Local teachers wear red, voice concerns about potential cuts to education

PALMER — After public testimonies at the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board meeting Wednesday night, a wave of teachers left the district office. The group included Anastasia Anisimova. She said that she still had papers to grade among other tasks. She teaches second and third grade at Butte Elementary School on a “looping position.”

She was in tears as she talked to Jill Showman, EL Case Manager for Goose Bay, Knik, Machetanz and Snowshoe Elementary schools. Anisimova said that her fellow staff and her students have become family but as a non-tenured teacher, she will be cut from the school’s staff. She said that she has no choice but to start looking for another job.

“I’m going to be cut. So by the time they know about the budget, I will already need to know that I have a job. I can’t bargain with that,” Anisimova said.

Showman is also the former president of the Mat-Su Education Association teachers’ union. She was also talking to Heather Rains, a Machetanz Elementary teacher. Showman said that Rains invests a lot of money into her class.

“She buys a lot,” Showman said.

Rains said that she typically invests about $3,000 of her own money to her class each year, on top of fundraising efforts.

Fred McKenney is a history teacher at Colony High School. He was one of many teachers wearing red to support educational funding at the school board meeting.

“It affects the kids,” McKenney said.

He stood at one of the doorways in the MSBSD building saying hello to familiar faces in his red jacket.

“It’s the only red thing I have that’s red,” McKenney, a longtime coach at Colony High who is more accustomed to wearing green, said with a laugh.

He said that he was there to support the teachers and more importantly, the children.

“Dunleavy’s an idiot,” McKenney said.

He said that educational funding is vital to the safety and livelihood of the American people. Even as a football coach, he was keen on the idea of cutting high school sports programs before any other educational sacrifices.

“After the military, education protects us domestically. Ignorant people are easily corrupted by corrupt politicians,” McKenney said.

To McKenney, a well-funded educational system is a matter of national security. He said that increased crime rates and lack of educational funding go hand in hand.

“Without education, you can’t get a good job. If you can’t get a good job you become a crook. It’s a pretty natural progression,” McKenney said.

McKenney is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving a total of 25 years. He said that he’s served from Vietnam, past Bosnia. He said that despite the stigma of teachers being a lot of “bleeding heart liberals” he certainly is not and still pushes for educational funding. He said that if anyone wants to see if he’s a liberal or not, to simply stop by his class.

“I have a sign. It says, ‘if you can read this thank your teacher. If you can read this and it’s in English, thank your military… I believe in telling the kids the truth. When you’re in the military for 25 years and you become a colonel, you’re not a bleeding heart liberal,” McKenney said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at Jacob.mann@frontiersman.com.