By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
When Matthew Turner took on the job of running Community Schools four years ago, he found nothing more than a phone on the floor in the office space just off the gym at Blatchley Middle School.
“On Sunday, it will go back to the way I found it, with a phone on the floor,” Turner said in an interview last week.
Turner has been running the Sitka School District program as a private contractor, but with district funding cut back 75 percent since last year, he’s calling it quits.
Over the past few weeks he has sold off and cleared out the equipment and supplies he used that past four years to offer wide spectrum of community recreational activities. He also coordinated a number of activities himself and managed the after-school hours gym facility.
Matt Turner looks at his computer monitor during one of his last days of work at the Community School office in Blatchley Middle School last week. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Calls to the Community Schools phone number now bring up a recording advising callers that the office is closed.
For decades Community Schools was a Sitka School District program whose staff members were district employees.
Four years ago, as a cost-savings move for fiscal year 2015, the school board opted to put out a request for proposals for the services.
A total of $100,000 was approved for the expense, but no responses were received.
Board president Cass Pook and District Superintendent Mary Wegner reached out to Turner, who has an extensive background in working with kids and running youth programs, encouraging him to put in a bid in a new solicitation of offers. Turner and one other responder submitted proposals, and Turner’s was selected. The contract was renewable annually for five years.
He established his own business, Sitka Community Schools LLC, and set up a user fee schedule to make up the difference between the district funding and his $250,000 to $350,000 budget.
Last fall the board directed Wegner to put out a request for proposals for fiscal year 2020, and at the same time solicit user feedback about community school programs. Wegner also advised Turner that his contract was not being renewed, but invited him to make a bid in the new RFP.
Wegner said she was ready to seek a contractor who would take the job with zero funding from the school district, but in the end, the school board budgeted $25,000 for the position. The deadline for offers ended several weeks ago, with no takers. Turner said he is not interested.
The school district office renewed the search, and had received two proposals before the deadline 5 p.m. Tuesday. One proposal was submitted by two Sitka nonprofit organizations (the Hames Center and Youth Advocates of Sitka), and the other came from former Sitkan David Conover, who runs a nonprofit. Wegner said today she extended the deadline and is expecting a third offer by July 8.
Wegner said she anticipates at least one of the bids will be acceptable and viable.
“We do hope to offer a contract for community schools,” she said. “We missed the July 1 deadline (to keep the office open) but we hope to have Community Schools operational as soon as possible.”
City League volleyball and basketball, youth soccer and youth basketball were among the programs managed by Turner. He started the youth roller derby league as well as Friday family skate nights in the gym. Along with a part-time staff of seven, Turner also managed the gym for such organizations as Tsunami Wrestling, Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Baranof Ballers youth basketball league. The gym was available for rental for private parties and organizations hosting events, such as the Julie Hughes Triathlon.
“What Community Schools is nationally and what it is to our community is: the school buildings are public facilities,” Turner said. “We own them – the citizens of Sitka. One of the concepts is allowing the public use of our facilities and making it equitable.”
In addition to keeping the gym open to public use for sports, and coordinating schedules for user groups, Turner made sure the building was managed after hours when it was being used during the week and on weekends. The subsidy from the school district kept costs down and served the needs of working families, he said. Other private and nonprofit facilities charge higher user fees in order to keep their doors open, he noted.
Commenting on the loss of public funding, Turner said, “I think the kids are going to be the biggest losers. Because I was working off public recreation money I was able to bring down the fees and make it affordable.”
Whenever activities were going on in the gym, the space in the Blatchley lobby and his office also functioned as a de-facto youth center.
“A lot of kids couldn’t go home and didn’t want to go home,” he said. “This was a safe place.”
Another benefit to the school district was the presence of Turner or one of his staff as a responsible adult in the building after school hours. Turner said he tried to carry on the tradition established by the late Ryan Kauffman, who was available to young folks who walked through the doors during off-hours at Blatchley, and perhaps needed a shoulder to cry on.
“Being part of a caring school climate and having caring adults around is always good, and we’ll lose that element,” Turner said.
Most of Turner’s work has been school related, including his time with the Association of Alaska School Boards and the Alaska Humanities Forum, where he ran cross-cultural programs across the state. When the opportunity came to continue working with kids but with less travel, he took it.
“When I got the call from Cass and Mary the timing couldn’t have been better,” Turner said. “I was ready to come back home.”
The job has suited him well, given his prior experience working with young people. On top of the equipment supply he built up, he also accumulated knowledge on what it costs to run the program, what the community’s interests are, and how much individuals are willing to pay for services. He hasn’t yet been asked by the city or district to pass on the information, although he said he would happily share that knowledge.
Turner said his “armchair quarterback” opinion is that the duties he performed should be considered part of a city’s responsibility, whether under community schools or a parks and recreation program.
“It’s a conversation we’re having as a community: what is the responsibility of the city,” he said. “To me, parks and recreation and Community Schools – these are things that build community.”
