ll have forever,” he said.

Gelbrich joined the Juneau school district as superintendent in 2009. His current contract expires in June 2016.

Gelbrich turned in his letter of resignation two weeks ago, citing “personal and private reasons,” and wrote he did not yet have another job. Since January, Gelbrich was passed up for superintendent jobs in Montana and Idaho. The board clarified that he will not be getting a severance package when he leaves in July.

Gelbrich says he’s proud of the work he’s done with the board, administration and teachers who’ve made the effort to improve education.

School board member Destiny Sargeant praised Gelbrich for his leadership.

“It’s with regret that I will vote to accept your resignation. I think that it’s nothing short of a miracle that with 17 percent budget cuts, we have still managed in spite of it,” Sargeant said. 

Despite consecutive years of budget reductions, the district’s graduation rate has improved during Gelbrich’s term.

With no one from the public offering comment, the board approved the resignation 6-1. Board president Sally Saddler voted no. She said Juneau is letting the best thing that’s ever happened to its students get away.

Juneau’s Choose Respect march starts on the steps of the Capitol Building Thursday at noon.

Revenue Commissioner Angela Rodell leads the march. Other speakers include Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Director Lauree Morton, Sen. Peter Micciche and Rep. Benjamin Nageak.

“People should come out for the march to provide courage for past victims to be able to step out and speak out about this and to also bring light to the issues and that we band together as Alaskans,” says event coordinator Jessy Post. 

From the Capitol Building, the march continues on Main Street and ends in Marine Park. Last year, more than 200 people participated in Juneau’s march.

Gov. Sean Parnell started the Choose Respect campaign in 2009 to help end domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska. Parnell and First Lady Sandy Parnell will lead Valdez’s Choose Respect march on Thursday.

Marches are taking place in about 160 communities across the state.

The Juneau school board voted unanimously to approve a budget that would increase the number of students in a classroom, cut teaching positions, and implement a new elementary language arts curriculum.

During Tuesday night’s special school board meeting at Juneau-Douglas High School, public testimony and board discussion focused once again on the debate over small classes versus new curriculum, a $500,000 line item in the administration’s budget for the 2014-2015 school year.

School board student representative Ruby Steedle said the administration’s budget places more value on curriculum than teachers.

“When I think about all the schools I’ve gone through in the Juneau School District, I don’t think about the textbook we’ve had, I think about the teachers I’ve had. And I understand that a curriculum will help our students. There’s no way to argue that having a curriculum that’s uniform across all the schools in our district won’t make a difference. But I don’t think we should make that choice at the cost of teachers,” Steedle said. 

Stacy Diouf is a special education support teacher who works throughout the district. She supports a new language arts curriculum and said it will reduce the differences in teaching strategy.

“As a result of these differences, for many of our students, their education and academic achievement is inconsistent, which leads to gaps in reading skills, which in turn leads to significant reading problems over time. Many of these students end up in special education because they are so far behind their peers,” Diouf said. 

School board member Phyllis Carlson said the effectiveness of smaller class size is debatable. While the board’s priority is to serve every student, the school district is leaving many behind. A new curriculum, Carlson said, will fix that.

“We’ve heard from many teachers. A lot of teachers who want to wait or aren’t supportive of a curriculum may not have the same high-needs students in their buildings. I’m not sure … Obviously common sense will tell you, if you have a smaller class size, if I have a class of 15, I’m obviously going to have a better relationship and opportunities, but that costs a lot of money and we don’t have that right now,” Carlson said. 

The school district faces a budget shortfall of close to four and half million dollars, partly due to a decline in the number of students and an increase in employee salary and benefits.

School board vice president Sean O’Brien said a new curriculum will help manage bigger classes. He said smaller class sizes did not help a third of the students who are reading below grade level or the 21 percent not graduating

“If what we were doing in the past was effective and it worked, we would not be having the issues that we’re having today – period,” he said.

Several bills before the Alaska State Legislature would raise the base student allocation, which is the amount districts get from the state for each enrolled student.

If pending legislation brings the school district more funding, the administration’s first priority is to still increase the class size, but by fewer students.

(Editor’s note: A reference to a per pupil funding term has been corrected. The term is “base student allocation,” not “Base School Allocation.”)