by Katherine Rose, KCAW Sitka

Phoenix Johnson works in political advocacy and education now, but around two decades ago, fresh out of the United States Air Force, she was planning on a career in medicine.

“Getting into the medical field was almost out of survival,” Johnson says. “I’ve always cared about people…I was a suicide intervention skills instructor, the youngest in the Air Force to do that. It hurts my heart to see people hurting, and I’ve hurt, and I haven’t had help when I needed it, and being an eldest sister, you know, I just kind of feel like that’s just ingrained in me.”

She was 26 when she moved to Ketchikan in the summer of 2011. The next year, she took a job in a lab run by Ketchikan Indian Community, an opportunity that felt deeply personal to her. 

“I’m biracial. My mom is Indigenous, and my dad was a Coastie…And that’s how they met [when] he got stationed up in Alaska. And so I thought, ‘What a neat opportunity to be a part of my mother’s tribal community, and to give back and help people.'” 

Johnson worked alongside one other technician in the lab, and they got along well. But the lab director, Dr. Richard McGrath, did not put her at ease. She had only been working in the lab for a few weeks when she said McGrath started to cross the line into her physical space.

“Immediately I could tell where he placed his body was unprofessional,” Johnson says. “The personal bubble wasn’t there.”

“It was a fairly small lab, and so, you know, I’m sure someone could justify, like, ‘There just wasn’t enough room. That’s why my pelvis just slid across you, right? Or, like, ‘I’m just grabbing for the gauze. That’s why I grazed your breast.'”

She recalls a moment when he called her into his office and pulled her chair closer to him so their knees were touching. When she tried to scoot her chair backwards, he pulled her close to him again. She recalls several other instances of inappropriate touching, including on her thigh, neck, and hair. She says he invited her to his home on Prince of Wales Island, which she declined. And then there was a slap. 

He came in, and that was the morning that he like full on, slapped my butt, and there’s  no mistaking that,” Johnson says. “It was underhand, slapping, cupping booty jiggle, all of it. And I was stunned, and I remember looking at him, and I was resolved, and I just said, ‘Never touch me like that again.’”

She reported McGrath to the tribe’s human resources department the same day, March 19, 2012. Three days later, she sent additional documentation, listing other instances of inappropriate touching and conversation. She met with the tribe’s human resources director, who said they would investigate. 

KCAW reached out to Ketchikan Indian Community CEO Emily Edenshaw, who declined to comment.

(Editor’s Note: After this story was published, Edenshaw sent KCAW a statement. We’ve included the link at the bottom of this story)

Johnson says they weren’t taking the allegations seriously. 

“I do recall being told, I don’t know if it was before or after the letter, HR saying, ‘Okay, well, clearly there’s an issue, so we’ll just have it so you guys interact very little. And I’m like, ‘Well, not really sure how that’s supposed to happen, because he’s the director. And that’s when it became very clear that, ‘Oh, I’m I’m the disposable one. They’re going to want to preserve a director, I guess.'”

A month later, on April 17, she received a response from KIC’s General Manager at the time, Debra Patton. The letter rejected Johnson’s sexual harassment claim, calling the incidents “non-intentional communication and physical contact.” It said McGrath’s actions may have been misinterpreted by Johnson due to his  “casualness” in the office, and the physical touching of her hands and shoulders was intended, “to refresh your knowledge of blood withdrawing procedure.” It said invitations to McGrath’s home were standard for all employees. Furthermore, the letter said McGrath’s butt slap was accidental, and was intended for her back. It said they found “no witnesses to support the allegation [that] he touched [her] on the neck, thigh and hair,” but if she felt intimidated in the future, she should speak with human resources or a management staff member immediately.    

The letter, which she says was delivered to her by the tribe’s former health administrator Brent Simcosky, said she could file a grievance in response to the investigation. Johnson says she filed a grievance right away. Within days, HR staff called her into a meeting, and told her she was fired. Johnson remembers crying as they immediately escorted her off the premises.

“Treating me as if I was some high threat or a criminal was that much more traumatizing,” Johnson recalls. “And then I’m just being dumped out on the sidewalk with no plan, no severance, no apology, no justice.”

