Syndicated Archives - KCAW

Lone Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins remains in the lead in the race for Alaska governor. The former state representative from Sitka spent election night in Downtown Anchorage, watching results roll in with a crowd of 350 family members, friends, and supporters.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Kreiss-Tomkins had 49.1% of the vote, with nearly all precincts reporting. Republican Bernadette Wilson trails behind at 29.2%. Kreiss-Tomkins would need more than 50% to avoid going to a second round of voting, under Alaska’s ranked-choice system. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Kreiss-Tomkins Wednesday afternoon to talk to him about election night and how he’s feeling about his bid for the governor’s seat. Listen to the conversation here:

TRANSCRIPT:

KCAW: As of this afternoon, you’re leading in the polls. How are you feeling? Are you feeling optimistic?

KREISS-TOMKINS: Yes, we think there’s a pretty decent chance that as additional outstanding ballots are counted, given where those ballots are coming from, that we will push north of 50% in the polls, and that’s always been our reach goal: is to crack 50% in the first round so that ranking isn’t required. [I] feel cautiously optimistic we’re on track to do that. 

KCAW: And so people are talking about this kind of “blue wave” that swept across the country on election night. Democrats flipped Congress, won races in historically conservative states. Now, Alaska could have its first Democratic governor in more than two decades. What’s your reaction to all of that?

KREISS-TOMKINS: I feel we were building a big tent campaign that had the ability to win this race in Alaska no matter what the national climate was. I think there is a lot of fundamental strength in our campaign, and that we will see in the numbers, when all the votes are counted, that suggest that to be the case. And also, I think the national climate, the national dissatisfaction with I think the president, to some extent, and just the state of the country, it definitely put wind in our sails with this race on the state level.

KCAW: So, if you do become governor, what are the biggest priorities you’d want to tackle first?

KREISS-TOMKINS: Just as I campaigned, [I’m] really focused on the basics and finding common ground and solving problems that most Alaskans can agree on. Very high on the list is public education and reinvesting in K-12 education and forward funding education, as well as passing retirement for teachers as well as public employees. So, you know, those are two immediate legislative pushes, both of which have broad legislative support, but have just been frustrated by vetoes from Governor Dunleavy in the last year. And then also tackling cost of living, whether it’s housing or energy and electricity, or childcare. So there’s a lot of work to be done, but those are a couple of issues that really jump first to mind.

KCAW: So yesterday I spent some time down at the polls talking to people, and you have widespread support here in Sitka. I think that we’re at like 66, 67 percent of folks voted for you in the election. Do you have anything you’d like to say to Sitka voters who really turned out for you on election day?

KREISS-TOMKINS: Well, I’m just so grateful. Sitka and my old district at large in Southeast Alaska, even more broadly, were key reasons why we won the primary election out of 17 candidates. And the extraordinary support from home means the world to me on a personal level and was materially significant on a statewide level in the primary. And continuing to see that support going forward in the general election just means a lot. This community made me who I am, and I, you know, won’t ever forget that. And it’s always home, and I’m just very grateful to have that support from home, and it’s been there every step of the way from this campaign, including when we launched it in the Sheet’ká Ḵwáan Naa Kahídi on on February 4.

After a year off, spurred by the government shutdown, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Kukui is once again a haunted ship. Here’s how the crew was preparing for the return of Sitka’s long-standing Halloween tradition: 

At the stern of the Kukui, four Coast Guard crew pour fake blood onto a white sheet. Gabe Fortin’s hands are stained with the red goo he’s using to draw a ring around a big X, like a cult circle. 

“We’ve been trying it for a long time, and so you can see there’s all kinds of dead bodies everywhere,” Fortin says.

A Tyvek suit stuffed with rags lies flat on the deck. The protective coveralls are splattered with blood made from beet juice.

“He was late to his [midnight] watch, so he got punished,” Fortin jokes. “My idea is like a cult execution theme where we’re doing a ritual to do something, maybe to give us power.”

Fortin says crew members will circle around him while he chants into a microphone. He’s still workshopping what he’ll say as the cult leader.

“I have to come up with an appropriate chant,” he says.

That’s just one scene that will be featured on the Kukui for Sitka’s annual haunted ship. Down on the buoy deck, black plastic tarps line the sides to prevent any passerby from peering in.

