Education

A bill that would require a longer probationary period for teachers has attracted opposition from labor organizations, who say it’s an attack on job security.

Right now, public school teachers must be employed by a district for three years before they can earn tenure. During that period, teachers can be let go without cause. But after that, school districts must notify teachers and put them on an improvement plan before choosing not to renew their contracts, barring extreme circumstances.

Rep. Tammie Wilson, a Fairbanks Republican, would like to see that probationary period expanded to five years. At a committee hearing for her bill, she

“The reason I brought the bill forward was because I was approached by many superintendents and principals throughout Alaska, who believe that if they had more time to evaluate a teacher, they would have better results,” said Wilson.

Representatives from the Mat-Su School District offered support for the bill, describing the process of terminating a tenured teacher as “relatively impossible.”

Wilson also said her intent is to give teachers more time to develop their skills before districts have to decide whether to keep them on and grant them tenure, or terminate them.

“We want to be fair to the teacher and make sure that they have had time to get their feet on the ground and be effective,” said Wilson. “I don’t think this is about keeping ineffective teachers longer. I think it’s actually giving them more time what they really are capable of.”

But teachers’ unions from across the state questioned that logic. They called in to say that the bill isn’t about accommodating educators, but rather an attack on job security.

Joe Boyle is the president of the Mat-Su Education Association, and he says the change would make it harder for the state to attract teachers.

“For five years, you’ll have no job protection,” testified Boyle. “If an administrator needs to make room for a friend of family member, you’re gone. If you ask too many questions as a staff meeting, you’re done.”

The bill is being held in committee for more testimony.

 

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Tenure Bill Rankles State Teacher Unions

The University of Alaska says the low level of usage of the Bill Ray Center does not justify holding onto the property.

The University announced earlier this week that they’re accepting purchase offers on the downtown F Street building and nearby parking lot until April 22nd.

Kate Wattum, spokesman for the University of Alaska system, says disposal of the underutilized Bill Ray Center is part of the University of Alaska Southeast’s master plan.

And within that campus plan, it came up from students, faculty, and staff that the location of the Bill Ray Center and utilization of the building wasn’t as cohesive with the campus as it could be.”

Wattum says they won’t be losing any of the facility functions or classes with the possible sale of the building. Any existing classes will simply be moved to the main UAS campus at Auke Lake or Auke Bay.

The building built in 1976 is 22,000 square feet while the parking lot across the street is 38,000 square feet. The University says they intend to sell the property as-is, and “at or above fair market value”.

Keith Gerken, director of facilities services for the University of Alaska Southeast, recalls that the building was built in two phases and it was originally designed to include primarily classrooms with offices added over the years. But at least three classrooms, a specialty use room, and a nursing lab are only partly or sporadically occupied now. Most administration personnel who had offices in the Bill Ray Center have since relocated back to the Auke Bay area at the old Horton Hardware building.

About five- or six-years ago, at least half of the building was office space that basically got pushed out of the campus to make room for other things like a larger cafeteria. Administrative services people used to be in the Mourant Building, and they put them downtown because it was a space that was available and it made the cafeteria bigger. It was kind of a surge space for campus, and now we’ve sort of surged back the other way and moved those functions back out to campus.”

The University’s career education and the nursing program currently use the Bill Ray Center. Staff and faculty with offices currently in the building would likely be relocated to the Auke Lake campus or the Tech Center on the downtown waterfront across from Juneau-Douglas High School.

Gerken says the Bill Ray Center is in above-average condition with no major flaws, and it features a recently-upgraded dual-fuel interruptible boiler system.

He estimates that the operation and maintenance of the building, including fuel, costs about $40,000 a month. That would not automatically translate into equivalent savings upon sale of the building since a potential increased use of Auke Lake classrooms could incur additional expense. Relocation of the nursing program may also require additional renovation to an existing classroom space.