KCAW has independently confirmed that McGrath worked for the Ketchikan Indian Community through at least 2013. A few years later, he was hired at Sitka Community Hospital. He was under contract there until he was placed on administrative leave in December 2018 after several sexual assault allegations were raised against him by three different women. He was charged in 2019 with 13 counts of felony sexual assault. Following a mistrial in 2022, on the first day of what was expected to be a lengthy trial in 2023, McGrath took a last-minute deal with the state. He pleaded guilty to third degree sexual assault, and was sentenced to two years in prison. KCAW reached out to McGrath’s legal representation for comment, but they did not respond. 

Johnson believes that if McGrath’s actions had been addressed by Ketchikan Indian Community years ago, it could have prevented him from harming patients and medical staff in the future.

Last year, she happened across news coverage of McGrath’s Sitka arrest. She felt it was time to ensure that her story was heard. 

“Being able to talk about this now means that my experience isn’t just invisible and it wasn’t erased. It means something, and there are so many survivors out there that don’t get their stories told,” Johnson says.

“Every time that we can tell these stories, it shines more light. You know, they say to drive out the dark with light,” she continues. “But it also, I think, hopefully inspires other people to be better. Even if somebody reads this and they decide, ‘Maybe I should go to therapy,’ [or] ‘Maybe I should tell my best friend this thing happened to me. Maybe somebody just needs that push to just try one more time.”

Johnson says she filed a grievance with the Indian Health Service earlier this year, but she’s skeptical of the state’s court system as a means for victims seeking justice. She says its “deference to state agencies supersedes its citizens in a way that feels inhumane.” Still, she’s optimistic that, if people act with integrity, those systems can be changed.

“We don’t need a system to have integrity, I try to teach people that. Every day I teach my daughter that you don’t need a law to tell you to be a decent human being,” Johnson says.

“The systems could be crummy, but if you have integrity, if we collectively have integrity we can fix the system, we can change the system, or we can work around the things that are not functioning as they should, or that are harming people.”

A civil case filed by one of McGrath’s victims in Sitka is being appealed before the Alaska Supreme Court. 

Editor’s Note: After this story was published on March 31, KIC CEO Emily Edenshaw released a statement. In her letter, Edenshaw said that as a matter of policy, KIC does not comment on past or current employee matters. “At the same time, we recognize that conversations like these can be difficult and may surface painful experiences for survivors,” she wrote. “Anyone impacted by sexual abuse or violence deserves support, care, and access to resources.” The letter included links to resources for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. “KIC remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and accountable workplace and community,” the letter continued. “We take all concerns seriously and continue to uphold the highest standards of integrity in how we serve our people.”

Read the full statement here.

The post After Sitka doctor is convicted of assaulting patients, a former Ketchikan colleague comes forward appeared first on KRBD.

Ketchikan’s tribe wants to change the community’s designation under federal subsistence rules to give residents more access to subsistence resources. The tribe is asking to change from urban to rural status- which would apply to all 14,000 residents in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. As CoastAlaska’s Angela Denning reports, the tribe hopes that recent changes to the designation process will help it win approval.

Listen to the story here.

Most communities in Alaska are designated by the federal government as rural, recognizing a lifestyle that is inextricably tied to the land. But there are urban exceptions like Anchorage, Juneau, and Ketchikan. It’s a status that’s overseen by the Federal Subsistence Board.

The urban communities don’t have a subsistence priority like the rest of the state. That means they have limited access to subsistence resources on federal lands.

“It’s an unfairness to the system because we’re urban,” said Tony Gallegos with the Ketchikan Indian Community. “We’re not considered to have access to those resources.”

For example, Ketchikan residents, including tribal members, can’t fish for eulachon in the Unuk River while residents from smaller nearby communities can – even though their ancestors have been harvesting the little smelt species for thousands of years.

Gallegos has been working on a proposal to change the community’s status from urban to rural through the Federal Subsistence Board.

“The tribe wants to remove impediments from their access to traditional foods that they depend upon,” said Gallegos. “And by being in a community that’s considered urban, nobody in the community has the designation of a federally recognized subsistence user, and therefore cannot hunt and fish and gather under subsistence regulations.”