“We’re going for somewhat of a chainsaw massacre theme down here,” says Steven Calcaterra who’s in charge of the scene on the buoy deck. As people make their way past coffins and dummy corpses, they’ll be running from scare actors wielding chainsaws.

It’s still a work in progress. The crew has just two days to throw everything together.  

“I was doing a round of the ship, seeing how everything was going, and I was very pleasantly surprised coming to the buoy deck, seeing everybody working together,” says Anjali Friedman, the ship’s morale officer.

Friedman says it’s all a team effort. One crew member holds a coffin door open while another trims it with an electric saw. Another group spray paints two big pieces of cardboard they plan to hide behind. 

Inside the cutter’s halls, black tarps cover up windows so it’s dark, except for the eerie red glow of emergency lights.

“Here we’re gonna have a fog machine and we’re gonna black this out and kind of have it like a claustrophobic space. Here’s a jump scare opportunity,” Friedman says.

They’ll be using props collected over the years from previous crews and decorations donated by the community. 

The sick bay is like an operating room straight out of a horror movie. Strobe lights shine on a table littered with bloody limbs. But Michael Overstreet, the commanding officer of the Kukui, says they don’t need donated props for this area. 

“We have all of these limbs and things as part of our normal medical training that we do,” Overstreet explains.

The haunted ship was a job requirement Overstreet says he only found out about once he stepped in for the previous commanding officer. But he’s learned just how much Sitkans love the annual tradition. Especially after calling off the haunted ship last year because of the government shutdown.

“There’s a lot of pent up demand from the community, so they’re all excited to get back on board Kukui and and come here for the frights,” Overstreet says.

Friedman says Halloween is her favorite holiday, so she’s thrilled to be in charge of the haunted ship — cults, chainsaws, and all. And if her crewmates feel differently, she says they have no choice.

“They must work,” Friedman jokes.

But many seem devoted to their work. Like Fortin, the cult leader, whose hands will probably be stained by the beet juice blood till November. 

Next week, for the third time in six years, Alaskans will once again weigh in on ranked choice voting. Ballot Measure 2 on the November 3 midterm ballot, would repeal ranked choice voting in the state, get rid of the open primary system, and roll back additional campaign finance disclosure laws that were established when ranked choice voting was enacted.

At a forum hosted by the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday (10-28-26), two Alaskans, Phil Izon (Anchorage) and Chad Goeden (Sitka), debated the pros and cons of the initiative. 

Listen to the full forum here:

The Sitka Assembly voted Tuesday night (10-27-26) to hold a special election in the new year. If the initiative is approved on second reading, Sitka voters will weigh in on a seasonal sales tax increase to fund a local childcare initiative. 

While assembly members agree the funding mechanism isn’t ideal, they say asking voters whether or not they support it is a step in the right direction. 

Childcare access in Sitka has been named a top priority by the city. According to a 30-page study commissioned earlier this year, Sitka’s childcare system has the capacity to serve only about half of the young children who need it.

In June, the Sitka Assembly settled on a $1 million a year plan to help address the growing shortage, but still had to find a way to pay for it. That’s how they ultimately came up with the idea of a seasonal sales tax increase. 

“We have been working on this now for pushing two years, I believe,” said co-sponsor Thor Christianson. “It’s been before the assembly a number of times. And we reached out and had more meetings and town halls than anything else [during] the entire time I’ve been on the assembly.”

If approved by voters, Sitka’s summer sales tax rate — that’s from April through September — would increase from 6% to 6.5%. Winter sales tax would remain unchanged. City staff anticipate the increase could raise more than $1 million in additional sales tax revenue per year to put towards workforce incentives, grants, a family scholarship fund, and a childcare career pathway program. 

Laurinda Marcello was one of a handful of community members who gave feedback on the proposal at the meeting. She said if private solutions could have solved the childcare shortage, they’d have worked by now. So instead, she said she throws her full support behind putting the sales tax question to voters.

“I got on a wait list for daycare when I was pregnant shortly after I announced to friends and family. But we did not get offered a licensed spot until my son was old enough to attend preschool,” she said. “So my husband left his job for about 1.5 years, which was a way more significant financial hit than a .5% sales tax increase would be to our family.”

