The Juneau Tlingit and Haida Community Council has donated $150,000 to the Juneau School District. The funding will support school activities, a snack program and Indian Studies programs.
Rhonda Butler is the president of the community council, an elected group that represents Juneau’s Tlingit and Haida citizens. The council’s weekly bingo games fund their annual donation program, and Butler said they’ve donated to the school district in the past.
“This year it was a little bit higher, especially when we were getting notice from different tribal members that the need for food was on a rise,” she said.
The council donated $55,000 to help pay for snacks at the district’s schools.
They also donated $45,000 to support student activities, including the high school basketball teams, Thunder Mountain’s wrestling team, Yadaa.at Kalé Juneau-Douglas High School’s cheer team, the district’s Native Youth Olympics programs and the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program’s robotics team.
The council also donated $50,000 for the district’s Indian Studies programs, which help address academic and cultural needs of Alaska Native students.
Butler said partnerships like this will be key to supporting all of Juneau’s students through the district’s budget crisis. The district is facing an $8 million deficit for the current school year and is considering closing schools.
“I think with collaboration and partnership a lot of these deficits or financial cuts might be lesser in the future,” she said.
The Juneau School Board accepted the donation at its meeting Tuesday night.
