Education

A popular Juneau-Douglas High School teacher passed away unexpectedly over the weekend.

Forty-two year-old Alison McKenna was found dead in her home Saturday morning.

Juneau police responded to call from a family member at 10:43 a.m. Police say her death is NOT considered suspicious. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

McKenna leaves behind two young children, a son, age 11 and a 9-year-old daughter.

She also touched the lives of hundreds of students over the years. McKenna taught World Literature and Creative Writing at JDHS as well as Writing for Publication. She was advisor to the student publication, The Ego.

In 2006, McKenna helped KTOO launch the high school broadcast journalism program, giving her students the opportunity to report stories for KTOO’s Morning Edition.

McKenna knew the importance of teaching students how to conduct interviews, work with adults, reach out to the community and meet deadlines. She said she wanted her students to be taken seriously and the program inspired them to do quality work.

As a long time educator, friend, teacher and colleague, her loss will be particularly hard on staff and students at both JDHS and Thunder Mountain High School. School district spokeswoman Kristin Bartlett says support is available for students and families at the high schools. While there is no school for students today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday), the high schools are open and counselors will be available to help students during this difficult time.

Two House committees are on their way to rural Alaska to see firsthand how education funds are being spent.

The House Community and Regional Affairs and House Education committees will visit Galena and Koyukuk this week for a glimpse into life in rural Alaska.

Galena is a town of about 500 people on the Yukon River and home to a statewide boarding school and distance education program. Known as IDEA, the Interior Distance Education of Alaska supports home school students throughout the state, including Juneau.

Representative Cathy Munoz chairs the Community and Regional Affairs Committee. She says the committees want to see the results of programs they’re funding.

“We altered the foundation formula in the last legislative session to increase funding for vocational education. We also funded the governor’s scholarship program, so we’re very interested in what school districts are doing to encourage and prepare students to take advantage of that opportunity once they graduate. And then we’re also investing in vocational education infrastructure throughout the state,” Munoz said. “We’re trying to get Alaskans prepared for the jobs that are going to be required as we move forward into the future.”

The lawmakers – from Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Stony River – will also stop in Koyukuk – a village of about 100 on the Yukon River.

Munoz says the committee hopes for a clearer picture of the unique rural subsistence economy, so legislators know better how to support the communities.

A Lemon Creek-area house designed and built by Juneau-Douglas High School students is ready for a family.

An open house was held Friday to show off the 1,000 square foot, two-story, energy efficient home. It was also a thank you to the partners and local businesses that supported the project. Juneau Housing Trust reimburses the school district for its costs.

JDHS students have built about 12 affordable homes since 1973.

Now all this two-bedroom, two-bath house needs is the personal touch, according to Juneau School District Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich.

“I love the design of the house. I think it is a remarkably straight-forward design that is right to be personalized by the people who live here,” Glebrich said during the open house.

The house project is a partnership between the Juneau School District, and Southeast Alaska Guidance Association (SAGA), Juneau Housing Trust, University of Alaska Southeast, Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 262, Southeast Alaska Building Industry Association, and the Juneau Construction Academy.

JDHS teacher Craig Mapes teaches the course, with worksite management and construction assistance by SAGA Construction Manager Justin Fantasia and Americorp’s Jared Wharton.

Parents of Juneau elementary school students have the most confidence in the Juneau School District, according to a survey conducted in May of randomly selected parents.

The survey was presented last night (Thursday) at the second annual School Summit at Thunder Mountain High School. The purpose of the summit was to share student achievement reports and the annual survey.

District Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich said the survey showed elementary parents expressed the greatest confidence, followed by middle school parents, and then high school parents.

“When we asked parents about the confidence not of the district, but of their school, we see a similar pattern, ranging from 83 percent confidence at the high school level, to 91 percent confidence at the elementary level,” Gelbrich said. “When we drilled down even further, and we asked about parents’ level of confidence in their child’s teacher, or in secondary schools’ teachers, the parents surveyed indicated even stronger confidence, ranging from 85 percent at the high school level, up to 93 prcent at the elementary level.

The summit was step two of a three-tiered approach to reviewing Juneau student’s academic performance. Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, results under the federal No Child Left Behind Act were released earlier this month. Gelbrich told the 50 to 60 parents, teachers, and principals gathered in the TMHS auditorium that math scores are trending upward and science scores have reached a four-year best.

“Again, this is State standards. Overall when we look at ‘so how are we doing in relationship to the State of Alaska?’ Juneau School District students out-perform students statewide,” Gelbrich said. “And while we think this is good news, we know that Alaskan standards are, when compared to standards in other states nationwide, relatively low, so we want to set the bar higher.”

Following Gelbrich’s presentation at the School Summit, the audience broke into groups to review each school’s academic performance. Click here to open School Summit presentation (PDF).

Sean O’Brien will run for Juneau School Board as a write-in.

O’Brien filed a letter of intent with the city clerk’s office Thursday afternoon, making his candidacy official.

He previously served one term on the board from 2005 to 2008, but didn’t seek a second for personal and family reasons. He’d planned on running in 2012, but decided to move it up a year when only one candidate – School Board President Sally Saddler – filed to run for two open seats during the just concluded filing period.

“I’m kind of rejuvenated and ready to go, and my kids are a little bit older. So, I’m in a better position to volunteer and serve the community,” he says.

O’Brien grew up in Juneau and now works at the state Labor Department. He and wife Sue have three kids, including two boys still in the school system. One attends Thunder Mountain High School and the other goes to Floyd Dryden Middle School. O’Brien believes the biggest issues facing the Juneau School District right now are the budget and graduation rate.

“Prioritizing and operating as smartly as efficiently as you can and as effectively as you can obviously are critical,” he says. “I guess the other things I would say is the dropout continues to be a challenge and school performance and school engagement for our kids, they’re all kind of interrelated. I think they’re all critical.”

City Clerk Laurie Sica says O’Brien was the only write-in candidate to file a letter of intent as of Thursday afternoon. No one else has indicated a possible run. The deadline to file as a write-in is 4:30 p.m. on September 29th.

The city election is October 4th.

The Juneau School Board last night (Tuesday) delayed action on an update of the district’s search and seizure and student privacy policies.

District Spokeswoman Kristen Bartlett says the board wants to undertake a more thorough review of the proposed changes, which would clarify how school officials handle searches of student belongings, as well as details regarding consent and parental notification.

One notable change from current policy: Student vehicles parked on school grounds would be subject to the same search regulations as lockers, desks, backpacks and other student possessions.

Courts have given districts a lot of leeway to search student belongings on school grounds in order to protect the health, safety or welfare of the school community.

The update would make clear that any search more intrusive than a simple pat down is to be handled by law enforcement, which must obtain a search warrant.

Current policy says, if possible, parents or guardians should be notified before a search. The update adds that if it’s not possible, they should be notified as soon as possible after the search occurs. It also says parents should be informed of the district’s search and seizure and privacy policies annually, at the beginning of the school year.

Bartlett says the school board will revisit the proposed changes in September.

In other news, Bartlett says board members will wait until after this fall’s city election before deciding what to do about a possible vacancy on the board.

The vacancy would occur if no one steps forward to run a write-in campaign. That’s because only one candidate – Board President Sally Saddler – filed to run for two open seats during the just concluded candidate-filing period.

Official write-in candidates must file a letter of intent with the city clerk’s office at least five days before Election Day, or September 29th.

If no one steps forward to run a write-in campaign, the board will have 30 days after Election Day – October 4th – to fill the vacancy. The person selected will serve until next year’s regular election.