The rural-nonrural status goes back to 1980 when the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act or ANILCA was put into law. It designated more than 100 million acres of federal land in Alaska into parks, recreation areas, and refuges. And it was then that communities were labeled rural or urban.

“It’s a big deal to rescind these things,” said Brent Vickers, an anthropologist with the federal Office of Subsistence Management.

Vickers office will make a recommendation on the proposal next fall. He says the process to change a community’s status now takes at least four years, much longer than it used to.

That’s because public input is now a major part of the process. Until 2015, it was decided mostly by numbers – things like the average household income and the number of hotels and grocery stores in a community.

“It really didn’t have opportunities for much input,” Vickers said. “It was really just based on these kinds of quantitative metrics.”

The process changed in 2015, after complaints and a review, to a more comprehensive approach. Now, Vickers says the board considers more factors and relies heavily on the recommendations of the Subsistence Regional Advisory Councils.

“Now, the analysis will look at all sorts of things – basically painting a picture of what these communities are like, what it’s like to live in these communities,” he said.

In Ketchikan’s case, there are about 14,000 people in the borough. But it’s also isolated on an island, off-the-road system. The community has a large Indigenous population. The tribe has over 3,000 members living locally and there are residents who belong to other tribes as well.

But the rural status wouldn’t just affect tribal members. It would qualify all Ketchikan borough residents as subsistence users, no matter their background — as long as they have been a resident for one year. Wildlife officials also would be required to prioritize their needs over commercial and sport users.

Gallegos says it’s the third time the Ketchikan tribe has sought a change. But he hopes for a different result this time. He says both Ketchikan’s city and borough have passed resolutions in support of the change.

“Right now, the tribe is trying to work within the system as it’s structured with the rules and regulations that are in place, trying to see if we can go ahead and break down this barrier,” said Gallegos.

Since the designation process changed in 2015, the federal subsistence board has only considered one proposal in Alaska. That was for the community of Moose Pass near Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. It had been considered part of the urban Seward area but gained rural status in 2021.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Public hearings on Ketchikan’s rural status proposal will be held in Ketchikan Oct. 18 from 6 to 9 p.m. and in Klawock Oct. 23 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. You can in person or by phone.

The post Ketchikan’s federal subsistence designation is being reconsidered appeared first on KRBD.

Ketchikan Indian Community’s newly-elected 2022 Tribal Council executives. From left to right, Vice President Norm Skan, Secretary Judy Leask Guthrie, President Trixie Bennett and Treasurer Chas Edwardson. (Photo courtesy of Ketchikan Indian Community)

Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council elected a new president this week. Trixie Bennett says she plans to lead the community’s advocacy to preserve Indigenous ways of life.

Ketchikan Indian Community’s new president says ensuring tribal members have access to traditional foods and medicines is among her highest priorities.

“File it under sovereignty if you want, but right up there with sovereignty is our food,” Bennett said in a phone interview.

Trixie Bennett, Tlingit from Wrangell, is the new president of Ketchikan’s 6,000-member federally-recognized tribe. She’d previously served as the council’s vice president.

In her new role, Bennett says she plans to continue pushing for stricter environmental standards for mines near rivers that flow from Canada into Southeast Alaska. Conservationists and tribes say mine waste threatens salmon runs in the region. Bennett says she plans to continue working with groups like Salmon Beyond Borders and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission to push for a ban on tailings dams that hold back mine waste along cross-border rivers.

“Part of my priority is to keep putting some attention on that because salmon is our way of life,” she said. “It’s our canary in the mine for the environment.”

She says she’s planning trips to Washington D.C. and Ottawa in the coming months to keep the pressure on.

Closer to home, Bennett says she plans to continue a push to have Ketchikan designated as a rural area under a federal law that governs who can participate in certain subsistence hunts and fisheries.

“Access to the land is equals access to our foods. It’s been that way — my great grandfather was Chief Shakes in Wrangell in … the 1890s, and he was fighting for the same thing: access to our lands and our foods. So that will continue to be a focus for me and this tribe,” Bennett said.

