In these AASB Commentaries we provide legal perspectives on issues facing districts across the State. In addition, we also have the latitude to provide some editorial comment. Here is my editorial comment for this month: The 2021-22 school year has begun … Buckle Up! It is shaping up to be a doozy! 😊

When I served on the board of the American Translators Association, a fellow board member drove me crazy. His blithe assumption of superiority and his ego were insufferable. Of course, it is a truism of psychology that a strong emotional reaction like that is linked to unresolved inner issues. When I looked at the matter carefully, I saw that I couldn’t stand this person’s taking the limelight because I wanted it myself.

The National School Boards Action Center today released a national public opinion poll on public education. You can access the poll by going directly to the NSBAC website at https://nsbac.org The findings are from a nationwide survey of 1,000 likely 2022 voters with oversamples of 100 African American, 100 Latinx, 100 AAPI, 100 Native American, and 100 parents of school-age children who are likely 2022 voters. The poll results are available to the public.

On Friday, Aug. 27, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced the approval of Alaska's American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) plan and distributed remaining ARP ESSER funds to them.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate contains billions for Alaska projects, including top priorities like ferries, road construction and sanitation.

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has announced that they will be replacing the state's testing assessment PEAKS with a new test from the Northwest Evaluation Association or NWEA.

The current test, PEAKS, is a summative English language and math assessment for 3rd through 9th graders. The new assessment from NWEA aims to better reflect learning throughout the school year and target instruction to students’ individual needs.

HeyTutor used the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, released on May 5, 2021, to rank the states according to which ones have the best internet access.

Eva Knutson calls some of her boxes “boredom busters.” They look like they’d do the job, with topics like entomology, forensic science, and oceanography. They’re designed with instructions from start to finish, so parents can just unbox them and enjoy them with their kids, even if they don’t know much about entomology themselves.

Homeschooling can provide a lot of flexibility for parents and they. can find support through correspondence programs like Connections or IDEA, but it can still be daunting to come up with enough material to keep kids busy. That’s where businesses like Ms. Cuteson’s classroom comes in.

Third graders across in the Anchorage School District have a brand new social studies curriculum. It’s a comprehensive look at Alaska Native history and culture.

The district said it’s a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Alaska Native stakeholders and cultural experts.

The book at the heart of the new curriculum is called, “The Nest Egg.” It features a third grade class that time travels to different points in history to learn about Alaska’s first peoples.

A program is underway to find a practical legal pathway to partner the Alaska Federation of Natives with local school boards and communities in the area of public education, state education officials said.

AFN’s work will be funded by a $1 million grant through the Federal CARES Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. The grant period runs through June 20, 2022.

DEED began developing Transforming Schools: A Framework for Trauma-Engaged Practice in Alaska in partnership with the Association of Alaska School Boards and the Alaska Mental Health Board in 2017. The framework was developed with other partners including the First Alaskans Institute, Alaska Child Trauma Center, Alaska Department of Public Safety, Alaska Afterschool Network and hundreds of other Alaskans through various conferences and meetings. Funding for the framework came from a grant from the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council.

The recent discovery of the remains of hundreds of Indigenous children at a residential school in Canada has prompted discussion, grief and memories of past trauma in Alaska.

Thousands of Alaska Native children were sent to boarding schools in and outside the state. The effects of forced assimilation continue to impact the lives of Native people.

Soon, a new mural depicting Elizabeth Kaaxgal.aat Peratrovich, a Tlingit civil rights icon, will greet visitors approaching downtown Juneau by water.

Peratrovich, who was born in Petersburg and lived in Juneau, worked for equality for Alaska Natives and is best known for her 1945 speech to the territory Legislature that helped prompt an anti-discrimination law in Alaska almost 20 years before the federal government took similar steps.

Students across Alaska are heading back to school, most of them back to in-person learning, and under varied mask policies.

Most of the students, teachers, and staff in Alaska will go back to school wearing masks this year, with a few exceptions.

The Alaska Gateway School District plans to require facemasks when classes there begin, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in Tok and other district communities. But officials with two other rural Interior school districts plan to only recommend, not require, facemasks, despite recent upticks in covid cases in those areas.

Six bus routes across the Anchorage School District will be temporarily suspended starting Monday because several bus drivers have tested positive for the coronavirus, the Anchorage School District said Friday.

