The Chatham school board met Tuesday evening to discuss the future of Klukwan School after its enrollment fell below 10 by the October count deadline, the minimum number of students to receive full state funding.
Part of the Chatham School District, the Klukwan School is funded by the Chatham school board. No members of the board live in Klukwan. The Chatham district also includes Tenakee Springs, Angoon and Gustavus.
The district will receive less funding than it budgeted for due to the enrollment decrease.
“We budgeted for 12 students and we’re down to five at this point,” superintendent Bruce Houck said of Klukwan School at Tuesday’s work session. “That will cause some hardship for the district. There are some options that the board has. One is to continue as you are. Two would be to discontinue the school.”
If the school is closed, the board would have to submit a plan to the state for how and where they would be educated. The board could also provide education through the Chatham virtual or correspondence school program.
Board member Frances Ziel discussed how Tenakee Springs turned its school into a virtual learning center after low enrollment forced their school to close.
“It was 100 percent volunteer,” Ziel said. “There were parents paying for fax paper, snacks being made for children. I am not a proponent for closing schools. What I would like to see come out of this are some options that the community of Klukwan is willing to work on and work with the regional school board in developing a situation where we can develop and foster student enrollment and admin stability and communication so we can see Klukwan school thrive.”
No decisions were made at the work session, but the school board will schedule a joint discussion with Klukwan’s advisory school board in November. Recent meetings between Klukwan residents and Chatham school board members and administrators have been rife with tension.
Some Klukwan School parents and residents blame Chatham’s administration for the decline in Klukwan’s enrollment. They’ve cited poor communication, the lack of a school lunch program, the firing of a well-liked teacher, the lack of a school bus and providing more funding to Angoon and Gustavus schools at the expense of Klukwan as reasons enrollment has declined.
Dan Hotch and Tony Strong criticized the board for increasing Angoon and Gustavus’ travel budget but not adequately funding Klukwan.
“Give us the money to have us operate functionally as a school, to have enough to pay a teacher full time and have administrative capabilities and pay for it,” Strong said. “Have that and we’ll last out the year and perhaps we’ll be able to get more students coming back to Klukwan.”
Klukwan School has also had difficulty this year retaining a teacher. The board cut funding for a second teacher in 2019. The district hired a new head teacher this year but the person never showed up to teach. The second person they hired quit after the first day.
Klukwan has hired a temporary substitute teacher.
Board president Elizabeth Hooge disputed the claim that the board has underfunded Klukwan. She said the opposite is true, that state funding based on Angoon and Gustavus enrollment has been diverted to Klukwan as its enrollment has steadily decreased.
“Since I’ve been on this board, since 2014, the Klukwan site has not brought in the revenue that was expended on it. I’m going to say that out loud. It’s a completely false accusation to say the Chatham School District has not spent the money to support the Klukwan School.”
Hooge told the CVN that the board discontinued a hot lunch program after difficulties hiring a cook, and that the paperwork required for a federal reimbursement for the hot lunch program was never completed by Klukwan staff. She said a cold lunch program was approved because it was less expensive, and that the cold lunch was eventually eliminated during last year’s budget discussions.
Board member Jim Wagner addressed poor communication between Klukwan and Chatham board members and administrators.
“In the past we’ve been told we’ll have 15 or 18 students and if we had a bus, we’d have this many more,” Wagner said. “We’ve heard that. We spent over $100,000 to get a bus in hopes that that would help and that didn’t work out really good. If there’s complaints about dialogue or honesty, I think it works both directions. An honest and frank discussion with everything on the table is probably a good way to go about exploring options.”
The bus has also been a point of contention. The school bus was damaged in a fire last year and, according to superintendent Bruce Houck, has had to undergo several rounds of repairs and delays in finding parts. The bus work is complete, he said, and it should return to Haines soon. In the meantime, the Chilkat Indian Village has been providing transportation for students from the upper valley and Haines to Klukwan.
“People don’t quite grasp the concept that we’re bussing kids to our school in order to keep it open,” Hooge said. “Since the time when (enrollment) numbers began dropping and becoming a concern because the revenues were not sufficient to maintain the school, the district has been welcoming students from outside our district boundaries.”
The board took public comment but did not have a dialogue with Klukwan residents and parents. Hooge said the board plans to have a joint meeting with Klukwan in November to advance the discussion.
“This is a pressing and urgent issue and the community of Klukwan deserves information and clarity as much as there is to be had as soon as possible,” she said.