Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
04/30/2018 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HR7 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HR 7 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HR 7-SUPPORTING A SAFE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT
8:06:45 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the only order of business would
be HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 7, Recognizing the importance of safe
school environments for students, staff, and their families; and
supporting improvement of school safety measures.
8:07:08 AM
GEORGE ASCOTT, Staff, Representative Harriet Drummond, Alaska
State Legislature, introduced the resolution and advised that HR
7 will help keep school safety at the forefront of education
policy discussions. Children cannot protect themselves, and it
is a fundamental responsibility of society to keep children
safe, particularly when entrusted to our care at school. He
pointed to the committee packets and offered that there are
numerous examples of the types of dangers the state must try to
anticipate and then prepare to prevent or mitigate any
incidents. The packet includes examples of quick thinking and
great selflessness in defense of children.
MR. ASCOTT reminded the committee that on the morning of May 7,
2001, four children at Mountain View Elementary School, in
Anchorage, were stabbed by a man wielding a filet knife. Swift
action by a brave teacher, the Mountain View Volunteer Community
Patrol, and a heroic sixth-grader held the man off until he
could be subdued by a massive response of the Anchorage Police
Department (APD), and all of the children survived.
MR. ASCOTT reminded the committee that in 1998, a gifted boy,
who had been bullied at an Anchorage middle school, attempted to
take his own life and was left permanently brain damaged.
Dennis Maloney, the family's attorney, later spent $30,000 of
his own money to host a nationally recognized anti-bullying
conference in Anchorage.
MR. ASCOTT reminded the committee that in 2015, a Noatak school
worker, Harry Nevack, was hailed as a hero after he disarmed an
upset student who was carrying a rifle and attempting to harm
the school principal.
8:08:45 AM
MR. ASCOTT commented that sometimes the public does not hear
much about positive circumstances, such as in the Fall of 2015
at West High School, APD School Resource Officers were able to
successfully de-escalate a situation in which an armed man was
seeking to enter the school.
MR. ASCOTT commented that Alaskans are ready to do their part to
keep our children safe, and it is important to be vigilant and
resourceful in order to identify any potential problems and find
solutions before tragedy takes place. To that end, he said, the
House Education Standing Committee invited the top education
officials and members of the public from around the state to
update this committee as to their efforts to keep children safe,
and to advise how the legislature may assist in that endeavor.
8:09:48 AM
KAREN GABORIK, Superintendent of Schools, Alaska Superintendent
Association President, thanked Speaker Bryce Edgmon for inviting
the Alaska Council School Administrators to participate in a
public school safety roundtable that took place during a recent
legislative "fly-in." She noted her understanding that this
resolution grew in part from that dialogue, and offered her
appreciation for the comprehensive approach put forth in this
resolution for the security of facilities, community-wide
preventions measures, training for district employees, and
coordination with law enforcement, which are all critical for
any effective school district safety plan. The legislative
appropriation in 2014 for school safety upgrades for districts
was critical for Fairbanks as it used those funds to install
cameras and upgrade the communication systems across the
districts. She advised that those funds paid for hardware and
staffing to install and implement hardware that they otherwise
would likely not have been able to fund. Due to that
legislative support, Fairbanks has systematically addressed
specific gaps across its entire system, although other gaps
continue to exist. In a challenging fiscal climate, limited
resources are almost always prioritized toward teacher staffing
in order to keep class sizes as low as possible. While the
ability of a teacher to nurture their relationships with
students is one way to create a positive school culture and
enhance school safety, it is not the only answer. Teachers
alone cannot meet all of the social/emotional needs of students
today; therefor, counselors, nurses, school psychologists, and
school resource officers are necessary. All educators in the
entire system need training in areas ranging from how to address
adverse childhood experiences, to how to respond in serious
crisis situations, she pointed out.