As it stands, the Federal Subsistence Board considers most of Ketchikan, with the exception of Saxman, to be a “nonrural” area. And that means most people in Ketchikan can’t hunt or fish under subsistence rules on federal lands.

“We fought for the fishery to open for subsistence users on the Unuk (River) for eulachon every spring, and we actually won — people could go out and get five gallons each. But we didn’t get to go ourselves as a community, and our tribal people weren’t allowed because of that rural designation,” she said. “It’s just not right.”

Bennett says another area of focus is addiction, mental health and homelessness.

“It all goes together,” she said. “We have a lot of amazing programs and services and a treatment center in the works that we’re working on plans for. We’ve gotten through a feasibility study, so that’s coming down the pike, and (we’re) looking forward to collaborating with the rest of the community. We know it’s a real need here.”

Beyond that, Bennett says she plans to put her new business and management degree and her experience on staff to use making KIC a better place to work and get health care.

Before assuming the presidency, Bennett worked for the tribe’s clinic for more than a decade before winning a seat on the tribal council in 2018. These days, she runs a small online traditional medicine store called Tongass Tonics and says she’s in talks to purchase another downtown business.

“Our traditional foods, a lot of our people never have had to this day because they get shipped out to the highest bidder. I’d like to see more of those things offered by businesses in town,” she said.

Bennett replaces Gloria Burns as president. Norm Skan, who preceded Burns, will return to council leadership as vice president. Treasurer Chas Edwardson and Secretary Judy Leask Guthrie round out the 2022 executive committee.

The post New Ketchikan Indian Community president says she plans to push for greater access to traditional foods appeared first on KRBD.

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.

The post Executive fired from Bristol Bay health corporation now leads Ketchikan Indian Community’s tribal health clinic appeared first on KRBD.

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.

The head of Ketchikan’s school district turned in her resignation Friday afternoon. Tribal leaders have been calling on the district to replace Superintendent Beth Lougee in recent months.

It’s been a turbulent year for Ketchikan Superintendent of Schools Beth Lougee.

Ketchikan’s outgoing superintendent, Beth Lougee. (Photo courtesy Beth Lougee)

Last summer as schools grasped out to reopen amid the pandemic, Ketchikan’s school board overruled her reopening advice after several tense town halls and hours of testimony. It eventually forced the district to resume full in-person instruction in September.

Later that winter she was roundly criticized by tribal members and parents in the district who said she’d given short shrift to Alaska Native education. Then there was personal tragedy: she and her husband both contracted COVID-19 in over the winter. Her husband did not recover.

“With my husband passing away in January, and then, with my own health scare, it was just — it just feels like it’s time for me to focus on my own wellbeing and take the year off and kind of refocus,” Lougee said in an interview Monday.

Ketchikan Indian Community’s elected Tribal Council late last year expressed “no confidence” in Lougee. The tribe says it had never made such a call before. But a publicly circulated photo of an Alaska Native cultural educator sitting on the floor because she had not been issued furniture caused anger from parents and other community members.

Lougee declined to say what role her critics played in her leaving more than a month before the end of the school year.

“Again, I — you know, the focus was on me, and I have no further comment on that,” Lougee said.

The superintendent submitted her letter of resignation to the school board on Friday. (Courtesy of Lougee)

School Board President Kim Hodne says it’s not yet clear who will take over next month. He says he intends to bring the question to the full board.

“We’re not going to make snap, jump decisions just to make a decision. This is going to be a thoughtful process. By the end of the week — we have until May 1 to make that decision. So I want this to be a good decision, and one that’s understood by the board and agreed by the board. And we’ll go forward in that respect,” Hodne said in an interview.

The school board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Thursday for a work session on next year’s school district budget. There’s a regular meeting scheduled for the following Wednesday, April 28.

Lougee took over as interim superintendent after the prior top administrator, Bob Boyle, resigned in the wake of a sex abuse scandal a that saw district teacher arrested  and contentious negotiations with the local teachers’ union.

Lougee had previously served as the district’s curriculum director after relocating from New Mexico, where she faced formal labor complaints. Lougee has denied the allegations.

After Ketchikan’s school board spent months debating whether to launch a wider superintendent search, the board gave Lougee a two-year contract in 2020. Her annual salary was set at $145,000.

