Legislature(2021 - 2022)BUTROVICH 205
02/12/2021 09:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Presentation: "school District Perspectives on Educating During the Covid-19 Pandemic." | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE EDUCATION STANDING COMMITTEE
February 12, 2021
9:01 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Roger Holland, Chair
Senator Shelley Hughes
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Vice Chair
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: "SCHOOL DISTRICT PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATING DURING
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC."
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
KIM HANKINS, M.Ed., Superintendent
Lower Kuskokwim School District
Bethel, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on School District Perspectives on
Educating During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
MIKE HANLEY, M.Ed., Superintendent
Chugach and Aleutian Region School Districts
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on School District Perspectives on
Educating During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
LARRY LEDOUX, Ph.D., Superintendent
Kodiak Island School District
Kodiak, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on School District Perspectives on
Educating During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
BRIDGET WEISS, Ph.D., Superintendent
Juneau School District
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on School District Perspectives on
Educating During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
ACTION NARRATIVE
9:01:41 AM
CHAIR ROGER HOLLAND called the Senate Education Standing
Committee meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Hughes, Begich, and Chair Holland. Senator
Micciche arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION: "School District Perspectives on Educating During
the COVID-19 Pandemic."
PRESENTATION: "School District Perspectives on Educating During
the COVID-19 Pandemic."
9:02:25 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND announced the presentation School District
Perspectives on Educating during the COVID-19 Pandemic and that
the committee was planning to hear from four superintendents. He
asked the superintendents to introduce themselves and their
districts and to give an overview of how the pandemic has
affected enrollment.
9:03:00 AM
KIM HANKINS, M.Ed., Superintendent, Lower Kuskokwim School
District, Bethel, Alaska, said that the Lower Kuskokwim School
District operates 29 schools in 24 locations over an area of
22,000 square miles, most of that roadless tundra, and Bethel is
the hub. This is her first year as superintendent of LKSD. LKSD
enrollment is usually around 4,000 students, 95 percent of whom
are Alaska Native. The district has seen a decrease of 47
students in the ADM (Average Daily Membership) this year. Some
have moved to Anchorage, some are opting for statewide home
school programs, and some have moved to neighboring districts.
The region is one of high poverty. Most families practice a
subsistence lifestyle and live in multigenerational homes. All
LKSD communities, with the exception of one, have been directly
impacted by COVID.
DR. HANKINS said that the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region has had
the highest COVID rates per capita in Alaska for over four
months and on and off, some of the highest rates in the nation.
The rates have often averaged four-to-six times that of the next
most heavily impacted region in the state. In addition to high
COVID rates, the region has a very limited and vulnerable
healthcare system. The district lost two employees to COVID-19
and has had countless students and employees sick with COVID.
The communities have moved in and out of lockdown as needed. The
district opened the majority of schools in August at the medium
risk level with a hybrid model. The five Bethel schools and four
village sites opened the school year with remote learning. The
Bethel schools have remained in remote learning with Bethel
experiencing widespread community transmission since last fall.
Student achievement and health and safety have certainly been
the top two priorities this year.
DR. HANKINS said one of the positives this year is an incredibly
dedicated staff who are going above and beyond to reach
families. They have been highly innovative. The district still
struggles with students and families who are not engaged, but
the district uses many ways to reach students. The intranet
system the district put in place this year is a positive.
Another positive is the district has developed strong
partnerships with tribal organizations as they navigate the
challenges of COVID. Access to internet and internet equity are
huge issues in rural Alaska. Only ten to 15 percent of students
have internet at home. Getting the intranet system in place has
been a challenge, but it is up and running.
DR. HANKINS said some students have struggled this year. The
district is asking a lot of parents and families. It is a heavy
lift. On the other hand, some students have been thriving with
the flexibility of remote learning. That allows more time for
families to do subsistence activities together. With COVID-19
cases declining, and with the healthcare provider providing
excellent vaccine distribution in the region, the district is
working to implement a phased reentry plan and looks forward to
bringing students back into the buildings.
9:07:39 AM
MIKE HANLEY, M.Ed., Superintendent, Chugach and Aleutian Region
School Districts, Anchorage, Alaska, said that both of his
districts are remote. The Aleutian Region consists of two
schools in Adak and Atka, far out in the Aleutian chain. The
enrollment has remained steady, but it is the smallest school
district in the state with an enrollment of less than 30
students. The Chugach School District is midsized for Alaska and
decided to partner with the Aleutian Region School District to
share services. The Chugach School District is the middle of the
road for size in the state and has over 600 kids, most of them
in the home school program. It has three traditional brick-and-
mortar sites out in Prince William Sound. Whittier is on the
road system and Chenega and Tatitlek are on islands in the
sound. The correspondence program enrollment increased by 30
percent.
