Two elementary teachers at the Haines School recently resigned.
Jeanne Kitayama, who has been working part-time as early literacy coordinator for the Haines Borough School District, said she’s leaving to pursue other opportunities, including education consulting work.
Kitayama has been with the district 12 years, mostly in primary grades. “I’m ready to try a new path. I’ve been talking with people doing consulting elsewhere and looking at the possibility of international substitute teaching.”
She said she hoped the district would continue efforts targeting early literacy and said she’d continue volunteering as executive director of the Children’s Reading Foundation of Haines. “Our board is very dedicated, so I’m sure our work will carry on.”
She said she has submitted a proposal for a short contract with the district on ways to incorporate her work, using lessons and collaborative teaching methods.
Akela Silkman resigned this week, saying she has accepted a two-year position teaching sixth-grade English at a private school on Majuro, one of the Marshall Islands. Silkman has been recognized by the district for integrating technology into lessons, including the school’s iPad project and the district’s new “smartboards,” a type of digital chalkboard.
Silkman credited superintendent Michael Byer with “phenomenal vision” toward technology advances in the school.