Lougee says she plans to remain in the Ketchikan area until at least August, at which point she’ll assume care of her grandchildren in Wyoming while their mother is deployed overseas with the military.

Hodne, the school board president, says he’d like to see the next superintendent be someone already living in Ketchikan.

“We’d love to see someone from within the community step up and fill this position,” Hodne said. “But having said that, of course, it’s going to be open. There may be somebody out there that just strikes everybody, hey, this is a great fit for us. We will go through the due process.”

Hodne pledged that the search would be open and transparent. He says he’d like to see a public meet-and-greet with the top two or three candidates.

And he noted that Ketchikan’s tribal government has a formal role to play.

“We have an MOU — memorandum of understanding — (that) was signed with KIC a year or so before I came on the board, and they actually are, through that MOU, a part of — they have a seat at the table, if you will, in that process,” Hodne said.

That agreement gives the tribe a fifth of the seats on district hiring committees, which recommend top candidates to the school board, who will ultimately offer the position to the final candidate.

Beth Lougee, who was first hired by the district in 2017, offered some parting advice to her successor:

“Be patient and just continue to work closely with the school board and really, really focus on what’s best for students,” Lougee said.

Hodne says he wishes the departing superintendent well and hopes she finds time to relax.

The post ‘Time for me to focus on my own wellbeing’: Ketchikan superintendent of schools submits resignation appeared first on KRBD.

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.

The post Ketchikan superintendent evaluation to resume Tuesday after 3-month pause appeared first on KRBD.

The Ketchikan School District seal is on display at the superintendent’s office. (KRBD file photo by Leila Kheiry)

UPDATE: This meeting has been postponed and will be rescheduled, tentatively for Jan. 7th.

Ketchikan’s school board will continue evaluating the district’s top administrator on Tuesday. She’s facing allegations that she has shortchanged Alaska Native teachers and staff.

The board started its evaluation of Superintendent Beth Lougee on Dec. 10. At that meeting, they heard public criticism that Lougee hadn’t provided Alaska Native teachers and staff with the proper resources to do their jobs.

One tribal leader pointed to a widely-circulated photo of a cultural coordinator working on the floor because she wasn’t provided furniture for a new office. An Alaska Native employee said she was dismissive of subordinates, though another district staffer, who is white, stepped forward to defend her.

Then board members closed the doors for a more than three-hour discussion. The school board president announced at the end of the meeting that the board would conduct a community survey before completing Lougee’s evaluation.

About two weeks later, leaders of Ketchikan’s federally-recognized tribe issued a letter saying they had “no confidence” in Lougee’s leadership of the school district. The letter from Ketchikan Indian Community’s Tribal Council says she’s treated Alaska Native staff and parents with “little regard or respect.”

Lougee has yet to publicly respond to the allegations. She did not answer repeated requests that she respond to criticism from staff and community members.

Lougee’s contract says she’ll face a review twice a year. She’s held the top job in the school district for two years. She was promoted to superintendent in late 2018 after the district’s previous chief resigned. The board and Lougee agreed to a two-year contract in February.

Lougee’s contract allows the board to fire her for “good cause” without paying severance.

Lougee faced complaints that she’d mistreated employees in a previous job as principal of a school in Silver City, New Mexico. She denied the allegations earlier this year in an interview with KRBD, saying she hadn’t done anything wrong.

A New Mexico labor relations official told KRBD the complaints were settled and withdrawn in 2016. Lougee left the district the following year.

Ketchikan’s school board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Ketchikan High School library. Unlike most Ketchikan school board meetings, it will not be live-streamed online nor broadcast on television. Seating is limited, and face masks are required. The board is scheduled to hear public comment at the beginning of the meeting before a closed-door session.

The post School board to continue evaluating Ketchikan superintendent accused of not supporting Alaska Native staff appeared first on KRBD.

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

Tribal leaders in Ketchikan say they have “no confidence” in the school district’s top administrator. Ketchikan’s superintendent of schools is facing allegations she’s mistreated Alaska Native faculty.

A letter to Ketchikan’s school board from all but one elected member of the Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Council stops short of calling for Ketchikan Superintendent Beth Lougee to be fired.

