Firsthand view of school board in action

To the editor:

I attended the June 24 school board meeting and spoke in support of memo 09-181, Resolution in Support of Acquiring Land. I had no idea that I should have never used the name “Academy” when I spoke, because I was appalled at what appeared to be genuine dislike/hatred towards Academy Charter School (exception of the support by Jim Colver and Erick Cordero). Our 9-year-old son was shaken up afterward and quite upset, after hearing such distaste directed toward his school. What a bad example some board members set for children.

I had heard in the past that the Mat-Su Borough School Board was not supportive of Academy Charter in general. (I didn’t really believe it). The distaste was linked to the high test scores and high quality of education Academy’s students have received “vs” the remaining public schools, which resulted in our school district not looking so good. How absurd is that? These are the same public school students who will attend Mat-Su public high schools within the same district.

There has been the inaccurate belief by many that Academy Charter is a private elite school. It isn’t. Any student can enter the annual lottery in equal hopes of being accepted. Academy Charter is a public school. We happened to get lucky this past school year.

When our son attended another public school through third grade, he was able to earn ‘A’ grades with practically not having to do anything. The workload to earn straight ‘A’ grades was surprisingly easy for him. He needed to be challenged more, so we applied at Academy. His education since has been specifically tailored to his high level of academic ability. This past year in the fourth grade, he attended fifth-grade Language Arts and Advanced fifth-grade math. That would not have been possible had he remained where he was before.

The last time I checked, Academy Charter was a public school and supposed to be considered part of the Mat-Su Borough School District. Our taxpaying dollars that go to the school district aren’t used toward Academy. No thanks to this current board, don’t say the name “Academy” when asking for any support whatsoever.

The distaste to include the name and association of ‘Academy’ in the now failed resolution only reinforces that. Ms. Hamblen, Ms. Welton, Mr. Thompson, Ms. Pougher and Mr. Larson would only re-consider the resolution if the name ‘Academy Charter’ was stricken from the whole document.

These are some of the board members direct statements I wrote down as they spoke: Hamblen stated, “However inadequate they think they are, other academies have to lease property.” Thompson stated, “It shouldn’t be linked at all to Academy Charter.” Pougher stated Academy didn’t have a large enough share of “their budget to lease properties.”

Welton stated, “Other charter schools pay a lease” and appeared angry to even have to mention the name Academy. Larson was just plain against it from the beginning.

My husband and I now know who not to support in future elections for any public position within our community: Sarah Welton; Ole Larson; Susan Pougher; Myrl Thompson and Vice-President Coleen Hamblen.

This hatefulness truly makes me want to find another school district for our son. How sad is that?

A sincere thank you to Jim Colver and Erick Cordero for speaking up against such adversity. Academy has proven itself over the last 12 years. We hope Academy is able to secure the adjacent acres to its benefit of its public school students.

Contessa Shade Gossett

Palmer