VOL. 5, ISSUE 1 A newsletter of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative Jan/Feb 2000 Alaska Federation of Natives University of Alaska National Science Foundation Annenberg Rural Challenge Rural Alaska School Districts: Who is in Control? Frank Hill, AKRSI co-director and retired superintendent ost of rural Alaska’s schools and districts are populated by Given the fact that few licensed Alaska Native students. School boards are elected by and administrators and teachers are Alaska M Native, or even Alaskan-born, the from residents of the district, resulting in mostly Alaska Native- assumption above is not a safe one to majority boards. With this fact one would assume that the Alaska make. At the present time there is not one Alaska Native school superinten- Natives of the region would have little to worry about concerning dent in Alaska, only a handful of whether their local culture and language would be a strong, if not Alaska Native school principals and (continued on next page) dominant, facet of the local schools’ curriculum and instruction. Contents Rural Alaska School Districts: Who is in control? .......................1 CIRI Foundation Teacher Mentor Project ........................................3 The Time Is Right to Write ..............4 Dixie Dayo Assumes SOP Editorial Responsibilities ...........................5 Alaska Rural Systemic Reform . ...6 Village Science: Mastodon Soup? .....7 AISES Corner ..................................8 Southeast Region ............................9 Athabascan Region ....................... 10 Iñupiaq Region ............................. 11 Aleut/Alutiiq Region .................... 12 Nick Galaktionoff ...................... 13 Yup’ik Region............................... 15 ANKN Website ............................. 16 2 SHARING OUR PATHWAYS (continued from front page) the law is met in school operations. Alaska less than six percent of all teachers are There are few, if any, school laws or Alaska Native. Over 80% of Alaska’s regulations that require school ad- Rural Systemic newly-hired teachers continue to come ministrators to pay attention to the from out of state. local culture, language or environ- Initiative Since so few school district super- ment in the administration of schools Ray Barnhardt, Co-Director intendents and administrators are from and districts. State laws are designed University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska, or are Alaska Native, they are to allow for variation to take place on ANKN/AKRSI often unfamiliar with the cultural and the local level. Schools and profes- PO Box 756480 environmental conditions of the dis- sional educators have a technical lan- Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480 tricts they administer. To the extent guage and jargon of their own that is 907-474-1902 phone that we tend to teach and administer often confusing and mysterious to the 907-474-1957 fax the way we were taught, in most cases general public. Alaska education laws e-mail: [email protected] rural Alaska school districts with and regulations are no less technical Alaska Native school boards and stu- or confusing. Oscar Kawagley, Co-Director dent populations are run just like Many Alaska Native school board University of Alaska Fairbanks Anywhere, USA. Add to this situa- members will not dispute policy or ANKN/AKRSI tion the extremely high turnover rate personnel recommendations made by PO Box 756480 of teachers and administrators in ru- their administration, assuming that Fairbanks, AK 99775-6480 ral schools, where in some cases you the administrators are the profession- 907-474-5403 phone literally have to start all over again als in these matters. In addition, mem- 907-474-1957 fax every year or two, we often end up bers of many Alaska Native cultures e-mail: [email protected] repeating the same mistakes over and do not, or will not, publicly disagree Frank Hill, Co-Director over again. I don’t fault these profes- with others even if they have other Alaska Federation of Natives sional educators alone because lack- opinions. Yet the school board is ulti- 1577 C Street, Suite 300 ing strong direction from the local mately responsible for the academic Anchorage, AK 99501 school boards they will do what they success of their district’s students. 907-274-3611 phone think best, even when they know it is Perhaps one of the causes of the lin- 907-276-7989 fax not, because they have only their own gering fact of low academic achieve- e-mail: [email protected] experience to draw upon. Recent State ment of Alaska Native students is due of Alaska improvements in profes- to the lack of assertiveness of local sional educators’ licensure require- school boards regarding budget, ments begin to address the cultural policy, instructional program and Sharing Our Pathways is a publication of the Alaska Rural Systemic relevancy issues noted above. How- personnel matters. Who knows the Initiative, funded by the National Science ever, the full effect of these improve- most about local needs: local members Foundation Division of Educational Systemic ments will not be realized until all of the school board or the administra- Reform in agreement with the Alaska Federa- teachers and administrators have been tor from Outside? tion of Natives and the University of Alaska. re-licensed under the new system. Perhaps a program to train Alaska We welcome your comments and suggestions If the local school boards do not Native school board members to more and encourage you to submit them to: have definite and strong policy state- fully realize their legal responsibili- The Alaska Native Knowledge Network ments concerning budget develop- ties and to actually take policy control University of Alaska Fairbanks University Park Building ment and approval processes, relevant of their districts should be developed. 