We tend to have more general purpose classrooms, in total, than we actually need. For the last decade, most of the growth in student hours has been in distance student hours as opposed to face-to-face student hours. Our growth has not generated the need for more general purpose classrooms and we don’t see it changing in the future. Some of those classrooms we can do without entirely and we’d be fine. Those classes (at the Bill Ray Center) can easily fit in the classroom space that we have at the Auke Bay and Auke Lake campus.”

Part of the second floor of the Bill Ray Center is also used by the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Cooperative Extension Service which could be forced to look for a new location under a new owner.

The Bill Ray Center is up for sale.

The University of Alaska is soliciting offers on the downtown property that includes the classroom and office building on F Street and the parking lot across the street. The properties will be sold together; They will not be sold separately.

In a short notice published online on Monday, the University says they intend to sell the property as-is, and at or above fair market value.

The two-story Bill Ray Center includes 22,000 square feet while the parking lot is about 38,000 square feet, or 1.56 acres total in a Light Commercial Zone.

The CBJ Assessor’s database lists the building as being constructed in 1976.

University officials were unable to immediately comment or answer questions about the sale.

Offers are due by April 22nd.

It’s no secret that Alaska has one of the highest rates of suicide in the country.

While it strikes some populations more than others, just one suicide often results in another. According to the Centers for Disease Control, youth who are exposed to suicide or suicidal behaviors are more at-risk for attempting suicide.

The Juneau School District is implementing a new program, called Sources of Strength, which helps connect students with trusted adults as well as build multiple sources of support for youth.

Training started last week for middle and high school students, with Executive Director of the program, Mark LoMurray.

“How many of you have had a friend that’s been suicidal?” he asked the teenagers and adults sitting in a big circle on the JDHS auditorium stage. About half the hands went up.

“I’m just going to have you break out into some groups and I want you to put down all the stuff that gives you strength,” LoMurray said, as he handed out poster-sized sheets of white paper to the groups.

Students spent a few minutes brainstorming then compared notes. Many were similar to this list:

“We have friends and family, and traveling and writing; journaling is sometimes helpful. And reading, drawing, eating food, watching TV, exercising.”

The exercise is one of several used this day to start students thinking about factors that could lead to suicide and the strengths they have to guard against it. Life skills, LoMurray said.

Sources of Strength began when he was working on rural North Dakota Indian Reservations, where the suicide rate was high.

“And one of the things we found is we need to have peer leaders involved and we also need to have a strength-focused approach,” he said.

Now Sources of Strength is in schools, universities and communities throughout the U.S. and Canada. It’s been adopted by the Tanana Chiefs Conference and is being used in some Interior Alaska villages.

LoMurray said teens can spread a positive message with their peers in a way adults can’t, whether it’s on Facebook, going into a classroom, or just hanging out.

That’s one of the reasons JDHS principal Ryan Alsup has embraced the program.

“They see things in the hallway that we as adults don’t necessarily see. They also see kids in a social setting and they’re also the first to notice when somebody becomes more withdrawn from their group,” Alsup said. “To me the beauty of the Sources of Strength program is that it’s student centered and not adult centered. We can do a lot of talking at kids, but kids talk amongst themselves.”

The youth and teachers train together. They were selected by school staff and represent a cross-section of the student bodies from Dzantiki Heeni Middle School as well as Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain and Yaakoosge Daakahidi high schools.

JDHS English teacher Tonya Mosher has taught for 16 years. She said it was easy to agree to take part.

“As an adult that kids come to, I’m often trying to get them connected with other people to help, so this just seemed like a natural fit,” Mosher said.

Dressed in a pressed blue shirt, tie and argyle vest, freshman Brian Holst says he wants to help students who need a hand up, “so they know where to go to find those people that want to help them.”

While it’s dress-up day for Holst and his friends, Makelini Mausia looks more comfortable in sweatshirt and jeans. The JDHS freshman has Tongan roots and knows the value of family as a source of strength.

