On the last day of school at Point Higgins Elementary, stacks of cardboard boxes filled with school supplies were piled in every corner and classroom furniture lined the hallways. Hundreds of free books were on shelves and tables in the front entrance. Most of them were being donated to other schools. Many are staying in the district.
“Today is a chaos day,” said Point Higgins principal Todd Henke. “A lot of cleaning, you’ll see kids carrying the last things out of classrooms, manual labor, even the little ones will be carrying stuff.”
Henke’s been with the district for 12 years. Next year, he’s going to be principal of an elementary school down south. He’s not excited to leave Ketchikan, but when the district’s financial situation seemed to come to a head earlier this spring, he knew his future was uncertain.
The Ketchikan school board voted to close both Fawn Mountain and Point Higgins elementary schools in April. It’s a decision that’s been looming for years — the board restructured the district’s elementary schools last year to save money. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough.
The district was forced to face over $5 million of debt on top of a $3 million shortfall this year. In addition to the school closures, they had to lay off over 70 staff members across the district. There’s now one elementary school, one middle school and one high school — all located in town and being called “centralized learning hubs.”
Henke’s been at Point Higgins for two years. He loves the sense of community at the school. He said even after some staff members were told they weren’t being retained, they still stuck together to help the rest of the staff wrap things up and move them out.
That kind of compassion is what he hopes to see at his new school.
“It’s nice for people to just help people because they care, not because they have to,” Henke said. “I’ve seen that here so many times.”
There was still the lively, celebratory energy that’s always in the air on the last day of school. As kids stepped off the school buses and walked toward the doors of the historic building for the last time, staff members and volunteers smiled and greeted them with open arms. But most of them were also holding back tears — including Misty Hancock, a special education teacher.
“I know it’s a cliche to say that we’re a family, but we’re a family, and it’s really hard to say goodbye,” Hancock said.
She’s been at Point Higgins for four years, and before that she was at Fawn Mountain. Standing in front of the school, she wiped her eyes and hugged her daughter.
“These kids are everything,” Hancock said. “Last year we got, you know, split, and now we’re split even more, and it’s just hard. Today’s hard.”
Inside, the morning started off pretty normal. Principal Henke told a joke over the intercom that seemed to go over the heads of the second graders in Ms. Shlaudeman’s class. Then, for the last time, he led the school in the Orca Pledge.
The school chanted in unison: “As a Point Higgins Orca, I pledge to be safe, respectful and a learner in my classroom, in my school, and in my community.”
Many students were excited for summer break. Many of them will be going to Houghtaling Elementary School next year and look forward to being reunited with friends and siblings.
Second grader Scarlett Adams had mixed feelings. She loves everything about Point Higgins, she said, like science projects and her teacher, Ms. Holly. Out of all the good memories she had at the school, it was too difficult to narrow it down to one favorite.
“I think my favorite day was all the days,” she said.
Twenty miles south, students were having their last recess at Fawn Mountain Elementary. There’s a big playground overlooking the ocean. Third grader Ariana Simpson, who has been at Fawn Mountain for four years, played with her friends.
“I’ve been here for so long it’s just like, I know this place like the back of my hand,” she said.
She loves the friends she’s made. She said out of all her time at Fawn Mountain, her favorite day was the first day of kindergarten — because of one specific memory.
“I remember being the new student,” she said. “I had this one friend, she is still in my classroom, she’s been here for a while in the classroom, she said, ‘raise your hand if you want me to be your friend.’ The whole class raised their hand, especially me.’”
For the teachers at Fawn Mountain, it’s crunch time. Some of them have been collecting classroom supplies for years, and they now have just days to finish packing it all up.
Janae Merrill has been at Fawn Mountain for two decades. She’ll be teaching second grade at Houghtaling next year, and she’s looking forward to meeting other staff members she hasn’t worked with before.
“Change always isn’t a bad thing,” Merrill said. “So it’ll be different, but it’ll be okay,”
She’s going to miss going to the beach and having access to the Fawn Mountain field. But she’s going to miss the people the most.
“Even though we’ve had some big transitions throughout the years. Like, it always just feels like family, no matter who’s here, and which has really been an important thing. We’ve always kind of called it the family school.”
“The family school.” That’s what third grade teacher Angie Taggart calls it, too.
She will also be teaching at Houghtaling next year, but some of her colleagues were laid off, are retiring, and others are moving away. But she believes they had a lasting impact on the students.
“I hope they take away the kindness that was shown to them,” Taggart said. “The support that they had here with just our parents and teachers, and just our, like I said, we’re just a big family. I think that’s gonna go with them, and they’re gonna remember Fawn Mountain for that.”
Teachers had to be moved out of their classrooms for good by the end of the day Monday. The district is asking the community for help moving out of both buildings in the next few weeks.