9:09:13 AM
LARRY LEDOUX, Ph.D., Superintendent, Kodiak Island School
District, Kodiak, Alaska, said the Kodiak Island School District
(KISD) has five rural schools with enrollments than range from
five to 29 and four large elementary schools, a middle school, a
high school, and a comprehensive preschool program in Kodiak.
The rural populations stayed static. The district population has
been declining, which has nothing to do with the current COVID-
19 challenges. The district was pleased not to lose students
this year. The home school program has been robust for years.
The district had 92 students in the program last year and this
year it grew to 250. KISD constructed a completely remote K-12
school since many parents did not feel comfortable sending their
students to school. It attracted 350 students and is staffed by
teachers for each grade from every school in the district. It
has worked well. The regular school system has 1,800 students.
The remote school helped lower the pupil/teacher ratio in each
classroom so that social distance could be maximized. In the
summer, nine work groups tried to use everything learned last
spring to construct the different programs and to communicate
with families so they knew exactly what the district had to
offer.
9:13:45 AM
At ease
9:14:00 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND reconvened the meeting.
9:14:07 AM
BRIDGET WEISS, Ph.D., Superintendent, Juneau School District,
Juneau, Alaska, said the district planned for 4,600 students
this year. That was the enrollment a year ago in the normal
October count. This fall the enrollment was 4,079 students. The
district lost about 570 students and 400 students went from
brick-and-mortar schools to the district home school program.
Normally that program has 30-50 students; currently it has 430.
The district had to think quickly on its feet. The district was
grateful for those families that stayed with the district. The
district is running a variety of programs. The district heard
from families that they wanted distance learning but wanted to
stay with the neighborhood schools. The district is operating
distance learning from the neighborhood schools as well as
through the Homebridge program. The district currently has
opened elementary schools with small cohorts for two half days a
week and is looking at expanding that to longer days. The middle
school students are attending at least one full day a week and
will move soon to two days a week. High school is operating at
three full days per week. The district has been rolling that in
since January 11. The mitigation strategies are working well.
There have been a handful of cases that have been present in the
schools and zero spread. In Juneau, the health numbers are
better than they have ever been.
SENATOR BEGICH said his question may be more relevant for LKSD
and Chugach. Last night he talked to a principal from Wainwright
on the North Slope where Quintillion has dropped free fiber
optic cable. However, the principal talked about the phone
company charging families up to $1,000 per month for access to
that cable. These rural areas are places of high poverty. Zoom
classes have not been conducted because families cannot afford
to access the internet, even though the cables were dropped for
free. He asked if the superintendents have similar situations
where monthly charges are barring families from accessing the
virtual education the state is hoping to provide during these
types of crises.
9:18:11 AM
DR. HANKINS said Bethel does not have fiber, but GCI provides
internet. Average internet costs are $200 to $300 per month for
limited access. Additional buckets of data have to be purchased.
Ten to 15 percent of students have access to home internet. It
really is cost prohibitive in rural Alaska. The district this
year has built its intranet system. The district has been
fortunate to work with engineers from Zoom. With the intranet
system, the district provided modems for families in Bethel and
a router and antenna to families in village locations. Families
were responsible for installing those devices. This took a
while, but once in place via a program called GlobalProtect,
students at home can access the intranet. This gives students
access to a learning management system. The district is using
Moodle because it can host it on its system. Students can also
use a program called Ensemble, which can host prerecorded
lessons from teachers. Students have access to Zoom through the
intranet. The district worked extensively with Zoom to provide
that. Students and teachers are connecting that way. It does not
solve the issue of access to the internet for students, but it
did provide an additional way to get materials into the hands of
students and provide face-to-face connections.
SENATOR HUGHES asked if the superintendents could advise if the
students have smart phones and if they don't have access to
internet, whether they could create hot spots with the cellular
data on their phones.
DR. HANKINS estimated that 50 percent of middle and high school
students have smart phones but with limited data. It is easy to
go through all the data in a short period.
9:21:51 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND recognized Senator Micciche had arrived.
MR. HANLEY answered that in Adak and Atka internet is very
expensive. In the spring when everyone was sent home the company
allowed free access, but otherwise most families would not have
access to the internet. Copper Mountain provides some services
in Prince William Sound, but only half the families have
adequate internet. It is not uncommon to see kids with smart
phones hanging outside the school. This is common in rural
communities. Kids hang out outside the school to access the
internet because they don't have it at home.