Marcello said if she’d decided to have more children, she likely wouldn’t be able to continue to live in Sitka due to the financial stress. 

“I want new parents and parents adding children to their families to have better options than my family did, so that they can remain in Sitka for the long haul. That requires public investment,” she said.

Enrollment in the Sitka School District has been declining over the past two decades, and Lauren Wild, with the Early Childhood Coalition, said the lack of childcare is a factor. 

“Everyone in Sitka should be alarmed. That’s the future of our town,” Wild said. “We can argue over why, but people, like Laurinda said, are leaving Sitka if they want to have children. They’re not having children in Sitka. They’re only having one child. I hear these stories every day.”

Wild said passing this proposal is “the first step and a critical step in turning the tide.” 

Newly-elected Assembly Member Sherri Blankenship said she thinks the tax increase is “a lot like robbing Peter to pay Paul.” It’s solving one issue while adding to the financial burden on young people.

“Have we aggressively pursued every funding opportunity that we could possibly do as a community. That is something I don’t think that we have done,” she said. “I don’t think that we have fleshed this out completely to the point that it is structured, organized, and figured out before we brought this to the people and said ‘We’re going to raise your taxes because that’s the easiest thing to do to figure out how to fund this.’”

Blankenship, who ultimately voted in favor of putting the proposal to voters, suggested looking at things like adjusting the senior sales tax exemption or leaning into the assembly’s proposed public-private partnership where local businesses would make a financial contribution.

Co-sponsor Katie Riley said she also doesn’t love the funding mechanism the assembly settled on — she thinks it’s “a regressive tax” on the most tax burdened population in Sitka. But she said she wants the community to weigh in. 

“I don’t know how people are supposed to pay for childcare and a mortgage, especially with interest rates at this point in time, and still afford groceries,” Riley said. “This is really really impeding the ability of young people to make this community their home. With that being said, I strongly believe that we need some level of municipal investment in childcare to support the stabilization and the growth in our community.”

Ultimately, the assembly voted 6-1 on first reading in favor of putting the question to voters, with Assembly Member Darrell Windsor opposed. The issue will come back to the assembly table for a final vote on November 10. 

If passed, the city will hold a special election on February 2. 

More than a dozen undergrad and high school students stand on the upper deck of an Allen Marine boat snapping photos of six humpback whales surrounding them, Mt. Edgecumbe volcano rising in the background. 

They’re here as part of a National Geographic Photo Camp — a program that  brings together local youth with National Geographic photographers and explorers to gain the skills and tools to tell stories from their home communities. The 16 students learned photography techniques — both technical and conceptual — over the course of five days, culminating in a public showcase.

“It’s so important to put the camera in the hands of people whose stories are being told because they’re the only ones that can tell that story,” said Kirsten Elstner, founder and director of the program, which launched more than two decades ago.

“There’s something super powerful about a person, especially a young person, talking about, ‘This is my community. This is the beauty of my community. These are the challenges that we face. These are the stories that happen here,’ because no one else knows that. They’re the ones that are living it and growing up through it,” she said. 

This the 200th photo camp hosted by National Geographic in more than 50 countries: They’ve held camps from the Galapagos and the Peruvian Amazon to South Sudan and Pakistan. 

For this camp, which was hosted in collaboration with the Alaska Whale Foundation, local students had to apply and explain why they wanted to participate before being selected. Each student gravitated towards the photo workshop for a different reason, but all were motivated by a desire to tell stories. Some said they wanted to underscore the importance of conserving the plants and animals around them. Some said they wanted to share stories of navigating identity in Alaska. And others said they wanted to use their lens to highlight the small details in life that often go unnoticed.

Troy Mila, a junior at Mt. Edgecumbe High School from Utqiaġvik, is pretty new to photography, but said on his first day here, he watched a video about Samoan photographers that inspired him. He said he felt a “cultural resonance” and it was eye opening watching photographers that look like him describe their process. 

“Speaking their truth and talking on topics that I’ve been having some trouble with myself, like being trapped between two or three different cultures,” Mila said. “I’m kind of trapped between Western culture, Samoan culture, and Iñupiat culture, and that’s been kind of hard to deal with since I’ve been young.” 

But photography, he said, is helping him grapple with that and express his own story.

