Opened doors … open to everyone

MATT NEVALA

August 27, 2008 at 2:20PM AKST

As he looked over the student body, a collection of 130 or so mostly smiling young faces, principal Tim Godfrey asked a seemingly logical question.

“Are you happy to be here?”

“Yes,” the students shouted back with so-so volume.

Godfrey asked again.

“Yes,” this time the shout came with more oomph.

The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School opened doors at its temporary Anchorage location Aug. 20 with the warm, welcoming statement from the students and staff during a first-day assembly. After some recent worries about meeting enrollment numbers, Godfrey, a first-year principal, joyously concentrated solely on kicking off the new school year.

“There is a not a concern any more,” Godfrey said after the assembly. “We need to get at 150 students through (the first 20 days of October) and right now we’re sitting at 130.

“I would say with the contacts we’ve made, we’ve got another 50 students coming in which will give us about 180. That’s a great number, budget wise.”

The Alaska Native charter school — open to all students in grades kindergarten through sixth — is the first of its kind in the Anchorage School District.

Students at the first day assembly came from both Native and non-Native families.

Officials had hoped to start the school last year, but couldn’t secure a location. The school opened this year in an eastside Anchorage church and is expected to move into a nearby remodeled building sometime after the Christmas break.

The plan behind the school is to teach academics with a touch of Alaska Native culture — examples like honoring ancestors, the self-sufficiency of the subsistence lifestyle and knowledge and respect for nature. Family members and elders are expected to be large parts of the day-to-day curriculum and the school staff’s backgrounds are peppered with rural Alaska roots.

A parent newsletter introduced teachers with quick descriptions. Staff members either once worked or lived in Nome, Scammon Bay, Dillingham, Shageluk, New Stuyahok, Medfra and McGrath.

Piama Oleyer, a member of the school’s academic policy committee, expects the school to best serve Alaska Natives currently residing in Anchorage or thinking of moving to the state’s largest — and certainly most urban — city.

“It’s a perfect solution to a long-standing problem,” Oleyer said.

A week before school started, enrollment numbers at the Alaska Native charter school were below expectations and Anchorage School District officials hinted at a possibility the school wouldn’t remain open because it wouldn’t meet enrollment-based state funding targets. Godfrey said about 30 more students enrolled in a week’s time — district officials said the total number stood at 133 on opening day — and more are on the way.

“We’ve contacted a lot of families (in rural Alaska) and we know they are coming,” Oleyer said.

This school year marks the second since the Anchorage School District and many others around the state changed calendars to begin in mid-August and end in May. Many potential students and their families, some who may already live in Anchorage or are planning to move in part to combat the escalating cost of living in rural Alaska, remain at fish camp or are berry picking right now. It means school will have to wait.

“This time of year, it’s harvest time and out cultural activities dictate that we put away food (for winter) while it’s available,” said David Kirk, who hails from Noatak and enrolled his son Kaliksun, a second-grader, and daughter Tara, a first-grader, at the school. “Those kinds of activities take precedent.”

Kirk moved his family to Anchorage about a year ago so his wife could attend the University of Alaska Anchorage. The kids attended an Inupiat-immersion school before the move and he didn’t want his children to lose their cultural connection.

“It’s a diverse culture, but what you say or do in Noatak may be all you know,” Kirk said. “Here, you’re going to get a different taste from Southeast, the coastal region and the Interior.

“It’s new and intriguing.”

The first-day assembly continued after Godfrey’s opening comments. Two staff members repeated the Pledge of Allegiance in Yup’ik after it was recited in English. Fifth-grader Allen Oscar beat a drum and led the assembly in a brief Alaska Native dance.

It’s no secret some rural Alaska residents are fleeing villages and moving to the state’s larger locations. A gallon of gas in Anchorage is cheaper than it is in Koliganek.

But Godfrey doesn’t want to compete with villages and rural cities for students. In the long term, he wants rural Alaska to know the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School is an option for those considering a move to Anchorage.

“I want to start connecting with superintendents and principals in villages,” Godfrey said. “I’m hoping to have regular town hall meetings. Some people in (rural Alaska) are used to having their day care, best friends and extended families all there in the same village with them.

“I want them to know we can provide that feeling of community.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at 907-348-2480 or toll free at 800-770-9830, ext. 480.