The Haines Borough School District board approved at its Tuesday regular meeting a trip to Seattle for the Haines High School Art Club and a commitment to participate in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Upward Bound program that helps rural, first generation, low-income high school students prepare for secondary education.
The program includes college preparation, academic year support, exposure to tech skills and a six-week summer program.
“Our program focuses on engaging students in meaningful local projects and inspiring them to effect change in their communities,” program director Adam Low wrote to the Haines School administrators.
Haines High School teacher Alex Van Wyhe taught in the program last summer and asked the board to sign a commitment agreement with Upward Bound. Haines School would hire a coordinator, provide space for after-school activities and recruit students into the program. UAF will pay for the associated expenses and host a six-week summer program.
UAF identified Haines as a target community eligible for the Upward Bound program that will be grant funded for six years.
The board also approved art teacher Giselle Miller’s proposal for a trip to Seattle in April for the school’s art club.
“We have around six to eight students who continuously come once or twice a week,” Miller said. “Most of those are upperclassmen who want to pursue art as a career or at least in the post-secondary. They worked really hard this fall to raise money at the holiday bazaar.”
The club raised $3,000 to go toward travel expenses. While in Seattle, they’ll visit two art schools and the Seattle Art Museum and the Seattle Museum of Asian Art.
“Students will be exposed to a wealth of new art forms and interact with professional artists in both the museum and collegiate fields,” Miller wrote in her proposal.
Superintendent Roy Getchell also changed covid protocols for students identified as close contacts. The “test and stay” policy allows students who are required to quarantine if they’re a close contact in school-related cases the option to test every day for five days in order to stay in school.
About a dozen parents and residents spoke in opposition to mandatory masking at the school. Most told school board members that masking should be a choice. The current school board policy, approved at a Jan. 4 meeting, is to allow optional masking when there are no school-related cases and no community spread.