DR. LEDOUX said Kodiak's experience is similar. His has been an
iPad district for several years. In rural schools the district
uses cellular iPads so they can be hooked up to telephones
lines, which is very expensive. The district was surprised at
the number of families in urban areas who do not have internet
at home. That was particularly true in low-income families. Even
in normal times the district is communicating a lot through the
internet. In order to ensure that all students had access to
internet, the district started picking up the bill. ACS and GCI
provided free service, but where that was not available, the
district paid. In some cases the district had to pay for past
bills to hook families up to provide equity. In the town
schools, the vast majority of kids have smart phones, but with
the filtering and sophistication of the software used for
instruction, students cannot use them. Even the iPads go through
a filtering system. In the rural areas, the phones don't have
the data plans to make them work.
DR. WEISS concurred with the previous testifiers. The district
early on worked on providing families' access. One staff member
worked solely on that. The district opened up internet support
sites in churches, large spaces in schools, and in a
neighborhood community center so students could just go there.
The district discovered it was not just access to internet. Some
families with three or four kids could not all use the internet
at the same time and used a lot of data. One solution didn't
work because of the varied situations. The district had to have
five or six different strategies. Most secondary students have
cell phones, but phones have to have certain data plans to use
as a hot spot. It is cumbersome for families to manage that. The
families with the greatest needs have these types of challenges
in accessing internet. For example, the district bought some hot
spots for homes but that did not resolve the problem because
there was such chaos in the family that the students needed more
support than just internet. That is what led the district very
early to create the internet support sites because the roadblock
for families was more than just access to the internet.
CHAIR HOLLAND shared that the next topic would be monitoring and
measuring student progress. He asked if the superintendents are
seeing any effects on student performance measures or college
preparedness or graduation rates.
9:27:47 AM
DR. HANKINS said the district is seeing impacts on student
performance. In LKSD, about two-thirds of the students are
English language learners. LKSD offers a strong, dual-language
program at 19 of its schools, but without the face-to-face
instruction and interaction in practicing language all day,
there are learning gaps. The district expects to see lower
scores on student performance measures. She hoped the graduation
rates would hold steady; they did increase a little last year.
The district is providing a lot of support this year for
seniors. In terms of monitoring and measuring student progress,
the district is using a lot of curriculum-based measures now.
When students do return to school, it will be essential to
administer diagnostics, especially in literacy and math, and
then create learning plans for students based on individual
needs. In addition, the district is offering tutoring at night
and on weekends. The long-term plans include a robust summer
school for recovery or acceleration, extended-day program,
Saturday school, night classes, etc.
CHAIR HOLLAND asked the superintendents to include information
about summer plans in their responses.
MR. HANLEY said that except for last spring, school has been
occurring in the school buildings. The Whittier school was out
for six weeks with some cases there. The other schools have been
out of the building less than a couple of weeks. But even so,
the district is seeing the effects of stresses on the families
at this time. The kids are coming with some heavy weight. All
are required to wear masks, which is great, but there is this
overarching sense of stress that is palpable in students and
families. There is a sense of loss of learning, especially from
last spring. It has been hard to just come back and pick up when
this is still going on. He anticipates lower standardized scores
without the progress the district has been aiming for the last
few years. Like many districts, his districts use MAP (Measures
of Academic Progress), a strong diagnostic assessment tool, at
all sites for literacy and math. It is a formative tool that
informs teachers and families about the strengths and weaknesses
of students. The districts have incorporated Exact Path, which
partners with MAP, to provide guidelines and lessons that
students' families can do at home. A residential, variable
school has not been open this year. The staff from that school
is providing online tutoring for families at all sites. The
districts are willing and able to provide summer school
resources, but he is not convinced that staff, families, or
children have the capacity for that after the experiences of
this past year. People will need a health break from what this
year has brought, but the districts will offer it. He doesn't
know how many people will take advantage of it at this time.
9:32:43 AM
DR. LEDOUX agreed with Mr. Hanley that students are coming to
school very traumatized. This is very difficult for them, not
just because of the learning challenges with many kids at home
trying to keep up without help with their lessons. The lunch and
breakfast program that has been going since March and knowing
that lunch is coming every day for them is the most stability
that some students have. The stress and trauma of lost income
affects students, too, in ways that are dramatic. Generally,
when the district measures learning, the home school students
are doing very well. Parents who have selected home school have
the time and ability to work with their kids. The district uses
FastBridge to measure the performance of students. The district
compared data from last January to this January. The district is
finding that it is literally maintaining the growth it normally
would in elementary schools. Kodiak was just above the state
average, but it is still there. The biggest challenge is in K-1
performance. That is where the district is most concerned
because those are very critical instruction years for reading.