8:11:53 AM
MS. GABORIK noted that in Fairbanks, it would be most helpful if
a facilities analysis would include: school building needs; what
resources are available; and what would be most effective to
secure all of the schools' exits to make sure that the entrances
to Alaska's school are safe. Schools where the entrance is
located in such a manner that the main office staff is unable to
monitor that entrance in order to maintain security. She
suggested that the security may include door buzzers, cameras, a
formal check-in system, and additional staffing at the school
entrances. Every school administrator in Fairbanks is asking
for more cameras, both interior and exterior, she advised. The
Fairbanks school system has been able to install a minimum level
of security surveillance, but the coverage is not complete, and
it needs to provide anti-harassment and anti-bullying training
for all of the students in the districts. Fairbanks schools
attempted to get at that type of training with Title 1 funds at
the elementary school level, but that is not enough. That
limited funding for Fairbanks effectively reaches approximately
nine elementary schools, with no funding for the middle schools
and high schools. The school districts cannot continue to rely
on federal grants to train a small portion of the students, and
that a systemic approach with adequate resources is necessary,
she stressed. There must be a focus on the secondary school age
children and an investment in district-wide training explaining
how to respond in an active killer situation. In partnership
with the local Fairbanks law enforcement agencies, Fairbanks is
moving forward with Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate
(ALICE) training, and while the hope is that an active killer
situation will never happen in Fairbanks, it is a potential
reality that their school community faced one week ago. On
Friday, she advised, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reported
that on April 20, the day of the nation-wide anti-gun violence
walkouts, in which a few of the high schools participated, a
high school student brought a gun and ammunition onto campus in
his personal vehicle. The student's aunt called the Alaska
State Troopers to report that several guns were missing from her
locked gun safe, she believed her nephew had taken the firearms,
and that something bad would happen due to the events scheduled
at school that day. The Alaska State Troopers responded and
arrested the student and impounded his vehicle, she advised.
8:14:11 AM
MS. GABORIK put forth that there are many things that keep a
school superintendent up at night, the safety of the children
she serves is definitely one of them, and it is especially
stressful not having the resources to do the job as it should be
performed. There are many influences outside of the six hours
each day the students are in attendance that educators cannot
control. This resolution, she stated, will help with policy and
will hopefully also give the school districts the resources to
address the issues that are within their purview. She thanked
the committee for this resolution and that she is hopeful it
will shine a spotlight on what is necessary to proactively
support safe school environments.
8:15:21 AM
DEANNA BECK, President, Alaska Council of School Administrators,
Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals President,
Northwood ABC Elementary School Principal, advised that she
recently she participated in the Anchorage School District
Facility Review and the most important issues include: a
thorough update of the schools, which includes surveillance
systems (indisc.); looking at (indisc.) systems; limiting the
exits and entrances; looking at school renovations, which
include office relocations at the entrances; and possibly
perimeter systems. The over-arching issue taken from the
meeting was to be sure they balanced making schools welcoming
places and that schools are safe. Safety is important in order
for learning to take place and for community members and
students to feel welcome in the schools, but they do not want
their schools to be prisons. Fifty percent of students entering
middle school are survivors of trauma, abuse, neglect, and
household dysfunction. The legislature needs to look at what it
can do to ensure that Alaska's students have the opportunity to
access counselors, social workers, and other mental health
providers, and the state must build schools that prevent any
outside risk and are internally supportive of students
experiencing trauma in their lives, she expressed.
8:18:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked that if as a school administrator
she had complete discretion to spend $300,000 per year, whether
the lives of her students would be better and safer by putting
the money into hard investments, such as fencing, more cameras,
closer access doors; or soft investments like a lower pupil-
teacher ratio or an additional counselor.
