Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Council President Gloria Burns speaks during public comment at Wednesday’s school board meeting as the board looks on. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

A 5-2 vote by Ketchikan’s school board has effectively loosened the school district’s mask rules going forward.

The school board’s action on Wednesday evening followed nearly two hours of testimony from state public health officials and medical professionals who argued that masks, vaccines and other precautions are needed to keep COVID-19 numbers down in the community.

The COVID situation in Ketchikan is, to put it mildly, not good. The number of people infected is near record levels. Ketchikan’s hospital has seen record-high numbers of COVID-19 patients in recent days, even as cases statewide have fallen.

“First of all, I would just say, you’ve got a lot of COVID circulating in Ketchikan right now, so you have to take that into consideration,” Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer, told Ketchikan’s school board during a one-hour presentation from state health officials.

And the surge is straining some medical resources in Ketchikan, according to South Tongass Fire Chief Steve Rydeen. He says first responders are struggling to keep up with the volume of COVID-19-related calls.

“We’re averaging two calls a day on just the south end, backing up the city because they’re maxed out,” Rydeen said at the meeting. “COVID, unfortunately, is something that we need to get ahead a handle on again, just like we did in the very beginning.”

The purpose of the meeting was to hear input from experts before considering whether to loosen Ketchikan’s rules that require everyone to wear masks on public school campuses. In recent weeks a vocal group of parents has called for more flexibility or an end to masks altogether. Some carried signs with slogans like “unmask the kids.”

An anti-mask mandate sign sits on a chair after Wednesday’s meeting of Ketchikan’s school board. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

“We are traumatizing these kids,” Christy Willis told the board.

“The science depends on what channel you’re watching on TV,” Kirk Thomas said.

“Last time I checked, we still lived in the United States of America, not in the days of Nazi Germany,” Heather Dalin said.

Their position was by no means universal, though. The head of Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council spoke out, saying eight people of American Indian descent had died of COVID-19 in Ketchikan alone.

“I knew all of them. The people in my community knew all of them,” Burns said. Across the state, Alaska Native and American Indian people make up an disproportionate share of COVID-19 hospitalizations and fatalities, according to state health department data.

But first came the health professionals. Dr. Zink said that rules requiring masks and other measures have proven more effective than earlier advice such as deep-cleaning.

“We did lots of cleaning and things like that, or closing rooms down for 72 hours,” Zink said. “The data really isn’t showing that that makes a difference.”

She pointed to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study from Arizona that showed that schools without mask mandates are 3.5 times more likely to see COVID-19 outbreaks. And Zink says studies have proven time and again that masks are safe to wear.

“Things like distancing, ventilation, masking and vaccination that we talked about, those are our most effective tools, and you want to be careful when you’ve got a lot of COVID,” Zink said.

The state health officials said that while COVID-19 is generally less severe in kids, 923 children had died in the U.S. since the pandemic began. That’s more than twice the pediatric death rate for the deadliest flu season in recent years in which 199 children died. And Zink said roughly half of people infected with COVID-19 have lingering symptoms months afterward.

“About half the people who experience COVID will develop long COVID-like symptoms and see their primary care provider or some specialists within six months of their initial diagnosis. And sometimes these can be really debilitating — like a kid I saw who everything tastes and smells like sewer still, months after their initial diagnosis,” she said.

State health officials showed a slide deck that included information about “layered” prevention strategies for COVID-19, including vaccination, testing and masks. The full slide deck is available here. (Alaska Department of Health and Social Services)

Ketchikan’s public health professionals also showed up. State public health nurse Jennifer Bergen said Ketchikan’s  mask mandate in schools was helping to keep a lid on spread, “but we are still seeing cases. So imagine taking away those layers, what the result is going to be from that,” Bergen said. “You are going to see increased transmission in schools.”

The president of Ketchikan’s teacher’s union, Gara Williams, said that masks were the last significant anti-COVID measure remaining at Ketchikan High School, known locally as Kayhi, where she teaches.

“We don’t have cohorts at Kayhi. We don’t have small groups. We don’t have the 50-50 model like we did last year,” she said. “Our mitigation is wearing masks.”

Then the board got down to business. Board Member Paul Robbins Jr. got the ball rolling.

“Just to put the biggest argument forward first, I’m going to make a motion to change masking to optional under the substantial (COVID-19 risk level), which I believe is the third under high risk,” Robbins said.

