A year in our schools

This year's hot education topics included a contentious one: Labor negotiations between the Matanuska-Susitna Employee Association and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. The negotiations are once again at a standstill, while both sides wait for the third-party government arbitrator's report that will provide some guidelines for a possible agreement sometime in early 2004. Equally as important, the first Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report was released in August. Read on to recapture this and other 2003 historical events in the Valley's education.

Labor negotiations

Spring of 2003 found both MSEA and the district at a negotiation standstill regarding the teachers' negotiation contract. Both MSEA and the district filled unfair labor practice complaints with the Alaska Labor Relation Agency, and then waited through the summer for a third-party arbitration, scheduled for November. In September, MSEA president Barbara Morris requested that the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board direct the district administration to return to the table to restart negotiation talks; the board denied the request, stating that the administration would continue as planned and negotiate during the arbitration.

In November, both sides met with the federal arbitrator and could not come to an agreement; the arbitrator stated that both parties failed to meet "common ground" and suggested that further mediation before the arbitration report would be "futile." November also brought a Alaska Labor Relation Agency Notice of Preliminary Finding of Probable Cause against the district which stated that there is probable cause to support three of MSEA's allegations: that the district violated timelines for choosing an arbitrator, the district notified teachers directly of a settlement proposal rather than communicating through the association's bargaining team, and that the district provided a document to MSEA members that provided an incomplete picture of outstanding proposals. In December, MSEA admitted to the district's complaint that they committed unfair labor practices when they refused to give the district information on member's health insurance.

Adequate Yearly Progress

Seventeen of the 35 school sites in the district meet the AYP criteria for the 2002-2003 school year. The report measured 31 academic indicators to determine whether a school is meeting standards for adequacy detailed in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Thirty of the schools meet AYP criteria as a whole, but all ethnic background, limited English proficiency, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged student categories also had to meet the guidelines in order to meet AYP. Most schools that did not meet the criteria only missed the mark in one or two areas.

Schools meet AYP if they tested at least 95 percent of their students in each category, and if all students in each category meet the annual measurable objective in both language arts and mathematics. For the 2002-2003 school year, 64.03 percent of students had to be proficient in language arts and 54.86 percent had to be proficient in math.

Financial Advisory Committee

This October Bob Doyle, the chief school administrator, announced that the district would open its financial books to a third-party financial advisory committee in order to help restore credibility in the budget process and to get a true financial picture of the district before beginning the FY 05 budget. Financial experts from across the Valley were named to the committee, which met during November in order to determine the financial state of the district and the truth in the districts numbers. In December the committee announced that they felt confident that a full disclosure of financial information was granted and that the district's audit report can be relied upon to be indicative of its financial position. The committee also made four recommendations to the board based on its findings: to adopt a long-term goal to provide for an unreserved Fund Balance of 3 to 7 percent; to charter an audit/financial advisory committee annually; to recommend the public accept the districts financial statements as truth; and in an effort to manager employee costs, wage percentages should be comparable to other similarly sized districts.

Curriculum Guidelines

In order to streamline and align the curriculum material of more than 900 teachers across the district, 52 teachers met this summer in order to implement recommendations made after a curriculum audit performed by Phi Delta Kappa last December. The curriculum guidelines document provides a district-wide outline of what and when should be taught in the district, so that transferring within the district does not cause any student to miss learning opportunities. The curriculum was aligned both vertically and horizontally, and applies to subjects both tested and not tested throughout a student's school career.

School Funding approved

Gov. Frank Murkowski signed Senate Bill 202, which approved full funding for the FY 04 school year, this past June. While the bill did not restore any funds cut earlier in April, the bill did not cut at the budget anymore, and the rearranging of funds meant an increase in the per-pupil funding from $4,010 to $4,169 per student. The district received $52,326 more than originally planned in the borough's FY 04 budget.

Elections and bonds

Voters said thumbs up this October to nearly $16 million in bonds for a new Wasilla area elementary school, a permanent site for an alternative school in Palmer, a nutrition services facility for the school district, a career center and a vocational high school. Another $6.3 million in bonds will provide funding for nearly 80 school renovation projects, including sprinklers and piping and Palmer Junior Middle School, fire alarms at Snowshoe and Iditarod elementary schools and Su-Valley High School, siding and doors for Big Lake Elementary and ventilation improvements for Colony High School. Voters chose not to approve bonds for permanent sites for the district's charter schools and funding for upgrades to the district administration office. Also during the election, incumbents Rob Wells and Sarah Welton were re-elected to the school board.

Administration moves

The school district administration moved from the old administration building on Evergreen Avenue to the new administration building that use to be the old Sherrod Elementary School this June. The old Sherrod was no longer safe for students, because it is set up for open classrooms, and the old administration building was not up to Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations. Twelve departments with roughly 75 employees moved into the new administration building, which had been left unoccupied with the new Sherrod Elementary School being built on-site.

Houston High dedication

Years after the need was first recognized for a new Houston High School, the new building and school was dedicated this October during a ceremony honoring those who labored for years to make the dream a reality.

Students from classes 2004 to 2016 lined up on stage making a dramatic statement about the new school; talks about the need for an upper-Valley high school first started when the students of the class of 2004 were of kindergarten age.