MS. BECK answered that currently, she is fortunate to have some
discretionary funds, and she prioritizes having a (indisc.) "at
my school with my Title 1 son. I keep it at .5 already, and
then I fully fund it to a .5. And, I was trying to do
everything I could for next year in order to fully fund a social
worker and I just don't have enough funds to do that." She
explained that her students need those people to make those
connections when they come to school so she would highly support
lower class sizes. During the first semester of this year, she
had up to and over 30 students in her kindergarten through third
grade classrooms. (Indisc.) additional teacher, second semester
the class sizes were reduced to approximately 25 students which
has made a huge difference in the lives of those students, they
are more able to attend to learning because their needs are
being met in making connections with adults. She reiterated
that she does fully fund the counselor in order to have her
available, and she would welcome social workers (audio
difficulties).
8:21:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked whether she would agree that
reducing the pupil-teacher ratio and having a counselor is
likely to have an impact on the long-term health of students by
building resilience, thereby resulting in reduced suicides and
the other traumas associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences
(ACEs).
MS. BECK responded that she would agree with that statement and
noted that her school is currently in the third year of rolling
out Trauma-Informed School Practices. The 2016-2017 data from
the sixth graders is that the number of students who can name
five or more adults at school who they felt connected to was 50-
79 percent, in one year that was a 29 percent increase of adults
making critical connections with our students, and when students
feel more connected to people who care about them, the more
likely they are to succeed.
CHAIR DRUMMOND commented that she finds it encouraging that when
the focus is on Trauma-Informed School Practices, that Ms. Beck
has seen improvements in the student body.
8:23:16 AM
DANIEL WALKER, Superintendent, Lower Kuskokwim School District,
commented that there is a challenge to keeping our schools safe,
from the 1997 school shooting at Bethel Regional High School to
the attempted school shooting two years ago in Noatak. Bethel's
teachers and staff are on the front lines of this, he stressed.
For over 20 years, the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD)
has employed an entire social work department with 10 master's
level social workers that travel to the 27 schools in the Lower
Kuskokwim Region. These social workers are on the front line of
issues, such as suicide prevention and the wellbeing of its over
4,100 students. He remarked that he knows of no other school
district that employs this number of social workers and yet,
that only touches the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the
social/emotional wellbeing of the students in the region.
Recently, the school district had a strong focus on school
climate, connectedness, and expanding its tribal connections,
and one of the most important actions the state could take to
help increase student academic achievement is to evaluate and
fully fund social and mental health services. These services
would include the Office of Children's Services, and probably
most importantly, law enforcement in rural Alaska. He related
that most communities have no one to turn to in the event of a
crisis so the principals and teachers are definitely on the
front line. Currently, he said, the LKSD is continuing the
following: training for staff to include new efforts to
mitigate potential threats to the schools; consistently
upgrading and adding security cameras as a priority; and
coordinating among other agencies in the region, which is
incredibly important and helpful when a crisis takes place. He
related that all of those efforts are continually challenged by
the lack of law enforcement resources in rural Alaska. He then
offered his appreciation for the resolution because it is
shining a bright light on the issues of school safety.
8:26:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ZULKOSKY referred to Mr. Walker's statement that
not having public safety officials sometimes exacerbates school
safety challenges in rural Alaska, and asked him to highlight
the top priorities for making sure the rural schools are safe.
MR. WALKER responded that the discussion returns to how
important it is for every child to have a connection with an
adult who cares for them and is able to check on them. He noted
that they perform a lot of work in that area with the school
climate and connectedness, and they emphasize the relationship
the school staff makes with students, parents, and the
communities. The number one thing that could be done as a
state, would be to fund local law enforcement in rural
communities in particular. He stressed that he simply could not
list the number of times he has been on the telephone with a
principal trying to coach them through a situation where someone
in the community, who is possibly intoxicated and walking around
with a loaded firearm, and they are possibly shooting the
firearm. In those situations, the community may not even have a
law enforcement person to respond to those events, and that
pressure and stress is added to the lives of staff, principals,
teachers, classified staff, and most importantly, to our
students, he expressed. The social service agencies in rural
Alaska are absolutely overwhelmed, they have so much intake they
cannot address all of those needs, thereby putting the added
burden on the schools to intervene in many of those incidents.
