Ten years ago Carol Kelly was first elected to the Haines school board. At that time the district was virtually bankrupt, could not pay their bills, was forced to lay off teachers and academic achievement was mediocre at best. Under her leadership, having spent a lifetime in school administration, together with other dedicated board members and administrators, the schools are now fiscally sound with contingency reserves to carry them through unexpected difficulties. The academic achievement and test scores are near the highest in the state and they have been solicited by the state to participate in an achievement awards program. This all did not come without sacrifice. Our lives, vacations, visits with grandkids and even out-of-town shopping trips over these ten years had to be planned around the best interest of the schools and students.
The controversial issues policy was implemented to provide a balance to information provided to the students. This controversial book and one-sided presentation clearly fell under that policy. Where would this handful of critics and their CVN editor cohort stand if Greens Creek or Kensington mines wanted to present a one-sided view of the environmental soundness of mining in Southeast Alaska? Our kids deserve an education, not indoctrination.
Please don’t permit a vocal minority to destroy our schools as they are Haines Borough government. Haines’ future is up to you.
Al Kelly