“I’m kind of proud that I was recommended because I do kind of try to help people that are in trouble and I do have some friends that are,” she said.

Ati Nasiah will serve as an adult advisor from Juneau’s AWARE Shelter. She said AWARE will bring in experts on teen dating violence, domestic violence and other issues. The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is also involved.

Nasiah calls Sources of Strength an empowerment program for teens “providing opportunities for youth to know they’re powerful agents of change to really change the school climate.”

JDHS senior Esra Siddeek has just a couple of months left in high school. She knows the program will help equip her for college next year, where life will be even more complicated.

“It’s definitely a huge thing we could do for our community and school,” she said.

It will take about three years to implement the Sources of Strength program in the Juneau School District, with new students trained every year.

Hilary Young will head it up. She works for Juneau Youth Services, which already offers the Signs of Suicide educational curriculum in the high schools.

Young says Sources of Strength doesn’t stop at school; to be successful youth must hear “the same message when they go to soccer practice with (CBJ) Parks and Rec, you know, or when they are playing baseball, or whether they’re at youth group, or culture club, or whatever it is, these messages are getting reinforced across the community.”

Teenagers from across the state were in Juneau this week, pushing lawmakers to adopt legislation that promotes local food production and provides better food security for Alaskans.

The Alaska Youth for Environmental Action also handed out the group’s annual “Legislators of the Year” awards Thursday at a barbecue across the street from the Capitol building.

On a bright, sunny day in the Capital City – perfect barbecue weather, except for the strong winds gusting down Main Street – the 20 delegates to the AYEA Civics and Conservation Summit huddled around the grill to stay warm.

As fresh Alaska king salmon sizzled nearby, 17-year-old Paige Krichbaum said there should be more food made in the state.

“We import a lot of carrots and potatoes – a lot of root-type of things – that we can make ourselves,” Krichbaum said.

Each year, AYEA focuses on four pieces of legislation for the organization’s Juneau fly-in. The delegates work in teams to research bills or resolutions, and meet with lawmakers to push the group’s legislative agenda.

Krichbaum worked on a resolution that calls for a state working group to explore ways to improve food production in Alaska.

“In the Mat-Su Valley they have a lot of rich soil and such a long day that we can plant a lot of things in there,” she said. “So, really local food should be a really big thing here.”

Krichbaum is a senior at Bartlett High School in Anchorage. She also works part-time at a bakery, and plans to enter the culinary arts program at the University of Alaska Anchorage after graduation. Local food is very important to her.

“That’s really what our thing is here this year, is to promote local food and have a local food future for Alaska,” Krichbaum said.

Three of AYEA’s legislative priorities this year deal with food issues. The fourth – House Bill 96 – would ban toxic chemicals in children’s toys sold in the state. Togiak High School junior William Kohuk promoted that legislation in meetings with lawmakers.

“I’m pretty worried about babies who are teething,” Kohuk said. “They’re, like, sucking these toxic chemicals, and like sucking them into their bodies.”

Kohuk says nearly 20 other states have passed legislation similar to HB 96.

“And why hasn’t Alaska banned these toxic chemicals? That’s a question I’m going to ask my Representative Bob Herron today,” he said.

Five lawmakers received Legislator of the Year awards from AYEA this year. The recipients include Senator Bill Wielechowski and Representatives Paul Seaton, Scott Kawasaki, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, and Geran Tarr.

Because of a House floor session, only Senator Wielechowski was able to attend the awards presentation. It’s the second year in a row the Anchorage Democrat has been honored by the young environmentalists.

“I don’t get too many awards from the big corporations,” Wielechowski said. “But I’m happy to have them from the kids who are the future of our state.”

Wielechowski was given the award for sponsoring Senate Bill 6, an effort to provide more funding to school meal programs in Alaska. It’s currently stalled, as the Republican-led Senate majority focuses on oil taxes, energy, and issues like school choice or vouchers.