In Alaska, as with the rest of the U.S., many employers are struggling to find workers. And child care programs often have a hard time attracting and retaining staff due to low wages. The average wage for a child care worker in Alaska is $14.40 an hour, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Chadron State College Vice President for Academic Affairs Jim Powell said the college’s partnership with ASD was in response to the growing shortage of school administrators within the district. “To offset this negative trend, ASD worked with CSC to utilize the online Masters in Educational Administration program to develop a ‘grow your own’ school principal program,”

Masks are required in public places, including businesses. That requirement does not extend to the Dillingham City School District's physical education courses or athletic activities.

A week into the 2021-2022 academic year and at least a handful of public schools have reported Covid-19 cases. Multiple letters to parents disclosing the cases have been shared with the News-Miner.

Maisie Thomas, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The 2021-2022 school year began on Wednesday for Fairbanks public schools, and, as is not unusual, there were complaints about bus delays.

The Haines Borough School District Board unanimously approved back-to-school plans that included universal face coverings for the start of the year and to reassess as risk levels change. The Haines Borough is still considered a high-risk community, said interim manager Alekka Fullerton. 47 active cases have resulted from community spread after an influx of people traveled to Haines to attend the state fair.

Superintendent Dr. Bridget Weiss while a guest on Action Line said that there are 24 people within their system who have tested positive. "It's important to remember that first of all we have over 4,000 kids plus about 700 staff so that's out of 47-hundred or so people," said Weiss.

An additional personal day and new health care premium rates are among the proposed changes outlined in tentative agreements reached by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District with unions representing district teachers and district support staff. The bargaining agreements, if ratified, would be in effect from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2024.

School district implements universal masking mandate

The Kodiak Island Borough School District board approved the decision at a special meeting, after Superintendent Larry LeDoux explained added training is needed to help prepare for remote learning if a sharp increase in COVID cases forces the school district to go in that direction.

School starts next week in the Lower Kuskokwim School District. Joining us this morning are LKSD Superintendent Kimberly Hankins and KYUK’s Greg Kim.

A new program from UAA is coming to Bethel this fall. Students who participate will earn high school and college credit. The goal would be to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree, or even a bachelor’s degree, from the University of Alaska system. The program is called the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program Acceleration Academy. ANSEP is starting up the academy in Bethel in August 2021. Lower Kuskokwim School District students are able to participate this year.

The Lower Kuskokwim School District has agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle a lawsuit. Attorneys for two girls had sued the district for failing to protect them from sexual abuse at the hands of Christopher Carmichael, 57, a former Bethel elementary school principal.

Classes begin in person for all but one of the Nome and Bering Strait School District. Superintendent Jamie Burgess said that any school with less than an 80% vaccination rate will require universal masking.

The North Slope Borough School District has a new interim superintendent, after the departure of Pauline Harvey. As the district looks for a permanent replacement for Harvey, the school district has hired Rich Carlson to serve as interim superintendent. Carlson has more than 40 years experience as an educator in Alaska and has served as superintendent of the Klawock City School District and twice as the interim Haines Borough School Superintendent.

Sitka Schools opened with a return to full, in-person learning for all students. Both the school district and the community remain on “high” covid alert, however, and all students were required to wear masks.

The City of Unalaska confirmed what it called a "widespread community exposure" of COVID-19, after identifying two new community acquired cases of the virus. Unalaska's schools will still open for classes, but district officials said that masks will be required at all times,

The Northwest Arctic Borough School District has implemented several policies to limit the spread of COVID-19, including mandatory masks and socially-distanced desks. As school districts around the state debate over whether or not to mandate masks, superintendent Terri Walker says her district is opting for a more cautious approach.

Wrangell’s new schools superintendent wants to provide students as many choices as possible for learning, though he acknowledges it’s hard for the small district to provide in-person teaching for every subject students may want. Over time, that may mean more online classes, led by instructors outside Wrangell, said Bill Burr, who took over as schools superintendent on July 1, moving to Wrangell from the Delta/Greely School District in the Interior.

For the Soldotna High football team, the season is beginning with an unsettling, unwelcome sense of familiarity. Soldotna was scheduled to host West Valley on Friday, but coach Galen Brantley Jr. learned Wednesday night that West Valley couldn’t make the trip because of a positive COVID-19 test.

“Students will wear masks during sports when they are not competing directly or actively engaged in practice or training. So, for example, in cross country, you know, masks are, of course, not recommended while running, but recommended at all other times during the event,” said LKSD Superintendent Kimberly Hankins. Students will be allowed to travel both in-region and out of the region for sports competitions as long as they are following each community’s local travel mandates.