The "preschools" are coming in without the skills they need to
participate in preschool programs. The district will have to
focus on those challenges for years. FastBridge designs
interventions for kids. The district expects the graduation rate
to be unchanged. The district is finding that with remote
learning, the middle school students are having difficulty
focusing. The middle school is still carrying on a seven-period
day. The high school program only does half the curriculum. The
district has found that high school kids will not sit in front
of a computer all day long. The summer program is called summer
enhancement. The district uses science and art to encourage
participation. The district data is showing that summer school
has to blend completely into the changes the district will make
in the fall.
DR. LEDOUX said the district was worried whether teachers wanted
to work in the summer. A survey showed that 50 percent of its
teachers and paraprofessionals are interested in summer
programming. The best part of the summer school planning is that
the district is not reacting anymore but looking to the future.
That is an incredible boost for teachers and administers to
think about when they won't be dealing with this.
9:38:11 AM
DR. WEISS said the Juneau school board met earlier this week and
the topic of the work session was indicators of success report.
Nearly every indicator shows a loss of learning and performance.
The seniors were the most adept. Graduation should be stable,
but down the ranks, there are significant impacts. High school
students are not as credit current compared to a year ago.
English language arts and math performance in grades 3, 4 and 5
dropped. Fewer students are meeting standards now. It is not
surprising at all. Dr. LeDoux spoke to that. Education is a
subset of everything going on. The educational conduit does not
operate in isolation of all the ripples the country is going
through--stress from the economic impact, political stress, the
conflict around racism, the loss of summer tourism and income in
Juneau--it all lands. The social and emotional needs are as
significant as the academic needs now for students. Pre-
pandemic, the most vulnerable populations--economically
disadvantaged, Alaska Native students, and English language
learners--were already vulnerable. School districts are trying
to rip open the box and find new ways to get at it. All the
disadvantages hit those student groups the most. In Juneau,
Bartlett Regional Hospital has been tracking data as well. That
data for the three quarters prior to March 2020 compared to the
next two quarters shows the numbers of Bartlett visits for
suicide attempts and behavioral issues for adults and youth
increased. The averages went up for adults and students.
DR. WEISS said this is not a short-term recovery and families
will require multiple years of support. The district is excited
about having robust summer programming for students and
opportunities to take advantage of on Saturdays. She is hoping
that the district could offer opportunities on Saturdays before
the school year ends. The district is also looking at summer
2022 because summer 2021 will not be enough. So many of Juneau's
classified staff work tourism jobs to make ends meet, but they
will not have those jobs, so there should be additional support
from classified staff. She is always surprised by the dedication
of teachers. She knows that some of them will show up this
summer. The district is approaching summer school from a
holistic approach, both academic and social/emotional, thinking
of how to reengage learners to fuel momentum for the fall. It is
about reading and math, and kids cannot learn unless they are
engaged and the risk of ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
decreases. That often happens with relationships in the school
system. The district is looking at a multiple-year recovery and
the disadvantage is that the district was not meeting the needs
of certain groups pre-pandemic. The district has a lot of work
to do and has fiscal uncertainty at the same time.
9:44:24 AM
CHAIR HOLLAND observed that the answers are wide ranging. He
turned to funding. He asked if they have experienced any
unexpected cost savings or expenses. He heard people talking
about internet issues and picking up internet expenses for
families, so those sorts of things.
DR. HANKINS said that her district has not seen substantial cost
savings. Even during remote learning, the schools have been
heated and powered for staff access and use. The district runs
its own buses in Bethel and continued to use them for delivery
of meals and materials to families. Some families couldn't make
it to distribution sites, so the district provided home delivery
with buses. The district has seen cost savings in travel since
there has been no travel outside the district and a reduction in
substitute teachers. The greatest expense has been the hardware
and student devices for the intranet project and recurring fees
with GCI. The district used CARES money for that.
CHAIR HOLLAND advised that some members may need to leave.