“I can talk about my experiences with finding my own identity and trying to figure out who I am in the world,” he said. 

14-year-old Malena Ollaol is from Yakutat and currently a freshman at Mt. Edgecumbe. Unlike Mila, she’s not new to the camera. She said photography has been helping her explain and process her emotions since she was 11. 

“I like taking photos of the things that most people wouldn’t stop to look at,” she said. “The small things, like raindrops on windows, or leaves, morning dew on the ground.”

According to Ollaol, camp is helping her refine her skills and allowing her to grow beyond what she’s learned from studying Youtube tutorials. And she said, it’s helped reinforce the importance of photography as a storytelling medium. 

“It’s faster to process an image rather than read a bunch of words,” Ollaol said. “Sometimes words just can’t explain what you see. Like a sunset: you could never perfectly capture the perfect shade of red in words that the sunset is. So images just describe things a lot better because they’re actually showing it rather than words just describing it.” 

“I think there is like a gut, visceral, instinctual level of looking at an image and being really moved by something,” said National Geographic photographer Pat Kane, who covers Indigenous communities in northern Canada and the Arctic. 

He said a great photo will bring the audience into the place it was taken in the moment it was taken, and, with luck, elicit a reaction.  

“Hopefully that inspires conversations, and maybe that conversation leads to change, or maybe it leads to leaning into something that you’re really inspired by,” Kane said. “It’s a bit naive to say that photography can change the world, but I think in some small ways, if you do it enough, it can build momentum to possibly change some things in our world.” 

David Schilp is National Geographic’s technical director for photo camp. Essentially he makes sure students have their cameras, SD cards, and other gear at the start of the day, and collects it all again at the end. 

He agrees with Kane that photography is a powerful tool for change, but also recognizes it isn’t the only one. He said he grew up with dyslexia and anxiety and took a long winding path to photojournalism. If these students take away just one thing from this photo camp, he hopes it’s the confidence to pursue what they love, whether that’s photography, carpentry, plumbing, or politics.  

“And even if people tell you no, or even if you don’t think you have the confidence to do it, if you work hard enough and if you have the confidence in yourself, that’s what matters the most,” Schilp said. “And it doesn’t have to be a straight line. Most times, people don’t have a straight line. I still don’t know what I want to do with my life, and I’ve had 10 different careers. So to let them know that they’re worthy and that they can do it.” 

But just in case students do want to pursue photography, they’ll get to keep their cameras at the end of the program to continue telling their own stories in their communities. 

With just over two weeks until its annual election, Sheet’ká Ḵwáan Sitka Tribe of Alaska hosted a Tribal Council candidate forum on Thursday (10-22-26). 

Seven candidates are running for five open seats on the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council. Incumbent council members Lillian Feldpausch – Jix’ Dul Saan, Alana Peterson – Gah Kith Tin, and Steve Johnson – Ixt’Ik’Eesh are all running for re-election along with candidates Rachel Moreno – Daas.óox, Gerry Hope – Jixeik, and Sonya Smith – Schuthlxnik. Tribal Chair Yeidikook’áa (Dionne Brady-Howard) is running for re-election unopposed.

Find more election information including a sample ballot here

At a forum hosted by STA on October 22, several candidates shared their perspectives on what the Tribe is doing well, and what they’d like to work on if elected or re-elected to a two-year term. 

In this year’s election, for the first time ever, tribal citizens will be able to cast their votes electronically.

Listen to the full forum, in two parts here:

Dressed in a white lab coat, a scientist lures a group of kids deeper into a dark room.

“We have to find the fish monster before it destroys the world. Hurry, come, come quickly,” she urges. “The fish monster turned me into this hideous beast.”

She wears a mask with crackly gray skin and a missing eye. Kids and parents cautiously weave their way through the Sitka Sound Science Center gift shop that’s been converted into a haunted house. Rubber gloves dangle from fishing nets draped over stacks of crates. People in creepy costumes jump out from behind barrels and pallets.

Most people passing through scream as they turn every corner. But 10-year-old Stella doesn’t seem super spooked as she giggles at the jump scares. She’s wearing a baggy gray sweatshirt with splotches of green paint across her face. Stella says she’s a zombie rapper.

“I am a zombie. My name is Dan. You don’t think I can rap, but I can, can, can,” she says.