That would make masks optional at all but the highest school district COVID-19 risk level. Essentially, when there are fewer than 50 cases in Ketchikan, students would not be required to mask up at school, though athletes and spectators would still be required to wear a mask in line with regional interscholastic rules, and a federal mandate requires masks on school buses.

School Board President Stephen Bradford said he was concerned the district might not have enough substitute teachers to handle a potential uptick in absences. But Bradford said the fact that students five and older are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine changed his calculation. He supported the move.

“I still believe that we need to move towards an end to the masking requirements,” Bradford said.

Board Members Nicole Anderson and Diane Gubatayao also voiced support.

Board Member Bridget Mattson supported the move, but she added a significant caveat. She said the change would allow school administration to require masks at schools with outbreaks.

Mattson also advised school principals to draw up plans for  potential shutdowns.

“I believe that if we’re looking at rolling back the mitigation efforts that are left in the plan that are keeping the school going — as as they are, they’re already stretching our capacity — we have to understand that we will need to make a plan for having children out of schools,” she said, “which is heartbreaking to me.”

The prospect of school closures led the board’s student member, Ketchikan High School Student Body President Braxton Zink, to speak out in favor of keeping the mask rule as-is. The board’s student member casts nonbinding advisory votes as the voice of the student body.

“I’m not going to try to amend or try to push forward having more COVID mitigation. That’s for you to decide,” he said. “But I am going to voice out that I don’t think that we should, for lack of a better term, give up.”

The sentiment was shared by elected board member Keenan Sanderson.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen if we take masks away out of the schools,” he said.

Sanderson joined Board Member Jordan Tabb in opposing the measure. It passed 5-2.

As of Dec. 6, high school and middle school students will be allowed to remove their masks if fewer than 50 cases of COVID-19 are active in Ketchikan. The change takes effect at elementary schools after winter break.

Had these rules been in effect all along — assuming the same case numbers — masks would have been mandatory for all but two weeks during the school year to date.

Separately, the board voted down a proposal that would have lifted mask requirements for gym classes altogether. That failed 2-5 with only board members Anderson and Gubtayao in support.

Interim Superintendent Melissa Johnson also announced the school district would stand up a program that allows students who might ordinarily have to quarantine following COVID-19 exposure to remain in school by testing negative. The opt-in program is set to begin after Thanksgiving.

Disclosure: School Board President Stephen Bradford is married to a member of KRBD’s nonprofit board of directors. The board is not involved in directing news coverage.

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Totem poles stand outside Ketchikan Indian Community’s clinic and office building at 2960 Tongass Avenue. (KRBD file photo)

A Bristol Bay health executive fired last year after suggesting the coronavirus was a political conspiracy is now running Ketchikan’s tribal health clinic. Tribal officials say they have full confidence in the seasoned executive.

A March 16 email from former COO Lecia Scotford to managers of the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation. Click or tap to enlarge. (via KDLG)

Lecia Scotford was chief operating officer for the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation until March 2020. That’s when the Dillingham-based executive emailed colleagues downplaying the pandemic and suggesting it was a political conspiracy.

The subject line read: “Do NOT PANIC.” The email said that prior health crises had taken place during even-numbered years, including Ebola, swine flu and Zika outbreaks.

“And now 2020 Corona! This is not political…….or is it????” the email continued.

Her views were swiftly condemned and she was fired soon after.

Earlier this year Lecia Scotford was hired to lead Ketchikan Indian Community’s Health Clinic. KIC’s Tribal Administrator Randy Williams says Scotford was hired by a previous administrator — Williams took over the job from Charles White last month. But he told KRBD he has confidence in her as the tribe’s health clinic administrator overseeing health care for Ketchikan’s Alaska Native community.

“Everybody’s attitude changed a little bit, right? I mean, I’ve got to admit, even mine changed a little bit. At first we’re thinking, ‘how grievous is this pandemic that’s happening?’ because it wasn’t really attacking us here in Ketchikan as much. And then all of a sudden, everybody knew what it meant. And I think Lecia now knows what it means and would have a significantly different opinion on COVID,” Williams said in a phone interview Friday.

Scotford did not return phone and email messages left Friday.

Williams says Scotford is an asset to the tribe’s 6,000-plus members.

“She’s such a qualified individual for the position that we have. And she’s so resourceful for us in the administration, that we’re going to gain and benefit from her being here with us and supporting our administration to improve the health care for our people,” he said.

The tribe’s elected leader referred most questions about Scotford’s employment to the tribal administrator. Tribal Council President Gloria Burns says the day-to-day running of tribal government is up to the administrator.

