Daily Sitka Sentinel

Schools to Stay Closed Through End of May

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer

Alaska’s schools will remain closed through the end of the school year, Gov. Dunleavy announced in a new health mandate Thursday.

The latest mandate extended the closure of all state public and private schools from the May 1 date Dunleavy set in his March 11 order that closed the schools to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus

“That really needed to happen,” Sitka District Superintendent Mary Wegner said regarding the order extending the school closure. “I am appreciative that we have such a clear message from the governor,”

In his latest mandate the governor said, “student learning will continue, per each school district’s individual plan to deliver distance-delivered educational services to students.” 

The mandate continued to say that the state “will reconvene later this month to consider whether the state’s health outlook will safely allow for small groups of students to meet with their teachers in-person for final student conferences before the end of the school year.”

Sitka High School Principal Laura Rogers agreed with Wegner on the need for the latest directive from the governor.

“I think that it is necessary but incredibly sad.... I’m here in my office every day, typically regular school hours, and it’s empty, and honestly… it’s heartbreaking for me,” Rogers said. “I know we’re doing the right thing societally but that doesn’t make it any easier day to day when you’re looking at an empty building.”

Distance learning procedures went into effect across the state two weeks ago.

The mandate specifically noted that social distancing guidelines prohibit traditional graduation ceremonies.

Wegner said that with only two weeks of distance education done, that process is not yet finalized.

“We’ll just continue on. We’re in week two, so it’s getting down to the nuts and bolts of it this week,” she said.

“I sat in on a class, and it was super fun. I sat in on a Pacific High School English Language Arts class, and it was really wonderful to be connecting with the students, like school is happening again,” Wegner said.

Rogers said that, despite difficulties, there has been a silver lining to the crisis.

“We’ve only been into it for two weeks. I think there is a level of creativity among our teachers that was kind of untapped before . . . Seeing teachers really kind of push the edge of their comfort zone and try new things to keep students engaged, that’s kind of the only silver lining,” Rogers said.

Keet Gooshi Heen Principal Casey Demmert praised the collaborative efforts of his staff in creating a distance curriculum.

“It’s been going pretty well, just the stuff teachers are doing and learning has really been amazing,” he said.

Rogers said students have told her they miss school.

“Every single kid who has come in to get a laptop or a book, when I’ve said to them ‘So how’s it going?’ Every one of them said ‘I really miss school. I wish we could get back to normal,’” she said.

Wegner agreed: “The students miss their friends and they miss their routines.”

Demmert added that “the more positive adults that I can have in their (students’) lives, that is a good thing. And these kids are missing out in having a number of positive influential adults in their lives. They don’t get to interact face-to-face.”

Rogers added that technological difficulties have presented a real challenge.

“We’re really concerned about our students that weren’t as technologically adept when this happened, and their learning curves have been steep… We’re further along (in settling issues of internet and laptop access) than I would have anticipated, but not where we will be in another week and a half.”

Demmert agreed, saying “the learning curve was high for everybody.” Keet Gooshi Heen teachers, he said, have been reading to their students over internet connections. Books range from ‘A Tale Dark and Grimm,’ a take on the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales by Adam Gidwitz, to ‘Alvin Ho,’ by Lenore Look.”

Rogers acknowledged that under the current lockdown “there is a lot of anxiety that people have as a family that is pretty much top to bottom, parent to kid.”

She said any student interested in counseling should reach out by email, either to a school counselor or to her.

Rogers concluded that the current pandemic seems likely to be a defining event.

“If nothing else, an event of this magnitude definitely illustrates why having a base level of knowledge and understanding of things like science and political issues and economics is so important. And that’s what we’re trying to give our kids.”