He commented that law enforcement and social services are
suffering from the huge gaps currently.
8:29:16 AM
BOBBY BOLEN, Superintendent, Bering Strait School District,
advised that the Bering Strait School District encompasses
80,000 square miles, with approximately 1,900 students spread
across 15 schools. Although, he related, the school district
has not had any serious incidents in recent history, school
safety in Bush Alaska faces big challenges. Only 5 of the 15
remote communities currently employ a Village Public Safety
Officer (VPSO), and only one of the 15 villages has access to
the Alaska State Troopers. Each day, he related, the students,
teachers, and staff, go to work with no backup plan for
professional assistance should a serious incident occur, they
can only practice and drill for active shooters and dangerous
situations so many times. In the event of a real life emergency
involving safety and the potential loss of life in the schools,
there would be no relief coming soon and it could be days before
law enforcement and medical care could reach some of the
villages, he advised. The Bering Strait School District has
actively participated in the Culturally Relevant Education and
Social/Emotional Learning (CRESEL) grant program the last two
years, he remarked. This grant, he explained, allowed the
school district to educate its students about possessing the
ability to work through the many challenges they bring with them
to the doorsteps of their schools. He related that life outside
of the doors of the schools can be challenging and unless the
whole child can be taken of, oftentimes learning comes to a
halt. As with all schools across the country, the incidents of
bullying still occur in our schools, the districts have programs
in place to report and address bullying, but unfortunately, the
definition of bullying and its effects on the children are still
difficult to get across to the students. He offered that what
is teasing and what is bullying is a fight he still has, not
only in the communities but with staff members. Schools must
develop plans that offer support in raising the awareness of
bullying, and the schools must have the resources to educate
everyone as to the negative effects of bullying. He said that
he has spent all 10 years of his administrative experience in
the Bering Strait School District, and he has been to numerous
communities and traveled to all 15 school sites. As a
superintendent, he said he has received calls wherein someone in
the village was shooting a rifle and they lock the doors and
secure their outdated schools hoping they can keep all of their
students safe until law enforcement might be able to fly in from
Nome or Unalakleet.
8:31:38 AM
MR. BOLEN advised that he has also received calls from
principals when a student posted on Facebook that they were
being bullied and no longer wished to be alive, or when a
student committed suicide, and then listen to the blame game as
to who was at fault. In reality, he pointed out, it is
everyone's fault, it is everyone's challenge and it is
everyone's responsibility. In Bush Alaska, people live with
guns around them because guns are their way of life when hunting
for their subsistence way of life. It is not uncommon to see
school age children with those guns in a variety of situations,
and for the most part, children have been raised to use those
gun appropriately and for good. Each day when the school doors
are opened, the responsibility falls on all of us to provide our
students with a safe, welcoming and learning environment, he
advised. There are no school resource officers in Bush Alaska,
there's no response team coming from down the street to assist
in an emergency, there are only the students themselves, the
teachers, and possibly a community member that happened to be in
the right place at the right time. He asked the committee to
consider the challenges of Bush Alaska when considering options,
currently class are often without certified teachers because the
ability to find a substitute is limited to non-existent. The
answer, he pointed out, is not across the street at the local
service agency and it is not necessarily about another program
being mandated to teach. The answer is about being able to help
provide the necessary resources to those schools already
overburdened with educational needs with the financial ability
to provide a safe learning environment to all community members.
8:33:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked the largest threat to the lives of
the children in Mr. Bolen's school district, and what the
legislature can do to help.
MR. BOLEN responded that suicide is definitely the number one
killer of youth in Bush Alaska. Unfortunately, he said,
currently there are five open counselor positions, and he has
attended approximately 15 job fairs across the country,
advertised on (indisc.), and his school district cannot get
school counselors to apply and move to the district's schools.
