The Haines Borough School District is taking strides to foster an inclusive relationship with roughly 50 homeschool students in the valley.

As school enrollment has tottered in the last several years, the Haines Borough Assembly and school board discussed Haines’ homeschool population at a joint meeting May 3.

“The homeschool issue is not an issue that is unique to Haines,” said interim superintendent Rich Carlson. He said across the country, a portion of students in schools’ attendance areas opt to homeschool. This reduces school enrollment and in turn impacts state and federal funding for the district.

Principal Rene Martin said there are about 20 “correspondence” students who are homeschooled through the district and individually attend certain classes in the building. Correspondence students can access state funding through the school.

She estimated there are an additional 30 to 35 students who homeschool independently or through another program like IDEA or Raven Homeschool. Most homeschool students are elementary school age. About four or five are currently in high school, Martin said.

According to the International Center for Home Education Research, Alaska does not require homeschooling parents to give notice to the state so it is unclear exactly how many students statewide are homeschooled. However, it was estimated in the 2015-2016 school year that that nearly 12,000 students statewide were enrolled in correspondence school programs.

Carlson said in his experience, some Alaska school districts like the Mat-Su Borough School District see large “pockets” of homeschooled students.

Carlson said families often homeschool for three main reasons: to have one-on-one interactions with their children, for religious purposes, or for a dislike of anything relating to the government.

“I am not aware of anybody in Haines that homeschools their kids because the school does a bad job,” Carlson said. He said an advantage of homeschooling is that students get to choose the courses they take instead of being part of a larger curriculum.

Assembly member Tom Morphet asked about an effort three or four years ago to promote the district’s homeschool program.

school board president Anne Marie Palmieri said representatives met with several homeschool families to learn more about their interests and connect them with school offerings, but the district did not push its correspondence program.

“We have to be really careful. We’re not recruiting,” Palmieri said. “We’re not recruiting because it’s a parent’s choice and we want to support the parents’ choice for what they believe is the best education for their child.”

Palmieri said homeschool families wanted to be included in and invited to school activities like field trips and family nights.

“People didn’t feel welcome…because no one had reached out,” Palmieri said. “We’re never going to be IDEA, we’re never going to be Raven, but we can do a good job at what we do. And really that’s what we’ve done.”

She said homeschool coordinator Lisa Andriesen has a list of homeschool families and reaches out to them when it’s appropriate.

Carlson said Haines school enrollment for next school year is estimated at 233 students, down from the 268 students counted in October for the 2017-2018 school year. There were 241 students in the 2016-2017 school year, though the district budgeted for 239. About 16 students are in this month’s graduating class, contributing to the loss.