Inside the main building, crowds of costumed children zip from room to room under the warm glow of string lights. Families wander around the touch tank, now home to jack-o-lanterns.

“This one did have a wonderful face with like a whole squid eye, but it’s a little hard to tell now,” says aquarist Matt Wilson.

He points to a slouching pumpkin in the water. Urchins cling to its sides.

“Urchins will kind of eat whatever they can put in their mouth. So if there’s something new around, for example a pumpkin, we have found that they will be absolutely start snacking on it,” Wilson explains.

Kari Paustian, the education coordinator at the science center, is helping kids make potions.

“Let’s do a big scoop of powdered unicorn horn,” Paustian says, a spoonful of baking soda in hand.

The ingredients are things you might not find in your kitchen — goblin goo, witch’s tears, and dragon’s blood.

There’s also stations where kids can dissect owl pellets from the Alaska Raptor Center or create creepy characters from marine debris like plastic water bottles or old buoys. Seven-year-old Magnus turned a scratched orange buoy into a face with a sinister smile.

“Five pipe cleaners, four bottle caps, and one old fishing rope that’s been snapped,” Magnus lists.

He’s aptly named it “Crazy Buoy.”

“It looks like if somebody’s head was a pumpkin and it fell off!” Magnus says.

Magnus’ creation might be a good feature in next year’s haunted house. But for now, he’s bringing it home to decorate for Halloween.

Data centers are proliferating in rural areas across the United States to support the rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) industry. And proposals to construct them in Southeast Alaska have recently cropped up in Wrangell and Petersburg.

While there aren’t any public proposals to build data centers in Sitka yet, city code does not currently include language to address them. So the Sustainability Commission and city staff have proposed updating the city’s zoning code to define and regulate the facilities at the local level. 

At a Planning Commission meeting on October 21, Sustainability Commission Chair Aurora Taylor said they wanted to get ahead of it.

“We are really hoping to establish a pathway for local regulation and local input, so that we don’t end up in a situation where private developers have just built a data center slipped through the cracks because our zoning and general code does not have a clear definition,” Taylor said. “So this is the Sustainability Commission trying to get ahead of these concerns, given, especially in Sitka with hydroelectric, how water use and energy are so interconnected.”

The proposed amendment would allow data center construction only with a conditional use permit. That would make any new proposal for a data center subject to community review, and would require Planning Commission approval.

But at the public hearing, many Sitkans urged the Planning Commission to instead recommend that the local assembly ban them outright. Lisa Sadlier-Hart urged the commission to drop the conditional use section in favor of prohibition.

“They require a tremendous amount of energy. We have a limited amount of energy, and we need to really direct it towards what matters most, and this, to me, doesn’t matter most. We also know that they increase noise pollution horrifically, as well as air pollution, and my other concern is water,” she said. “So I don’t think this is at all a good fit for our community, and I think it would take away from the quality of life that’s in this community, and we need to say no. We need to say it loud, and we need to say it now.” 

Around a dozen Sitkans shared similar sentiments, with concerns about energy and water use, the cost to residents, and the potential impacts to quality of life.

A handful spoke about the potential benefits of data centers and a willingness to be open to the possibilities. Dmitry Rudas discouraged the commission from banning data centers when there are many different uses and applications– he felt those sized to Sitka’s electric loads should be considered.

“The dose makes the poison right? There is a major difference between like a one kilowatt home lab that somebody’s running, which by that definition would still fit the data center aspect of it, You know, between a one megawatt data center and a one gigawatt hyper center, a hyperscaler data center, right?” Rudas said. “The the size makes a huge difference, and that’s why I think we have to be careful about verbiage like banning everything outright, just in name only.”

For the most part, planning commissioners shared the community’s concerns. Margaret Frank said there are still too many unknowns, and was in favor of prohibiting data centers outright, rather than allowing them to be considered under the conditional use process. 

“Because I think, in line with our comprehensive plan, we’ve been prioritizing building housing on land. That’s limited buildable land, and we should avoid sacrificing opportunities to address our housing needs in favor of the data centers,” Frank said.

Commissioner Jacquie Foss said she wasn’t opposed to allowing data centers through a conditional use permit, but until they have defined the parameters for the permits, like energy consumption or impacts to air quality, she said they should press pause.

