District right to embrace all students

The schism that led to the creation of the Old Believers branch of Russian Orthodoxy dates back to 1652.

The reasons for the break between the two groups are complex and difficult to summarize but within just a couple of decades the split grew so wide as to lead to the anathematization of Old Believer practices in Russia, which had the effect of stripping Old Believers of their civil rights.

The Old Believers were persecuted and killed. Many were exiled, many more fled to far-flung reaches of the Russian Empire — the far north and the Far East. Persecutions continued under the communists.

Some Old Believers left the country. You can find them in Australia, New Zealand, South America, Canada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Alaska. There’s a community in Mat-Su. When the Old Believers came to Willow they became our neighbors. Their children entered our school system.

The Mat-Su Borough School District has for some time put educational choice — giving parents options — at the center of its educational model.

That’s why there are six charter schools here with missions as diverse as Fronteras — a Spanish immersion school — and Birchtree — a Waldorf-inspired school. It’s also why Mat-Su Central School, which serves first and foremost as a resource center for home-school families, is the largest school in the district.

And while “school choice” as a recent phenomenon began with the charter school movement in the early ’90s, at least in Mat-Su it didn’t really start with a charter school at all.

The story of Beryozova School illustrates that. Beryozova grew organically out of the Willow Old Believer community. Children in the community took correspondence classes in the ’80s. The district assigned a teacher to oversee those children. Eventually, the district put a half-time teacher in the community.

“Around 1992, the district began to include Beryozova as a site on the state funding formula worksheet,” reads a short history of the school posted to the district’s website. “Since that time, Beryozova has been considered a public school.”

Whether it was the erstwhile school in Skwentna, or the Beryozova School, the Mat-Su Borough School District was accommodating the diverse needs its students. In this case, the Old Believers wanted a school of their own for their children, where they could thrive without feeling like outsiders.

Whatever they’re doing, it’s working. Beryozova has made it into today’s newspaper after winning recognition as a school of distinction.

We applaud the Beryozova community, the students and their teachers on their work with the school district to craft a school program that supports their students’ educational and personal needs.

It’s a source of pride to us that our local public schools are nimble enough to offer diverse educational opportunities while turning out scholars and athletes year-after-year. More than that, we are proud that some of these students return to our Valley as school board members, doctors, reporters, principals or attorneys and they are parents who choose to live here and educate their own children in our schools.

Thank you to our teachers, administrators and support staff who are helping prepare our children to become our future leaders.