“Tribal Council was not involved in hiring that person,” Burns said by phone Friday. “The hiring of Lecia, who comes with a lot of experience … she was hired by administration.”

Burns added that Ketchikan’s federally-recognized tribe takes COVID-19 seriously and strictly enforces mitigation measures.

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Members of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Board of Education meet with members of Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council during a government-to-government consultation at the Cape Fox Lodge on Wednesday. From left: School Board Clerk Kerry Watson, School Board Members Bridget Mattson, Paul Robbins Jr., Diane Gubatayao and Doug Gregg, School Board President Kim Hodne, Tribal Council President Gloria Burns, Tribal Council Executive Assistants Crystal Mann and Aaron Burns, Tribal Council Members Lloyd Ruaro, Trixie Bennett, Melissa Johnson and Chas Edwardson. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

Ketchikan’s school board and representatives from the local tribal government met Wednesday to share a meal and discuss improving education for the community’s students.

Among the top priorities for Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council was addressing disproportionate educational outcomes for Alaska Native students.

Alaska Native students’ graduation rates and test scores have lagged significantly behind the district average on a consistent basis. As of the 2018-2019 school year — the most recent year for which data is available — 63% of Native students graduate within four years. That’s 18 percentage points less than the district-wide average of 81%. Test scores show a similar gap in Alaska Native student achievement in Ketchikan.

Tribal Council President Gloria Burns acknowledged that not every student will graduate high school. She said some will find success in a trade, for example — but “there has to be a plan to make sure that there’s a 100% success rate, because there’s not a 100% success rate yet. But there will be.” Burns said. “That’s the mindset that we’re that we’re looking to be in.”

One potential solution the Tribal Council shared was to better integrate Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture into daily curriculum that goes beyond performance art and crafts.

“When we’re talking about culture, we aren’t talking about song and dance — although song and dance is great, and all the kids love it — and we’re not necessarily talking about the food and medicine — which is great, and it’s integral to our spiritual and social [and] all of our needs,” Burns said. “But there are traditional values that we have as Indigenous people.”

She referenced the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s Southeast Traditional Tribal Values, which Ketchikan Indian Community has adopted — values like patience, environmental stewardship and holding each other up.

“And one of them is humor, and what that looks like,” she said. “We just want to see those embodied in our district.”

She pointed to the Tongass School of Arts and Sciences, a public charter elementary school within the district, as an example for other schools to follow.

School Board Member Diane Gubatayao said she, too, wanted to see cultural education woven seamlessly into classwork — she suggested integrating some Sealaska Heritage Institute materials into the elementary school reading curriculum and discussing the oftentimes tragic history of colonization.

“As the parent of Native children, I don’t want just tag-on classes, I guess is how I’d put it,” she said. “I really hope that we integrate the culture into our curriculum in a meaningful way that will be for perpetuity.”

School Board Member Paul Robbins Jr. said success for all students was a laudable goal, and agreed that there’s work to be done. But he said there’s only so much the district can do.

“There’s so much about the dropout rates, that has to do with the family situation at home, and socioeconomic situation for parents that we just can’t affect,” Robbins said.

Some Tribal Council members voiced their agreement, saying some families struggle with things like drug addiction or homelessness. Burns suggested one part of the solution could be for tribal members to volunteer to serve as adult mentors — or “aunties,” as she put it — for struggling Native students.

Much of the meeting focused on funding: how the district could better consult with the tribe on how federal education funds are spent on things like teachers’ aides, early childhood education and school lunches.

“We have to figure out what the most meaningful way for us to have the input back and forth to create measurable outcomes for all of our kids looks like,” Burns said.

She asked the board to consider taking free training from the National Indian Education Association to better understand the rules for tribal consultation instituted under the Obama-era Every Student Succeeds Act.

Though public notice requirements prohibited the school board from taking immediate action on the tribe’s suggestions, President Kim Hodne said the tribe’s input had not fallen on deaf ears.

“From here, we will be better in the next quarter. And we will be better after that, in direction and training,” Hodne said.

Interim Ketchikan superintendent Melissa Johnson attended the meeting, but as an elected member of the Tribal Council. She said the district was piloting a new evaluation program to ensure teachers follow Alaska’s state cultural standards.

Burns said that while the discussion centered on how to help Native students succeed, integrating Southeast tribal values into education would help all students better understand their home.

“I just like to repeat with Liz Medicine Crow always says: What’s good for a Native child is good for every child,” Burns said.