SENATOR MICCICHE said asked the superintendents not to take his
departure as a sign that he is not interested, but the day is
very busy. He is listening. He will come back and review the
meeting. He appreciated hearing from both groups of
superintendents about the Armageddon the kids and their
educators have gone through. He is also sensing optimism and
excitement about how everyone will work together to climb out of
this. This is what kids need to see when they are back in the
classroom, to know that those loving faces are going to back
them back up. His own kids are going through that, and so are
thousands of kids around the state.
MR. HANLEY said his comments would echo Superintendent Hankins'
in that the districts saved a fair amount of money on travel,
but that came as a loss of services to kids. Kids usually come
to the residential school in Anchorage for two-week intensives
and have not been able to participate in that. Some special
education services are delivered by traveling to sites. That has
all been moved to online, but it is not the same as face-to-
face. There is no change in the fund balance because those costs
get rolled into additional training for staff to be able to
teach online and getting additional technology for kids. There
have been no real savings from moving online, but most students
have been in school.
9:50:42 AM
DR. LEDOUX agreed that there were no cost savings. Every time
there is a cost savings another expense pops up. KISD saved on
travel, especially student travel, but it used the savings to
buy uniforms and equipment that the district had not been able
to buy. Superintendents get by because if money is not spent in
one area they spend it where it is needed. The district saved
money in heating costs, but on the other hand, air circulation
had to be increased. Money saved on substitutes was used for
staff training. Any savings are eaten up somewhere else. That is
just the life of superintendent during tough times.
DR. WEISS said that the Juneau School District is scouring for
any place it can save. It entered FY2021 with a very small fund
balance. The district has to sign teacher contracts in May when
the enrollment is unknown and that people are the largest
percentage for all district budgets. There's not much budgeting
beyond people. Some teachers retired in August and they were not
replaced. The district supported it bus service contracts as
much as possible because those are community members. Like other
districts, they used buses for food distribution and other
things. Juneau has little travel in its budget. The professional
development budget went for training for all the new technology.
The fund balance from $213,000 and with some budget revisions
that were possible is up to $950,000, but that is well under
board policy of 1.5 percent of the budget for the fund balance.
Even anticipating half of the students coming back, Juneau will
take a $1.6 million cut next year compared to FY21 with its
enrollment projection.
CHAIR HOLLAND asked if their districts benefited from CARES
(Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act funds.
9:55:24 AM
DR. HANKINS answered that LKSD received $2.8 million from CARES.
Of that, the district spent $1.6 [million] on supplies and
materials, including PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), hand
sanitation supplies, and the intranet project. For ESSER
(Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund) II, the
district will receive a bit more than $13 million. A large part
will be set aside to address learning loss with summer programs,
extended days, Saturday schools, etc., in the coming years,
teacher professional development, ongoing technology needs, PPE,
and sanitation supplies. Air quality and ventilation in schools
needs to be addressed and also mental health services for
students.
MR. HANLEY said Chugach receive about $83,000 in the first round
of CARES Act funding. That was used for sanitation and cleaning
supplies and technology. All those funds, including general
funds, were used to take care of those needs. The next round of
CARES funding will be a bit over $150,000. Chugach will add air
purifiers and address learning loss. The Aleutians Region School
District is so small that each allocation was about $5,000. That
was used for supplies and a little bit of technology.
9:57:41 AM
DR. LEDOUX said that when the Kodiak Island Borough received its
CARES money, it directly allocated to the school district $1.5
million, which was used in much the same way everyone else
described doing, from filtering systems to sanitation of
buildings, curriculum, etc. KISD did not spend its CARES money
because the borough gave it money. The borough had cut $1
million from the school district during the budget crisis.
Districts can use CARES money over multiple years. KISD is
concerned because of the lack of operating funds to carry out
its program that it will be difficult to fund the necessary
interventions to help kids and wants to ensure it has the funds
when needed. The CARES money will be used for summer programs
and interventions. The biggest concern of his school district is
that people will look at the COVID-19 money as replacing
operations money and it doesn't. That is a big danger because
people will say that with the COVID money the district doesn't
need as much to carry on operations. That is not the case. FY21
had a million dollar cut and a contribution from the fund
balance of $1.5 million, so the budget is tight. The borough
gave the district extra money when all was said and done, but it
is restricted to COVID uses, not operational funds.
DR. WEISS said the CARES funding was a lifeline. She does not
know what the district would have done without it. The first
round of CARES funds was about $1 million. The City and Borough
of Juneau received $53 million and gave the district over $2
million. Ventilation is a huge piece of this puzzle. The costs
of mitigation is extraordinarily high. The district spent a lot
of money to make sure that the classrooms and buildings have
good ventilation. Running those air scrubbers will increase
utility costs significantly, but without that, the district
would have had a huge uphill battle to get people back into
buildings.