In reality, he remarked, they have one counselor who may serve
2-3 schools, which means they are only able to services those
students every third week, every fourth week, and it may be even
longer. He stressed that the problem is not necessarily a
financial issue because they have the money to hire counselors.
Although, he noted, most of the finances are with grants and as
grants come and go, the school district loses those
opportunities. He lamented that it would be nice to have a
sustainable manner in which to have counselors in the schools,
but most counselors end up spending their time with high school
students, getting them ready for college, and preparing them for
other opportunities. It is absolutely critical for the younger
students to receive an early education about social/emotional
learning and how to deal with their thoughts and feelings.
Definitely, anything that can be done to provide those resources
for the younger students is extremely important, he expressed.
8:36:15 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked what the legislature can do to help.
MR. BOLEN replied that the school district needs help funding
and recruiting counselors and then sustain the hiring of those
counselors. Grants are used to seed programs and get the
counselors hired, but in reality, with the funding they have,
they have to make sure their teachers are in the classroom
first. Funding for counselors to provide social/emotional,
suicide, bullying, prevention type programs to the younger
children is most critical, he pointed out.
8:37:16 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND commented that the University of Alaska should
take note of this need and help to educate counselors as a
pipeline directly into the state's rural schools.
MR. BOLEN replied that school counseling programs would be
critical but there is not such a program in the State of Alaska.
He advised that in reality, it is hard to convince those
graduating from college to leave their families and move to a
village that is still without running water, and still without
reliable transportation should an emergency occur. The big
picture is, there are many challenges and roadblocks in getting
staff into Bush Alaska or all across the state, and it does not
help that there is not a positive school counselor program
within Alaska, he reiterated.
8:39:20 AM
TIM PARKER, President, NEA-Alaska, advised that he is a high
school English teacher in Fairbanks, he supports the resolution,
and that NEA-Alaska appreciates this focus on safety and
increasing the public discussion on this important issue. Last
year, NEA-Alaska participated on the Alaska Education Challenge
Safety Committee and the issue of Maslow's hierarchy of needs
was addressed. [Maslow's hierarchy of needs - a person's needs
lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before the person
can attend to their needs higher up. The needs are:
physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self-
actualization.] From an educator's standpoint, he pointed out
that learning cannot take place without first addressing these
safety needs, such as the physical needs, address their
psychological needs, and their belonging and friendship needs.
He explained that once those needs are addressed, educators can
then move on to the learning, that is in the standards, and
trying to help the students achieve.
MR. PARKER then divided school safety into the two different
forms that must be addressed, as follows: threats from outside
the school by people who often have no connection to the school
and those safety needs involve cameras, safety personnel, and so
forth. There are also the safety needs of our children, which
comes into play when trauma is a daily situation for them, the
buildup of stress and the circumstances that are part of their
lives, he said. Educators and specifically teachers see these
stressors intimately almost every day, depending on the site of
the school, and educators feel deeply about the students they
are charged with teaching and they work hard on nurturing those
relationships. Speaking as a teacher, he related that he knows
he is one person, amongst many, who can work with students on
those needs and counselors, psychologists, nurses, even school
safety officers, and para-educators, all have relationships with
students. Unfortunately, he pointed out, the budget has often
been cut for those personnel, and fewer of those particular
personnel now work in the schools. That, he stressed, is a real
concern and that issue is something to keep "our eye on" because
teachers do not have the ability to do everything that is needed
for our students in order for them to learn. He further
stressed that personnel assisting in student psychological
needs, safety needs, and their health, must be addressed.
MR. PARKER offered appreciation for the continued support of the
Alaska Education Challenge, and noted that the committee met
last summer to develop assistance, such as the three
commitments. This resolution speaks to the three commitments,
and one of those commitments is to cultivate student safety and
well-being, all schools will be safe, and the students
nourished, he advised.