Tribal officials say they plan to issue a letter with their suggestions for the school district later this month.

The post Ketchikan’s tribe and school board discuss improving education for community’s students appeared first on KRBD.

Ketchikan’s school board meets in closed session in the Ketchikan High School library in March. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

Ketchikan’s school board is set to finalize the terms of its embattled superintendent’s departure on Wednesday. Outgoing superintendent Beth Lougee is set to receive more than $80,000 for stepping down nearly a year early.

Superintendent Beth Lougee’s contract doesn’t expire until February 2022. But earlier this month, Ketchikan’s school board announced earlier this month that Lougee would leave at the end of April.

The resignation follows a rocky tenure. Alaska Native tribal leaders said they’d lost confidence in her leadership. And then the tragedy struck when Lougee’s husband died after contracting COVID-19.

The head of the local teachers union says she’s been a polarizing figure.

“Our membership has had very split opinions on Ms. Lougee’s leadership through the past few years, which is true with most leaders, but probably especially during a trying year, like this year has been,” Ketchikan Education Association President Gara Williams said via phone.

“We really feel she’s experienced a great tragedy and the loss of her husband and then her own health due to contracting COVID. And regardless of any personal opinions, I think all of our members just have sympathy to her personal life and wish that she has a full recovery and condolences for her loss,” she continued.

Terms of her contract require mutual consent and 30 days’ notice to break her contract. She’s leaving with 15 days’ notice. Terms negotiated with the school board add 130 days’ pay and benefits after she leaves.

Her critics, like Gloria Burns, tribal council president of Ketchikan Indian Community, say they don’t understand why she’ll be paid more than $80,000 for resigning early.

“I don’t believe somebody who’s done the kind of damage that she’s done to our district should be getting that amount of money,” Burns said in a phone interview.

She says that during Lougee’s tenure, relations between the school district and the Alaska Native community and other people of color “disintegrated.” One high-profile example involved a cultural educator who was assigned an office without  furniture.

Lougee has also come under fire for a shakeup in school administrators over the summer of 2020. Gloria Burns again:

“Look at the complete turnover of the administrative staff under her,” she said. “So many amazing and brilliant teachers and minds that have left her district.”

Lougee has not responded substantively to the allegations, saying only that the accusations “hurt.” In her resignation letter, she said she was looking for some time off to focus on her wellbeing. She did not return a request for comment Tuesday.

The $80,000 in severance does not appear in her regular contract. The only language about extra pay would be up to a year’s salary — $145,000 — if the school board dismissed her without cause.

A mutually agreed departure — as this appears to be — has no language about extra payments.

So why is the board offering $80,624 to Lougee? None of the school board’s members would answer questions on Tuesday.

It’s not the first time the Ketchikan’s school board has offered a golden parachute to a superintendent. Ketchikan’s school board authorized a $53,000 severance to Lougee’s predecessor, Bob Boyle, who also left under a cloud of controversy in 2018.

It’s been difficult to assess Lougee’s recent performance in the eyes of the board. The school board has refused to release the outcome of its now-stalled evaluation of its superintendent. School Board President Kim Hodne announced it was complete at the end of March.

“The evaluation process is concluded from the board’s side. They will be issuing, of course, the evaluation to the superintendent,” Hodne said at the time.

That never happened. And the district denied KRBD’s public records request for a copy. But under the terms of the agreement now being considered, it stipulates Lougee’s evaluation remains incomplete. It also states neither the board nor the outgoing superintendent will disparage each other in public.

Ketchikan’s school board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Borough Assembly chambers in the White Cliff Building. The full agenda is available online. Members of the public can weigh in at the beginning of the meeting. The meeting is broadcast on local cable channels and live-streamed at the borough’s website.

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Ketchikan High School (KRBD file photo)

Ketchikan’s school board is going to continue its evaluation of the district’s superintendent on Tuesday, and they’re opening up that meeting to public testimony on her performance.

Ketchikan school superintendent Beth Lougee faced criticism from Alaska Native leaders during the first phase of the routine, twice-yearly performance review in December.

The now-president of Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council, Gloria Burns, testified that Native teachers and staff weren’t given the resources to adequately do their jobs. KIC’s council later issued an unprecedented statement saying the body had “no confidence” in Lougee as superintendent.

After a lengthy closed-door session, the school board president said the body would commission a community survey on Lougee’s performance and reconvene at a later date to complete the evaluation. But the board was unable to complete the review after Lougee went on bereavement and medical leave following the death of her husband and a subsequent battle with complications of COVID-19. She returned to the office last week.

