Its Native Village located in Karluk located on Kodiak Island went viral this summer with an advertisement that offered no cost living as a way to reopen the school. However, just one month after the start of classes the school has been shut down again. The enrollment of students at the school is dropping to two children after both families who had who decided to relocated there quit the village.
The decision to shut down Karluk school Karluk school was made unanimously in a school board emergency meeting held on October. 24.
“It’s a very sad day when you must shut down the school,” said Cyndy Mika who is director of the Kodiak Island Borough School District director. “And it’s not something that I’ve ever planned to do during my time in office – it’s the last thing I would like to do again. It’s a burden in your mind when you need to shut down an institution.”
The school’s reopening was a massive effort by all parties that were involved.
Karluk was home to just a couple of dozen people living there year-round, with only two being school-aged children. The village advertised free housing costs for two families who wanted who wanted to relocate during the summer. The state requires that 10 student to have enrolled to be eligible for money.
The ads worked. Two families with eight children among them relocated from Karluk in September. In the following month, the school’s board decided to allow the facility to be reopened.
However, as on Monday, both the families that had been reunited had left Karluk.
Alicia Andrew, a Tribal Chief of The Tribal Council, said in an email sent out on Tuesday that the incident was a sour note for the entire community.
“It’s really disappointing because we thought we’d chose the right family,” she wrote.
The Wilkinsons were among the families that flew into the town. When they were contacted on Facebook, they stated that they were in Kentucky but did not have any comments at the moment. The other family members could not be reached for comments.
Mika said that the district will continue to support the students in Karluk despite the fact that the school is closing.
“We’ll be transitioning these students into our school and offering them education through the AK Teach homeschool and correspondence program,” she said.
She explained that a part of the assistance will consist of providing assistance when needed, and to provide an internet connectivity as well.
October is the month when October is the time when Alaska Department of Education and Early Development conducts a head count of students in order to fund. But because the families departed prior to the headcount being complete, Mika said it’s unlikely the district will be able recover the investment it put into opening the school.
“We did not make it to the count, and that’s the reason behind it — and that’s most likely, and the sole reason for us ending.”
Between the renovation of the school’s structure to allow a teacher to live there, and then delivering the technology and curriculum supplies for the community, as well as finally receiving those items back the district has lost around $80,000 on a small budget.
District staff are currently working on plans to get appliances like fridges, freezers and a satellite starlink dish, in addition to technology for students, such as iPads and laptops. Mika told me that they’ll probably require three or four Cessna Caravans chartered by the district for the return of everything to Kodiak.
It is working closely with state officials to secure prorated funding serving the students of 10 for the period they spent in the village. However, in the event that it is not possible, the funds will be taken from the fund balance in the district which is a savings or fund account.
Even though it didn’t go according to plan, Mika said she still is adamant about her suggestion along with the school’s Board of Education’s choice not to reopen the school in the first instance.
“We believed it would be in the interests of the children to open it as an educational facility and I believe we made the right decision,” she said. “It is a gamble, and it was not a success. However, we tried our best when we had our school in session.”
The representative of The Karluk Tribal Council said in an email that they could seek out other families to try. If they are able to locate new families the school board will be required to approve the opening of the school once more even if they already had sufficient students.
Legally, the school district had to inform parents 10 days in advance of the school closing date, which means the building will be officially closed on November. 2 – precisely one month following the date its opening.
Mika stated that the next step for the school district are to hand over that Karluk property back the borough.