8:43:35 AM
SHAWN ARNOLD, Superintendent, Nome Public Schools, offered that
his testimony is supported by the Nome School Board and they
strongly support HR 7. He pointed out that this resolution is
one of the tools that will help keep schools safe in these
upcoming years. After college, he noted that he entered the
military, both the United States Army and United State Airforce,
he was part of a hostage rescue team, and for many years he was
part of an anti-terrorism response force. He advised that he
was part of the teams deployed on rapid deployment from Fort
Richardson and Fort Carson, Colorado, he is well versed in
safety procedures and is comfortable in a stressful environment.
Although, he commented, those experiences do not play out within
the schools today because the focus is in instruction and
learning, without thoughts of violence or worry that anything
may happen to a school. Students are impressionable, young, our
precious commodities, and their thoughts should not be that they
are going to be harmed, their thoughts should be on instruction
in a safe place to learn. Those, he stressed, are the number
one needs the state must address as it is the state's
responsibility. He pointed out that the Nome teachers and
principals are not trained to counteract any type of violence
that may occur and they rely on the available resources, thereby
making their jobs easier to keep the schools safe. He said, not
just like (indisc.), the physical properties, such as stolen
cameras, security (indisc.) into the buildings, but also the
supports local law enforcement agencies can provide.
8:46:08 AM
MR. ARNOLD pointed out that HR 7 includes first response
training that can be provided to educators, thereby, offering
peace of mind and the ability to respond in the worst case
scenarios. He referred to the ALICE training that has taken
place around the state, and noted that out of the districts
testifying today, his district is one of the smallest and
probably the least funded. He pointed out that ALICE training
is usually a blanket cost of approximately $10,000, and for a
small district, like Nome, it does not have the ability to find
those funds so it would have to cut some sort of instructional
training simply to provide the funds for the ALICE first
responder training. He offered concern in that regard and
stated that the district does what it can with the resources it
has but it lacks the funds for training, although it does
consult with the Alaska State Troopers and Nome's local law
enforcement. As to the areas of mental health and support
services, Nome is fortunate to have "an amazing hospital" that
serves not just Nome but the Bering Straits Region with its
large behavioral health office. This support is not something a
math or reading teacher, for example, can fully perform because
teachers are not psychologists or law enforcement and they
cannot meet those needs. Unfortunately, he pointed out, it is
the nature of the lack of funding and lack of staffing that
Nome's behavioral health services locally are overwhelmed and
there are fewer and fewer opportunities to have the students
referred, which puts more stress on the schools. He explained
that it is not due to the lack of staff, but the lack of funds.
The lack of funds is impactful because usually the counselors
are the first pro-active line of defense in providing social and
emotional learning supports, and the school district struggles
with that problem. He referred to the school safety measures,
and reiterated that for the emergency planning, the funds in his
small district are limited and it struggles to offer whatever
support possible. The Nome school district has seen a rise in
the number of students who move from disengaged to disruptive,
and there is increasing concern from the staff that the school
district is not doing enough. School safety is always the
priority for the district, he pointed out, and any support from
the state for resources, and better ideas, will "kind of go that
little bit further."
8:50:43 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked that if school funding was to keep
up with inflation, whether it would help keep students safer in
the long-term from violence, bullying, suicide, and a number of
other issues.
MR. ARNOLD responded that keeping up with inflation would help
because schools would not have to re-allocate funds from the
"peripheral cuts." He explained that the cuts might not be
direct cuts from the classrooms for teaching reading, writing,
and math, but it is the support specialists, such as counselors,
aides, that might be able to work with more students, and one-
on-one. When looking at those cuts it appears the district has
not put in the necessary efforts because while a crisis
situation has not happened, and everyone is hoping it won't
happen, if the district did not have those supports available,
it would not be good, he described.
