As the First Session of the 32nd Legislature concludes, we've compiled a summary of how key bills have aligned with AASB board policies and the priorities of our members.

Education issues were front and center as never before this session, generating a considerable amount of discussion, debate, and legislation. As part of AASB’s Advocacy efforts, over 100 education-related bills were tracked and their progress mapped.

AASB provided testimony to committees and consultation to legislators on a range of education bills. This input, coupled with crucial testimony provided by school board members, truly made a positive impact this year.

A majority of bills introduced this session did not advance very far through the legislative process. Many will be taken up again when the Second Session of the 32nd Legislature convenes in January 2022. Most of the 28 bills on this list have received committee hearings and have a greater likelihood of becoming law and impacting school district operations.

Many thanks to all who advocated for Alaska’s students by participating in AASB Legislative Academies, Zoom meetings with legislators, and providing oral and written testimony to committees. Your experience and counsel was heard and appreciated by lawmakers, and made a big difference in helping to shape key education legislation.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a recent report, listed Alaska’s Trauma-Engaged Toolkit as a case study of effective practice for improving education outcomes for students who have experienced trauma and adversity.

The Transforming Schools: Trauma-Engaged Toolkit, released in 2019, was co-developed by the Association of Alaska School Boards (AASB) in partnership with the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), Alaska school district boards and staff, community partners, and education organizations. DEED reports that more than 3,000 copies of the framework have been requested and provided to educators, administrators, and school staff.

Part 8 of the series, Ripp'd from the Headlines

Does being a Board Member mean that I don’t have the same free speech rights as other community members? How do I comply with Board Bylaws regarding ethics if I disagree with what the Board is doing? Do I get summers off?

The motion to amend presents many challenges.

We hope this article provides some clarity.

4 Minute Read - Includes downloadable PDF flow chart

The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help households struggling to pay for internet service during the pandemic. This new benefit will connect eligible households to jobs, critical healthcare services, and virtual classrooms.

APEI offers Professional Boundaries for Educators staff development to ALL districts, regardless of membership

Calling all youth heroes! Alaska Communications seeks nominations for its annual Summer of Heroes scholarship program with Boys & Girls Clubs - Alaska.

Chief Ivan Blunka School Principal Robin Jones has been named Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals Alaska Principal of The Year for 2021.

Trailside Elementary School, Principal Heather Jones, has been named Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals National Distinguished Principal for 2021.

Commissioner Michael Johnson announced Kelly Shrein of Northwood Elementary in Anchorage School District the 2021-2022 Alaska Teacher of the Year.

Kevin Neyhard at Hopson Middle School in North Slope Borough School District was named alternate.

Former Republican Gov. Sean Parnell will be the new leader of the University of Alaska Anchorage, the state’s largest university. Interim University of Alaska President Pat Pitney announced that she had picked Parnell as the next UAA chancellor. 

The University of Alaska Anchorage will have students back on campus this August for the fall semester. Classes begin on Aug. 23, and the campus will open to faculty, staff and students Aug. 2. Employees will return to on-campus work later this month or next, and those who are vaccinated won’t have to wear masks.

The statewide University of Alaska system halted in-person classes in March 2020. They have been held online since.

Amidst a nationwide teacher shortage, the University of Alaska is focused on increasing its teacher pipeline to provide the state with the workforce it needs and help shape the future of Alaska.

States are moving quickly to vaccinate teens with Pfizer’s Covid-19 shot before the summer, with one moving ahead of a key advisory panel.

Health officials across the country say they’re rolling out in-school vaccination clinics to take advantage of the recent clearance of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for children as young as 12. They’re hoping to reach adolescents before the end of the school year to boost their state vaccination rates.

Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said his administration won’t require vaccine passports. But it is getting ready to launch an online platform that Alaskans can use to look up and display their COVID-19 vaccination records, officials said at a news conference.

It’s called MyIR Mobile — short for My Immunization Record — and it will also allow Alaskans to show they’ve received other types of shots, not just the ones for COVID-19.

State health officials are urging Alaskans to continue to follow local mask requirements and business-specific rules after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its guidance for those who are fully vaccinated.

In a significant shift, the CDC said that fully vaccinated people can now go safely without face coverings in most indoor and outdoor settings.

Throughout the pandemic, communities across the country have looked for ways to honor health care workers and essential employees with everything from synchronized applause to jet plane flyovers.

In Anchorage, student artists participated in their own project, channeling their skills into unique portraits of local nurses and doctors and other essential staff like cleaners.

The Bradleys had moved to Alaska in August. Her children — ranging in age from 5 to 12 years old — were part of the pod in Eagle River until COVID-19 cases spiked in late 2020. Then, Bradley chose to continue teaching at home, through Family Partnership Charter School.

The Federal Communications Commission announced a new program to help households pay their internet bills. The emergency broadband relief package offers a $75 subsidy on internet bills to all who live on tribal lands and meet other qualifications — but everyone living in Alaska automatically meets the first criteria.