10:01:30 AM
DR. WEISS said that because the CARES allocations are based on
title, it is not always proportional. Funding is so often based
on enrollment, but pandemic needs are a different ballgame. It
is not just solely the high-needs students that create the costs
for pandemic mitigation and response. It is a more universal
cost that is not driven by enrollment. The whole system and all
kids, even the top performing students, are affected. Every part
of the organization is impacted, but the dollars are allocated
in this odd proportion that doesn't always make sense. The $2.4
million of CARES money sounds really helpful, but over the three
years that it will be used, it is $800,000 per year. If summer
school serves 800 students, the cost for summer school will be
over $600,000. That is one effort and she has used up all the
money for this year. That doesn't give her any more money for
PPE and new filters for all the air scrubbers. With all the
variants, mitigation for the next school year will be important.
CHAIR HOLLAND shared how much he appreciated hearing from the
superintendents. Legislators cannot do their jobs well without
hearing directly from those who live the issues they are trying
to resolve. He asked superintendents for any final comments.
DR. HANKINS said the districts will experience the effects of
the pandemic for years to come. They don't know all the
challenges they will face yet. LKSD is hopeful that it will soon
welcome students back into its buildings and then be able to get
a grasp of what their needs are, which she expects to be
extensive social/emotional needs, in addition to learning loss.
That is why the district is looking to set aside money for
mental health services. Students and families have struggled
this year. The LKSD staff have accessed the employee assistance
program in numbers never seen before. The pandemic is impacting
everyone, but LKSD feels hopeful moving forward.
MR. HANLEY said the committee is not hearing superintendents
saying this is too much. They are all digging in to meet the
needs of their kids. It is critical to meet the needs of their
children first so they can meet the needs of their students. The
social/emotional needs must be addressed so students can access
their academic goals. The stressors they are experiencing cannot
be ignored. The challenge will be great and ongoing, but he is
confident that everyone can get out of this. It will not be a
quick turnaround.
10:06:16 AM
DR. LEDOUX said that he learned as a high school principal that
it is the responsibility of educators to carry the vision for
kids until they can develop one themselves and to give them the
skills and confidence to do that. Superintendents talk
frequently and share ideas and take care of one another. He
believes they are carrying the vision. He feels excited. He is
honored to be facing some of the biggest challenges of his
career. It is exciting to be part of it and wonderful to work
with such great educators. The cooks and custodians are
incredible people. He thanked the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED) and commissioner for an incredible job
providing help. Alaska has a great team. He appreciated being
able to share with the committee on behalf of superintendents.
There is so much they would like to tell the committee about the
good things happening in the midst of all these challenges.
DR. WEISS appreciated the committee's attention. She was in the
state of Washington as a teacher and administrator for 26 years.
While she had great career opportunities there, she has been
back in Alaska for 11 years. Alaska is an amazing place to be an
educational leader. The Alaska Superintendents Association (ASA)
has provided so much support, along with DEED Commissioner
Johnson. ASA meets weekly, monthly, and has regional meetings
and informal groups. The work superintendents can do because of
how they work together and the fact that the legislature is
asking them in this early to ask questions are signs of that.
She has a huge sense of urgency and a huge sense of hope because
she does believe they can do things differently in Alaska and
they can get different results. Part of that is because of the
intimate leadership in the state. They have good access to each
other and DEED and to the legislative body. That should all come
together for some amazing things. Superintendents need the hope.
She appreciated the governor and his medical team supporting
educators getting vaccines. Superintendents appreciate the state
leadership to get them to this point with vaccines. If they work
together, have long-term stability in funding, they will get
better results than they are getting today. She appreciated the
committee listening to them and they want to continue sharing
the brilliant things that are happening in pockets across the
state.
CHAIR HOLLAND said it is inspiring to see the dedication and
determination and motivation that they are seeing this morning
and on Wednesday.
10:12:12 AM
SENATOR HUGHES shared that this conversation has been relevant.
She appreciates their transparency. She is grateful that these
superintendents are at the helm to help their districts and
students navigate the rough waters. On Wednesday the committee
heard that it might take three to five years to catch some of
the students up from the loss. The state is trying to close
achievement gaps and now there is a catch up situation. She
hoped that somehow this catch up timeline can be reduced
globally.
CHAIR HOLLAND welcomed other districts to send comments to
[email protected].
10:14:12 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Holland adjourned the Senate Education Standing Committee
at 10:14 a.m.
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