By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka High School Student Council had an informal visit with the Sitka School Board in the school library Wednesday evening prior to the board’s regular meeting.
“It really is invigorating to hear from the students because their ideas are just very good,” School Board president Jennifer McNichol said. “And they articulate them really well, and I was just pleasantly surprised at how the things they are thinking about align with the things we are thinking about. It was impressive with how well it tied in with the topics that we have been really focused on for a while.”
Student council president Ella Lubin, a senior, opened the discussions by sharing a question that was answered by students:
“What is one positive thing about Sitka High School?”
“I really want to bring out that we do really appreciate our schools,” Lubin commented.
Student answers were wide-ranging: “The mathematics lab,” “independent study,” “AP classes,” “flexibility to work with students’ individual needs,” “electives, especially for people who aren’t into arts and music, such as the vocational education classes,” “a supportive and diverse teaching staff.”
And these: “Tlingit offered as a language class,” “the school breakfast because after Jazz Band in the morning it is the most wonderful thing ever tasted,” “the PAC,” “the art electives and the offering of the Pacific Northwest Coast art this semester.”
And these: “The water bottle filling stations,” “extracurricular activities because they are offered to all students and students get to learn and experiment with what they are passionate about.”
Lubin said several mentioned sports.
“We really appreciate the selection of sports offered and the coaches involved with that,” she said. “So thank you guys for helping us by supporting those things.”
McNichol told the students that the water bottle station actually came from a past board meeting with students.
“That was totally a student-driven idea,” she said.
District Superintendent Mary Wegner told the students the bottle stations were in other schools now as well.
“We tried different versions before getting it right,” she said. “We ended up poking a hole through a concrete wall, but it was worth it.”
The attending council students brought up various topics and started conversations.
Students Grace Gjertsen and Fiona Ferguson asked about increasing the breakfast and lunch food options, and possibly diversifying into more healthy options such as fresh fruit and more foods for students with dietary restrictions, such as gluten- and dairy-free options and nutrition labels.
Wegner said the menus are heavily regulated.
“We are not allowed to serve real fruit,” Wegner said. She suggested the students meet with the district business manager, who is also the food services manager.
“We could sit down and look at the regulations and at what you are proposing and see what we can do,” she said. “We have been successful with changing it at other schools.”
Wegner noted that Pacific High has a very healthy food program that meets all federal requirements.
“Their students are their own chefs,” Wegner said. “The grow their own food and it is a very delicious menu.”
Student Aan’i Perkins wanted to know more about being trauma-informed.
“It is a topic we learn about as board members and last year it was a big push at the ASB conference to really focus on,” McNichol said. “It involves a couple of things. It involves historic trauma, the historical events that have affected individual people or individual families and also groups of people and how that affects people down the line. Also, the recognition that individuals face certain traumas that we may not all be aware of as we sit next to them in a class or face them as staff.. that can significantly impact what is happening in the classroom, aside from what is happening outside the school....
Also, learning ways to assist with that and providing education and the other tasks we are responsible for as a school district. It is an early process we are all trying to learn more about and implement in our schools.”
Co-assistant superintendent Phil Burdick added, “To be really responsive to students in the classroom and to be responsive to human beings, adults too, we want to make sure that we have a sensitivity to what it is that people have gone through.”
Perkins also commented on the prioritization of culturally relevant classes in the district and the students’ perception of them, how the classes are valued logistically by scheduling and how this possibly relates to that perception.
Student Malin Marius expressed concerns about the Sitka high public address system and how it can’t be heard in every classroom.
Wegner explained that the school has three different antiquated systems tied together because of various remodels over time. Concerns of utilizing that system during situations like the recent bomb threat have been voiced.
“We have been aware of these concerns,” McNichol said. “Board members have been bringing it up repeatedly also.”
Replacing the entire P.A. system is outside the district’s budget at over $200,000 but new technology options have resulted in voice-over-internet options that can be used with the school’s new phone system. These new technologies are currently going out to bid and are being funded by the schools and libraries universal service support program, commonly known as the E-rate program.
Students also wondered if it were possible to change the mascot logo, saying it appeared cartoonish in many depictions. The students noted that they hear peers wanting a more relevant or modern logo, possibly a take on Tlingit formline design that could be professionally done by local native Alaskan artists.
The school board said the student council, representing the school body, is in the perfect situation to achieve something along those lines by taking the issue to school administration, the student body, and the district.
Student Council members Avery Voron and Asa Dow opened the topic of funding priorities, inquiring what is being funded or could be contemplated to be cut as budgets dwindle.
The board couldn’t dive deeply into a response due to time allotments.
They did mention that they were not quite at the decision point on that question as they’re still advocating for as much funding from the Legislature as they can get.