“I see conditional uses as an opportunity to allow things that may be beneficial to the town of Sitka while denying things that don’t have that same benefit, and I think for things like data center(s), there might be places where there’s they can be a benefit for the community,” Foss said. “But at this time, I don’t know how to address those conditions to ensure that at least we have an idea of it.”

Ultimately the Planning Commission unanimously agreed to recommend defining data centers in city code and prohibiting them in all zones. The commission’s recommendation will go to the Sitka Assembly for consideration at a future meeting.

At the far north end of Pelican’s one-mile boardwalk, Heather Bryant greets customers coming through the big front doors of the Pelican General.

Bryant is like a ray of sunshine, asking customers about their lives while making them a latte or scanning the items in their carts. She and her husband Barry — who happens to be mayor of the small Southeast Alaska fishing village — along with their 14 children, had been visiting Pelican for years from the Lower 48. In 2023, they decided to permanently relocate, launching the store to fill a gap in the remote Chichagof Island community, where residents had gone more than 15 years without a local grocery store.  

“It was apocalyptic in this building when my husband and my son came,” Bryant said, gesturing to the shelves around her. “They wore headlamps. It was like whoever was here just took everything off the shelves. It was just an old building that used to be a grocery store, and it was just sitting there for almost 20 years.”

Now, three years in, the 100 or so residents that call Pelican home can walk down the boardwalk and get everything from fresh produce, eggs, and milk, to frozen pizzas, potting soil, and fishing supplies. 

“We try to have a spattering of things that you can just grab if you need it in a pinch,” she said. “We’re like, I don’t know, a 7-Eleven or ampm. You know, one of those little quick stops, but not, but are, because the prices are like a quick stop.” 

When customers were asked to describe the so-called “quick stop,” a few descriptors come up a lot: convenient, incredible, wonderful, great. 

Prior to the store’s grand opening, residents and fishermen alike had to plan weeks ahead, order groceries from Costco and Fred Meyer about 90 miles away in Juneau, and wait for a ferry or float plane to show up with the goods. 

“And you had to hope that they put the meats and stuff in the freezer, and they didn’t refrigerate your bananas,” said 31-year-old customer Quintin Hafendorfer. “Stuff like that happened all the time.” 

Hafendorfer has spent nearly his whole life in Pelican, and he wears a lot of hats. He works for the city, running the power plant and water treatment center, “and the sewer plant. And then other duties as assigned.”

When the isolated community went more than a month last winter without a ferry or seaplane to bring in supplies or even Christmas presents, he said the store was there, providing customers with food. That’s a good enough reason for him to be a loyal customer.

“Me and my fiance, we come here pretty much every day, even just to wander the aisle and just be like, ‘Yeah, look, I need something and I can go get it.’ It is incredibly convenient to be like, ‘I ran out of mushrooms yesterday.’ I can come down here and get mushrooms and not have to wait for the planes to fly.” 

Every summer, Allan Engstrom hand trolls out of Pelican on his 38-foot Bertram, the “Katherine.” The boat is named for what he calls “the Holy Trinity of Katherines in my family:” his grandmother, sister, and daughter. 

He said he tries to do all his summer shopping at the general store, perusing the aisles and ordering the “best mocha on the outer coast.” 

“It means I don’t have to load up [in Juneau] and manage five months of supplies on my boat at once,” Engstrom said. “So it’s absolutely convenient, and it’s good for the community because it brings fishermen to town. Like the fuel dock and the ice machine, this is a third leg of that trifecta of things Pelican has to offer fishermen, and they’ve done a great job.” 

But beyond the convenience, customers say Pelican General is so much more than a store. What began as just a few shelves of basic supplies has grown, aisle by aisle, into a community hub for locals, tourists, and fishermen alike, with movie and craft nights, couches to sit and read on, free Wifi, and a coffee shop. 

“There are a couple heartbeats of Pelican. This is certainly a big one,” said Keri Eggleston, who lives in Pelican year-round with her husband and their two kids. 

Her husband is a commercial fisherman and she works at the local fish processing plant and does Tlingit language documentation work in the off-season. She said living in an isolated community can be hard at times, and the store helps. 