“All of Alaska is considered Tribal lands for purposes of the enhanced EBB discount,” FCC spokesperson Paloma Perez wrote in an email.

The state’s largest wireless internet provider is planning a major boost in service for both urban and rural Alaskans.

The next major upgrade to Alaska communities will bring 1-gig speed to Nome and Kotzebue later this year. GCI spokeswoman Heather Handyside said the upgrade will bring that part of the state more in line with Anchorage internet speeds.

Governor Mike Dunleavy signed Administrative Order No. 322 to establish the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband to address the growing need for reliable, high speed connectivity for all Alaskans. The Task Force will consist of 11 voting members and two ex officio members.

State lawmakers sent a bill to the desk of Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday that boosters say will ensure better long-term planning for the state-run ferry system.

The Alaska Marine Highway System has been struggling with deep spending cuts, an aging fleet and declining ridership as it runs fewer ships to coastal communities.

But it’s also come under fire for poor planning decisions that have kept its brand new Alaska-class ferries tied to the dock.

President Biden signed a bill that will allow cruise ships to return to Southeast Alaska this summer.

Alaska’s congressional delegation was at the White House for the signing ceremony. Alaska Congressman Don Young said it was an accomplishment to change an old law, the Passenger Vessel Services Act, that stood in the way.

Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Celebrity Cruises are on their way back to Alaska this summer.

Here's a look at their Alaska restart details and COVID-19 vaccine policies:

Alaskans could receive a Permanent Fund dividend of between $2,300 and $2,400 per person this year under a state budget approved by the Senate. But that amount is not yet certain and comes with controversy because it requires the state to violate limits on sustainable spending from the Alaska Permanent Fund.

The Alaska Legislature ended its 2021 regular session, though its work isn't finished. Lawmakers still have to achieve a compromise between the Senate's proposed $6.2 billion budget and a different plan approved by the House earlier this month.

Alaska lawmakers sprinted to try to finish their work before the regular session’s constitutional deadline last week. But they failed to pass the budget by then, and now, as a special session begins in Juneau, their momentum seems to have stalled, amid disagreements over the size of the Permanent Fund dividend.

The debate over coronavirus precautions and school reopening has fueled a surge of new candidates for school boards across the country.

Why it matters: What was traditionally a nonpartisan, hyper-local role is now at center of a swirling national political debate. Conservative and progressive parents have clashed over when and how to reopen classrooms — and it's pushed some of them to run for office themselves.

When David Paoli left his family to join his peers on the way to the outdoor ceremony, he was wearing a graduation cap decorated in sealskin — a way to honor his Iñupiaq culture during a major milestone. But as Qassataq and her family looked out at the sea of graduates gathered at the football stadium, they couldn’t pick him out. A school employee had taken his sealskin cap away. They told Paoli it violated the rules and gave him a plain cap to wear instead.

The Anchorage School District will receive $112,451,632 from the American Rescue Plan, which is the latest round of federal COVID relief funds. The district will use the funding over at least the next two school years. At least 20%, or $22,490,326, of the money must be used to address students’ learning loss, according to federal guidelines. But ASD wants Anchorage residents’ opinions on how to spend the rest of the money — almost $90 million.

The class of 2021 finally got to bring their high school journey to a successful close. Although it was a smaller class as far as the number go, they displayed that it is the quality of the class and not the quantity that counts.

Alora Wassily, Trista Wassily and Harmony Larson were learning about the history of colonization in social studies class. They visited with the Curyung Tribe and learned the story of “The Seven Sisters.”

Education leaders look back on decision to open schools

School board members who voted for public schools to open to all for in-person learning last December said they made the right choice.

Fairbanks school district: No more masks for K-12 public education workers and students 16 and older

The Fairbanks school district announced that people age 16 and older no longer need to wear face masks or social distance at schools and at district events.

Twenty-one public education workers have been notified they may not have a job in August, according to Yumi McCulloch, public relations director for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

A Fairbanks teacher has been put on administrative leave after comments she made during a discussion about George Floyd in her class at Lathrop High School, according school officials. A parent notified the school of the comments last Wednesday. In a letter to parents on Friday, Lathrop High School Principal Carly Sween described the comments as “racially insensitive.”

A COVID-19 variant has been discovered in Juneau. The P.1 strain has been found in a case first reported two weeks ago--after the State of Alaska Public Health Lab analyzed it. Public Health maintains that no other reported cases have been connected to this case. This is not the first variant found in Juneau; the B1.1.7 variant was discovered in early April. Eight new resident cases of COVID-19 were identified in Juneau from May 8 to 10.Two of the cases are individuals at Mendenhall River Community School. Now, along with the classroom from last week, two classrooms at MRCS have been moved to distance delivery.