But Wielechowski says it remains one of his top legislative priorities, and he thinks the teens of Alaska Youth for Environmental Action are great advocates for the bill.

“Great questions, really, really paying attention, really concerned about the future of our state, concerned about feeding kids,” Wielechowski said. “And I was very impressed. I’ve always been very impressed with them.”

This is the 13th year AYEA has held its Civics and Conservation Summit in the Capital City. The organization formed in 1998. All of its members are between 13 and 18 years old.

Blinking lights and pink umbrellas will be on display Thursday night at the Goldtown Nickelodeon as students in the Juneau School District’s CARES program show off their work.

CARES allows students who have fallen behind on graduation credits to take alternative classes after school.

It often partners with the Juneau Economic Development Council’s STEM education program, short for Science Technology Engineering and Math.

It’s 5 o’ clock on a weekday afternoon, and about a dozen students are spread out at workstations in a large classroom at the Marie Drake building. Some are soldering wires together. Others are using hot glue guns to attach LED lights to their projects. A few more sit at laptop computers writing code that will make the lights blink on and off.

Yaakoosge Daakahidi Alternative High School sophomore Lexi Nelson works with a bright pink umbrella adorned with various shades of electro luminescent wire.

“I’m zip tie-ing my battery pack on the inside of my umbrella, so when I twirl it and stuff it doesn’t fall out,” Nelson says.

Her partner, Alexa Adelmeyer, sews the brightly colored EL wire to her umbrella. They plan to use them in a dance routine as part of the final project presentation.

A junior at Juneau Douglas High School, Adelmeyer admits she used to struggle in class.

“I just wasn’t motivated,” she says. “But this year has been a lot better. I have a 4.0 [GPA].”

Adelmeyer says the CARES program has improved her study habits. The classes are also more hands on and project oriented than regular school.

“Not all in the book and a bunch of homework and a teacher just blabbing at you,” Adelmeyer says.

Students can only get into CARES when they fall behind on their regular coursework. The program acronym stands for Credit Achievement Recovery & Employability Skills. Josh Deutsch is a Student Advocate with the Juneau School District. He’s part instructor, part CARES program recruiter.

“These are students that for one reason or another haven’t succeeded completely in their regular school classes,” Deutsch says. “So we like to give a little extra engagement, a little extra support if they need it in getting re-engaged. That’s our key goal is getting these kids re-engaged in regular school.”

Deutsch says the Juneau Economic Development Council’s STEM education programs are a near perfect fit for CARES’ mission. The students in this class are trying to recover physical science credits needed to graduate. But rather than focus solely on science, Deutsch says they tweaked it slightly.

“We added an ‘A’ in it like some people do. So, it’s STEAM education and that just adds Arts in there,” he says.

Thunder Mountain High School Arts Teacher Heather Ridgway is assisting with the CARES class. She says it’s important for the students to learn about electricity and other physics concepts. But it’s equally important for them to produce something that shows what they learned.

“They get an idea, and then they have to figure out how to make it work,” Ridgway says. “They get to apply what they learn about circuitry to a direct ambition and come out with an end product that they’re proud of.”

Luis Lamas is a junior at JDHS, who’s about a semester behind in science credits for graduation. He says he learned about ohms and resistance and other electrical concepts in previous physics classes. But they didn’t stick until he had to learn them for the CARES project.

“Some of the things I’ve learned in this class, I’ve kind of flashed back that I could have learned in my other physical science class,” says Lamas. “Having to be here the whole time from 4-7:30 p.m. just kind of made me want to pay attention so I wouldn’t have retake any more classes.”

Lamas and his partner are making a backdrop for the final project presentations. It’s a model of a circuit board mounted on a giant piece of cardboard, with LED lights and EL wire that will light up throughout the show.

“It kind of represents what we were doing in this class by using electricity and art to show other people what we do,” he says.

The CARES class project presentations are open to the public Thursday from 5 to 6:15 at the Goldtown Nickelodeon.