“It’s what makes it possible to be here, really,” Eggleston said. “The cafe, the store, the community center: those things are critical, I’d say, to living here. It really wouldn’t feel like a community without the store.”

While customers are thankful for Pelican General and the Bryant family, Bryant said it wouldn’t be possible without the customers. 

“Everyone is a part of the store,” she said. “Even though we are doing it, this is something the town can be proud of, and them being proud of it is part of making it what it is.” 

Bryant said she and her husband have always had an open door policy, and she wants everyone who enters the store to feel like they’re just part of her family coming in to grocery shop. 

“It’s really turned into an extension of who we are and what we believe in, and I just want it to be a blessing to this community,” she said. “This is going to sound really cheesy, but it’s like a big hug from the Bryants. Really, that’s what this is.” 

A committee directed with making recommendations for improvements at the state run boarding school in Sitka has delivered its findings to the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development.

It’s been nearly a year since a group of parents, educators and alumni sounded the alarm about conditions at Mt. Edgecumbe High School to the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development. With concerns about mental health, aging facilities, and a significant enrollment drop-off, the board tasked an ad hoc committee with investigating the issues over the past summer, and making recommendations for improvements. 

At the board’s quarterly meeting in mid-October in Sitka, student Xander Swanson called last year “a hard one”, citing everything from leaks and worn out beds, to inconsistent rules and poor communication. But he and others said some conditions have gotten better – with infrastructure improvements, a re-written student handbook, and new administrators.

“One change that’s seen is the communication with students and staff is on another level. This matters more than you might think,” Swanson said. “When students feel heard, we show up differently. We take ownership of our school.” 

Superintendent David Langford also told the board that things are looking up with millions of dollars to put toward facility improvements– $24 million over the next few years including around $10 million for dining hall renovation. Langford said the cafeteria food has improved already, and the school is offering more than quadruple the student activities available last year. 

While enrollment was down to 350 students at the start of this year, Langford said the number of students leaving campus is substantially lower than this time last year.

“I’ve been emphasizing with all the principals and teachers, everybody on the campus, that really what we’re interested in is keeping the students we have long term, and, to-date, the students that are leaving Mount Edgecumbe up to this point is 65% lower than it was a year ago, so I think that speaks to everybody working together at a whole new level for students.”  

But former school staff member and parent Blossom Teal-Olsen said some of those improvements don’t tell the full story. Cuts to mental health support and staff and teacher turnover need to be addressed. 

“Our children need mental health support at a time when there’s no mental health support given, and there’s been cuts to those positions. And historically, if anyone, and I’ve been a former worker there, if you ever make a wave, you are out,” Teal-Olsen said. “So look at look at how many teachers have left. Look at the turnover within the dorms. Look at the how the nursing staff interacts with administration. That’s the true story. There. That’s where change needs to happen.”  

Reviewing and strengthening mental health supports for students is on a list of 22 recommendations the ad hoc committee delivered to the state board later at the same meeting.

The committee developed the list after reviewing roughly 250 survey results from students, parents, and staff. It touches on everything from improving dorm room policies and communication with parents, to establishing a process for collecting information from students who withdraw from the school. 

Paul Reid is a project coordinator with the Office of Education Advocacy, and he facilitated the ad hoc meetings. Board Chair Sally Stockhausen asked him whether they were ready to discuss the plans for addressing the recommendations. 

“I kind of viewed that as ‘This is going to be handed off to the to the admin and to the staff and the students here’ to assure that some of that these recommendations are considered, as they continue to develop,” Reid said.

Stockhausen said she could hear a lot of the recommendations already reflected in both Langford’s report and at a recent school advisory board meeting. However, she wanted to keep tabs on future improvements with a regular report to the state board.

“I would like it to stay in the forefront of our minds and not become another thing that we put on the shelf [and say] ‘Well, that was nice that we did that,'” Stockhausen said. “So I would like to see in in a format that addresses these at our meetings, that we get a regular update on what has been done so far.” 

And board member Kimberly Bergey said the update should be digestible so students and families have a roadmap for where the school is headed. 

“The student voice in this process is going to be critical to the long-term success of the school,” she said. “And so, figuring out how we can make sure that that student voice is included in the the next steps in the process is going to be critical.”

The board did not take formal action on the recommendations at the quarterly meeting.