Lougee has so far been silent on the proceedings. She did not respond to requests for comment by phone and email Monday.

Lougee’s contract stipulates that if the board finds her performance “unsatisfactory,” they’ll have to provide her with a detailed list of grievances and recommendations for improvement. Lougee would need to respond in 10 days.

Ketchikan’s school board will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Ketchikan High School library. The board will likely recess into closed session for the bulk of that meeting. That’s in line with its policy — the school board doesn’t generally discuss personnel issues in public.

Unlike most other meetings, the evaluation will not be available on TV or live-streamed by Ketchikan’s borough — the high school library doesn’t have the right equipment. KRBD plans to live-stream public portions of the meeting on its Facebook page and post an audio recording at KRBD.org the following day.

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Ketchikan High School. (KRBD file photo)

Critics of Ketchikan’s school superintendent say she’s given short-shrift to Alaska Native educators and students. The school board says they are looking into the allegations as they continue to assess her future with the district.

Beth Lougee has been on the job for nearly two years. As the top administrator she’s in charge of Ketchikan’s elementary, middle and high schools.

She’s currently undergoing a routine evaluation as she enters her second full year.

But at a Dec. 10 school board meeting at the High School library, a Ketchikan tribal leader urged the school board to scrutinize the superintendent’s treatment of the district’s Alaska Native staff.

“There has to be a change to the systemic racism that occurs in certain sections of our district,” said Gloria Burns. She’s an elected member of Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council, but said she wasn’t speaking for the tribe.

“I’m here as an auntie, as a person who is deeply invested in this community,” she said.

She says the school district hired a cultural coordinator but didn’t supply the woman with as much as a desk or chair. A photograph of Teresa Varnell sitting on the floor working on her laptop has circulated widely.

“My auntie, April Churchill, worked in this district as an employee of KIC, and she often went into classrooms with no resources. And when I saw Teresa sitting on the floor, the way my aunt had 20 years ago, I said, the hell with that. There is no excuse,” she said.

She said a KIC-funded art teacher often found herself assigned to rooms without running water. And she said the district had declined cultural training opportunities that would’ve been grant-funded.

So far, Lougee has declined KRBD’s requests for an interview.

Burns wasn’t the only community Native leader to complain about the district’s treatment of its cultural coordinator. Here’s KIC tribal member Sharyl Yeisley, who has children in the district.

“Without offices, proper desks, proper material, and a proper setting to do their jobs, I can’t imagine how they would feel,” Yeisley said.

Yeisley said she’s of Aleut descent and recalled how her people were relocated to a camp in the Ward Cove area during World War II.

“I can imagine in some ways they might feel like my family did, being isolated and separated from other people and watching their peers and their coworkers have things that they don’t have,” she said.

Ketchikan High School teacher Kevin Johnson also addressed the school board about Lougee’s leadership style. He says she’s rudely dismissive of her subordinates.

“Have you ever walked in a hallway, stood in the hallway with your — with the top leader, whom you’re serving under, or whom you’re working under, and them walk by you and act like you don’t exist? Because I want you to see this face. And I want you to know that Ms. Lougee has done that to me. And I did not appreciate it. And it was utterly unprofessional,” Johnson said.

A half-dozen people testified at the meeting, including one written comment read aloud by the school board clerk.

Only one came to Lougee’s defense. School district psychologist Derek Meister said it was clear there were some concerns to be addressed. But he said that given the circumstances, he was confident in her leadership.

“I think she does a damn good job. I think she works harder than any other staff in this district,” Meister said. “I think she puts the hours that any of us who put extra hours in — she puts those numbers to shame with how often she’s in trying to make plans and help us through this insane time in our history, this 2020 year.”

And after a more than three-hour closed-door session, Ketchikan’s school board announced they’d need more time. Board president Kim Hodne told KRBD that everyone who spoke up or wrote letters has been heard.

“And those issues are being addressed in a very definite fashion, and I believe all will be pleased with the outcome that we’re working to,” Hodne said.

Hodne said the school board plans to meet again before Christmas and finalize its evaluation of its superintendent early next month.

Beth Lougee was promoted to interim superintendent in 2018 after her predecessor Robert Boyle resigned amidst controversy. Lougee and her husband David both faced formal complaints at a school district in New Mexico in 2017. But she told KRBD earlier this year that the charges were unfounded.

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