1000 University Avenue curricula, teaching practices and ma- Of course, not all school boards would P.O. Box 756730 terials, school calendar considerations, need this training. It is my under- Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6730 teacher/personnel hiring/performance standing that the Association of Alaska 907-474-5086 phone effectiveness reviews and staff devel- School Boards (AASB) has developed 907-474-5615 fax opment preferences, the administra- an accountability model for school http://www.ankn.uaf.edu tion will often carry out and operate boards, but I am not sure what level of e-mail: [email protected] the district with little if any input training or participation rural Alaska Newsletter Editor: Dixie Dayo from the governing body of the dis- Native school boards have had in this [email protected] trict—the school board. It is the pro- accountability model. Maybe a supple- Layout & Design: Paula Elmes fessional duty of the administration mentary funding program could be [email protected] to make sure that at least the letter of developed to assist AASB and the SHARING OUR PATHWAYS 3 local boards in implementing this administrators. However, they are school board members exercising their school board accountability program? both small in scope, with limited bud- responsibilities as policy-making bod- As a facet of Alaska Native self- get capacity. These are efforts that ies, not many of the initiatives dis- governance, I believe that control of should be significantly increased with cussed here will significantly improve education matters is an area that lends more funds made available. the academic performance of Alaska itself well to developing a locally- Without the elected Alaska Native Native students. relevant program of instruction with Alaska Native Educators in the class- rooms as well as district offices. The long-term effect would reach into many other areas of Alaska Native self-determination. Also, if most of CIRI Foundation the teachers and administrators in rural schools were Alaska Native, the employment picture of rural Alaska Teacher Mentor Project would change considerably. In many villages, the highest paying jobs are unding for the Alaska Native Teachers for Excellence, held by non-Native, non-Alaskan FTeacher Mentor Project is provided by a three-year grant teachers and administrators. Too of- ten the money earned from those po- from the U.S. Department of Education and administered by sitions goes outside the state with The CIRI Foundation, Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., and the little secondary benefit to the rural Anchorage School District. We are in the second year of our economy. A program could be developed grant. that would train and sensitize new- to-Alaska teachers and administrators The goal of the Teacher Mentor 172 new contacts with prospective to teach and work in Alaska Native Project is to increase the number of teacher applicants, had 151 partici- villages and schools. Such a program eligible and qualified Alaska Native pants in the Teacher Mentor Train- once existed at the University of and American Indian teachers in ing Sessions and 44 teachers were Alaska Fairbanks where participants the Anchorage School District, so offered positions with other Alaska were sponsored by their districts to that by the year 2000 they will school districts. comprise seven-percent (210) of all learn about Alaska Native cultures Guidebook and living and working in small, of- teachers. ten remote schools where they would We hold seminars and private The Guidebook for New Alaska be in the minority. This program was sessions to assist individuals who Native/Native American Teacher discontinued but I believe that many wish to apply for teaching positions Applicants to the Anchorage School school districts would pay for their with the Anchorage School District District is available free-of-charge new-to-the-state teachers and admin- and other Alaskan school districts from The CIRI Foundation, 2600 istrators to participate in such a pro- or for students in the educational Cordova Street, Suite 206, Anchor- gram, especially if it were offered on field. They receive assistance with age, AK 99503. This book gives a regional level. Here is another area applications, interviewing, resume suggestions to consider when ap- that could have positive long-term writing and support services. There plying for a teaching position and effect on the stability and improved is no charge for our services.