8:52:42 AM
KERRY BOYD, Superintendent, Yukon-Koyukuk School District,
advised that she has been the Superintendent of the Yukon-
Koyukuk School District for approximately 11 years, the school
district covers 70,000 square miles with 10 rural and remote
schools, and those students fly in except for 2 [students]. She
offered support for HR 7, which highlights the need for school
safety. Over the years, she said she has experienced many
different occasions when there have been school safety concerns,
and many are (audio difficulties), and the impact to students
when they get to school. The Yukon-Koyukuk School District
(YKSD) employs two guidance counselors and she said she is
highlighting the word "guidance." The school district has been
advertising for additional counselors for 1.5 years to no avail,
although, they have hired counselors but they leave mid-year. A
counselor was recently hired so the school district will have
three counselors for next year and it is excited, she said, and
those three counselors will travel to all 10 sites. The school
district uses video conferencing to help with its needs and
partners as best it can with the local agencies, but they too
are over-burdened with mental health and other issues. The
Yukon-Koyukuk School District needs social workers and clinical
counselors to deal with the trauma "that is happening" as it has
little to zero law enforcement. The Village Public Safety
Officer (VPSO) will sometimes travel to the district as a
reaction, but few villages have a VPSO officer and the officers
are not available in the villages for months. As the schools
are updated for major maintenance, cameras are being added
throughout, and she commented that the schools have not had any
real incidents other than the four times in the last ten years
where a lock-down was necessary. Most of the problems take
place before the students arrive at school partly because the
proper training does not take place in the communities, for law
enforcement, and there is no proper social services and mental
health and positive lifestyles training, she advised. She
thanked the committee for anything it could do and its support,
and that the YKSD will work on its end.
8:55:38 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND referred to Ms. Boyd's statement that the YKSD
performs video counseling, and asked where the counselor is
located that performs the video counseling, whether the video
counselor can reach all of the schools in the district, and
whether the necessary technology is available.
MS. BOYD answered that the school district has excellent
technology and it is fortunate in that regard, it is limited to
the ten megabits. The technology has been "pretty good"
depending on the location of the counselors, for example, right
now it is snowing in the villages "and one of them is having to
stay extra." Counselors can counsel using the school district's
video technology from any classroom, and every classroom is set
up with that ability. Thereby, allowing for private individual
counseling when needed no matter the location in the school
district, it is just that sometimes it is necessary to counsel
in-person because the students need that contact. She advised
that the technology has helped and that the school district has
utilized this type of counseling for several years with good
feedback.
CHAIR DRUMMOND noted that she was happy to hear about the good
feedback and while she knows video counseling is not the answer
to everything, it is better than no counseling at all.
8:57:03 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked whether YKSD has ever contracted the
services of counselors via video counseling outside of the YKSD
region or in a hub community.
MS. BOYD replied that they actually have and have tried to
partner with the Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) and the local
agencies there. The YKSD has contracted outside of the
district, but a lot of the counseling the children need is above
and beyond what a traditional school counselor could offer. She
described it more as social work and social/emotional
counseling, the district's counselors are trained the best it
can, that is, she remarked, for the counselors who have stayed
with the district long enough to receive that training.
8:58:30 AM
DAN CARSTENS, Principal, Nikiski Middle/Senior High School,
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) President,
Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals, noted that
Nikiski is in serious need of mental health support from all
levels. He suggested that the focus should be put on the
elementary level because children go through all sorts of
adverse childhood experience (ACEs), and it is genuinely
important to provide support at that age. In that regard, he
said, benefits will be reaped by starting at that age group
rather than trying to react to it at a secondary level. Mr.
Carstens advised that the district contracts with outside
services to provide counseling within the schools so it does
have a school counselor here, but not necessarily as many
counselors as necessary. The school counselors have to worry
about schedules, college, and career readiness for the students.