Soon after children 12 and up were cleared for the COVID-19 vaccine, Juneau officials opened clinics at four schools. More than 600 people got their shot at the youth clinics earlier this month. But not all of them were kids. While most were 12 to 15-year-olds, some parents and other students who hadn’t yet been vaccinated also chose to get their shots.

Governor Mike Dunleavy has directed the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Spill Prevention and Response (SPAR) to allocate up to $2.5 million for the safe removal of asbestos and debris left behind after an abandoned school building in Chevak burned to the ground last March.

After a year of Zoom classes and hybrid learning, face masks, social distancing, quarantining and COVID-19 mitigation plans, both Homer High School and Homer Flex High School gathered in person to celebrate the 91 graduating seniors in the class of 2021.

Graduations are milestones for every family. In Cooper Landing, this year’s graduation was also a milestone for the community. Linnaea Gossard became the Cooper Landing School’s first high school graduate Monday night, almost a decade after the K-12 school opened to high-schoolers.

Ashlyn O'Hara, Peninsula Clarion

Ashlyn O'Hara, Homer News

Superintendent John O’Brien spoke with the Clarion about his 16 years of service in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough looks set to reduce its contribution to the Ketchikan School District. This came as the borough assembly took its first steps toward approving a $55.6 million borough-wide budget and $48.1 million school district budget.

Ketchikan’s school district has a new top administrator. Last week, the school board appointed Schoenbar Middle School Assistant Principal Melissa Johnson to serve as interim superintendent. If her contract is approved by the school board, Johnson will lead the district for the next year or so. That’ll give the school board time to search for a permanent superintendent to replace Beth Lougee. She resigned April 30.

Ketchikan’s school board is set to interview the sole applicant for a vacant school board seat. Former Board Member Sonya Skan resigned earlier this month, citing medical issues. The lone candidate is Trevor Shaw. Shaw sat on the school board from 2013 until 2018, when he resigned. He was facing a citizen recall alleging that he hadn’t allowed a student board member to participate in a board discussion.

In this episode of “Coffee at KYUK" Jamin Crow and Kaylee King, two high school seniors, talked with Lower Kuskokwim School District Media Instructor Patrick Williams about their years in the school district, and what they hope to do as they move into college.

Last week, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation began vaccinating children 12 to 15-years-old against COVID-19. YKHC Chief of Staff Dr. Ellen Hodges and Lower Kuskokwim School District Superintendent Kimberly Hankins join KYUK’s Greg Kim to talk about this effort.

Erica Kludt-Painter, superintendent Petersburg schools – staying the course with protocols and practices for the last couple of weeks of school, but happy to hear about some vaccination for younger teens. Cautiously optimistic for the rest of the school year in-person learning as long as case numbers remain low. A hybrid in-person ceremony and socially-distanced parade for high school graduation.

Petersburg High School is ranked number one in Alaska on the latest U.S. News and World Report’s national rankings of best public high schools in the country. The news outlet ranked over 17,000 schools based on performance on math and reading standardized tests, college level entry exams and graduation rates. The national ranking for PHS is 904th.

Skagway, Haines, and Hoonah have the top three rated school districts in the state. That’s according to niche.com which compiles scholastic data nationwide.

Due to COVID-19 crowd restrictions, graduation will look different than previous years. The graduation ceremony is limited to a small audience, and the general public should plan to watch over Channel 8 TV or KUCB's Facebook Live page. After the success of last year's graduation parade, the Unalaska City School District has scheduled a parade that will depart from Eagle's View Elementary School, circle the Valley Loop, and then head across the bridge to Amaknak Island, past the grocery store and airport and finally circle back over Standard Oil Hill.

School board president Fernando Barrera resigned from Unalaska's school board, leaving a vacancy on the five-person board that some fear could be hard to fill. After nearly 10 years serving on the school board, Barrera, who is also the facilities maintenance supervisor at UniSea where he has worked for roughly 25 years, resigned school board seat E.

Wrangell High School graduating class wanted to do something different this year and the students were looking forward to staging the ceremonies on the city dock. But an unkind weather forecast pushed them back into the community gym

Now with more than 20 coronavirus cases in five Southeast communities, all possibly related to the Ketchikan High School Bill Weiss Wrestling Tournament and a small schools Region V Tournament at the same venue, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District is still working diligently with the city’s Emergency Operations Center to discover exactly what happened.

Sports are back in the Lower Kuskokwim School District. On April 29, the LKSD school board voted to allow both outdoor and indoor sports activities, including traveling within and out of the region for competitions. Parent permission will be required for students to participate, and local advisory school boards will have a say on whether sports resume in their communities. The district will implement a testing regimen for participants.

A rhythmic beating followed by soft clapping and cheering echoes through the Unalaska high school gym. It's the sound of about eight high schoolers hopping across the gym floor on their toes and knuckles — bodies hovering just inches above the ground. They're practicing the "seal hop," a Native Youth Olympics event. It's an event many athletes thought they wouldn’t have the chance to practice together this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.