Except, he pointed out, counselors are torn "in so many
different ways" because they are not always able to provide the
social/emotional needs of every student. Although, if the
counselors are able to provide that support, something else is
dropped and it has to be picked up some place else. He remarked
that the last time he hired a student counselor only three
people applied for the position because it is not an easy
position to fill, but it is a truly important position to fill.
Another issue that needs addressing is the state's educator
shortage. This resolution represents an issue "on all of our
minds" and it is something to address in a preventative manner,
not in a reactive manner, he pointed out.
9:01:35 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked what the legislature can do to
assist in that endeavor.
MR. CARSTENS responded that there are many things, such as: the
rehire of quality education retirees or rehires; provide avenues
for social/emotional type counselors into the schools; provide a
focus on social/emotional learning (SEL) needs of the students;
and so forth.
9:03:02 AM
LISA SKILES PARADAY, Executive Director, Alaska Council of
School Administrators (ACS), advised that the ACS represents
superintendents, elementary and secondary principals, school
business officials, and other school administrators. She
related that the focus is on improving the safety and wellbeing
of students through partnerships, families, communities, tribes,
which has been the overall theme and hopefully it will continue
to be developed in moving forward with the Education Challenge.
During a recent roundtable, two themes emerged as follows:
secure facilities, with the need to perform an external
audit/gap analysis of the school facilities as to what is needed
to ensure that the public school facilities are safe, and the
Department of Education and Early Development is looking at
those issues. Prevention is genuinely key as an investment in
the social/emotional needs of all of Alaska's students in the
form of school counselors, nurses, mental health support, all of
the issues testified to today, and another important piece is to
ensure that every educator and student has access to appropriate
training. During this roundtable, there was a tremendous amount
of discussion about strengthening regional and community
partnerships as well as working with the University of Alaska,
College of Education, to make sure that the pre-service training
for teachers is inclusive of these items as well. She related
that there was a follow-up discussion with Speaker Bryce Edgmon,
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky, and Commissioner Michael
Johnson to discuss what the next steps could be in terms of
moving forward with some of these needs. That, she related, in
some ways is where we are today in terms of bringing the
resolution forward. Clearly, she noted, there are financial
needs that would accompany some of these items, and there is the
hope that the districts could share with the legislature and lay
the ground work for a potential request around public school
safety.
9:06:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH asked whether flat funding has any effect
on the safety of children.
DR. PARADY answered that clearly, flat funding over time results
in cuts to these service professionals, in terms of nurses and
counselors who may not be in the classroom but are cut first
because all districts are trying to focus on protecting
instruction in the classroom. She related that safety is first
and foremost for every educator, they own the question of
safety, every single educator is about taking care of the
students. Having said that, she offered, as districts have
experienced cuts, some of the school counselors, nurses, and
mental health professionals have been cut as a result. She
said, "The answer is, yes, we need full funding, adequate
funding to support these positions."
9:08:32 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND opened public testimony on HR 7. After
ascertaining no one who wished to testify, closed public
testimony on HR 7.
9:08:59 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 9:09 a.m. to 9:10 a.m.
9:10:39 AM
CHAIR DRUMMOND reopened public testimony on HR 7.
9:10:49 AM
SANA EFRID, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education and
Early Development, noted that the members of the committee
participated in Alaska's Education Challenge as a top priority
of Alaskans working together to identify recommendations around
safety and the wellbeing of Alaska's students. She stated that
the Department of Education and Early Development supports this
resolution, and the department is excited to see that it
encompasses three different areas: physical safety of the
schools; training for teachers and other school personnel; and
the support of other staffing that must take place to support
Alaska's students within the schools and not simply counselors
but nurses and other mental health clinicians. She offered
appreciation for HR 7 because it focuses on the safety of
students, which is a top priority for the administration and the
Department of Education and Early Development.
9:12:43 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 9:12 a.m. to 9:13 a.m.
9:13:08 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PARISH moved to report HR 7 out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.
There being no objection, HR 7 was reported out of the House
Education Standing Committee.