But the letter’s message is clear: “trust has been severed” between her and Ketchikan’s Alaska Native community. The tribal council says it’s aware of “numerous instances” of disrespect towards Alaska Native staff and parents — and wants things to change.

“The Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Council proudly represents over 6,000 Native citizens and, on their behalf, we submit this letter as an official notice of a Vote of No Confidence in Superintendent Beth Lougee,” the elected officials write.

At a recent school board meeting, several members of the public accused the superintendent of not providing resources to Alaska Native faculty. A picture circulated of a cultural coordinator working on the floor because her office had no furniture.

So far, Lougee has not answered any of her critics in public. Since Dec. 10, she’s declined or not responded to KRBD’s interview requests.

The criticism comes as the superintendent is due for an evaluation by Ketchikan’s school board. Lougee’s contract is up for renewal in 18 months. Under the terms of her contract, the district could terminate her employment with “good cause” without paying an up to $145,000 severance.

Tribal Council President Norman Skan issued a statement to KRBD saying the council respects the school board and looks forward to further dialogue. It should be noted that his wife, Sonya Skan, serves on the school board.

The tribal council says it’s the first time in its 80-year history that it’s written a letter expressing no confidence in a Ketchikan public servant. The only tribal council member who did not sign the letter is an employee of the school district.

“We do not take this lightly,” council members write to the school board. “We remind you of your responsibility to all the children and parents in this community.”

Ketchikan’s school board president declined to immediately comment.

Ketchikan’s school board announced Monday that it’s collecting community feedback with an 18-question survey as part of its evaluation of the superintendent. The deadline to submit comments is Monday, Dec. 28. The full letter from KIC’s Tribal Council can be viewed here.

The post Tribal leaders express ‘no confidence’ in superintendent of Ketchikan schools appeared first on KRBD.

A new air quality monitor overlooks Ketchikan’s waterfront at the corner of Front and Cedar streets on Friday. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

Hundreds of people have complained to the state’s environmental watchdog about air pollution from cruise ships. Scientists hope new air monitors in Southeast port communities will provide some hard data to quantify the impact of cruise ships.

It takes a lot of energy to move a ship the size of an office building. As deckhands cast off lines, giant engines spin up, water rushes from propellers and thrusters, and a bluish white plume of smoke and steam erupts from funnels atop the ship.

That’s led some to worry about the impact these behemoths have on small-town Southeast Alaska’s air quality. Since 2018, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has gotten more than 200 calls complaining about poor air quality in Southeast Alaska cruise ports.

“So last summer, spring and summer, we did a study in downtown Juneau — a pilot study to look at impacts from cruise ships to the Juneau downtown area,” said Barbara Trost. She manages the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s air monitoring and quality assurance program.

“We are trying to collect data that we know we can compare to some known health impacts,” she said.

That pilot study used $250 monitors that measured how many fine dust particles — what scientists call PM2.5, for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers — lingered in the air. Other unpowered sensors measured sulfur dioxide — that’s a component of diesel exhaust harmful to human health.

Trost says those monitors picked up some data — air quality was generally good, though it dipped as wildfire smoke from British Columbia settled in for a few days. And sometimes, when cruise ships were maneuvering in and out of port, there were upticks in fine dust in the air that lasted a few hours.

But Trost says the passive sensors that measured other harmful pollutants associated with exhaust weren’t sensitive enough to show useful data.

“Basically what we could see is the rise of particulate matter that would coincide with sort of a diesel plume from a cruise ship, but we couldn’t really see a whole lot more than that,” Trost said.

So Trost and other state scientists upgraded their gear for round two. New $13,000 sensors are now being deployed around Southeast Alaska, including three in Juneau. The new monitors provide a bevy of measurements — four different sizes of fine dust, concentrations of harmful gases like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide — not to mention meteorological data like wind and air pressure. Trost says it’s the first time they’ve monitored sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in Juneau since 2001.

Scientists hope the AQMesh sensor pod will provide a wide variety of data about Ketchikan’s air quality. (Eric Stone/KRBD)

Two of those are earmarked for Ketchikan, thanks to a partnership between the state and the local federally-recognized tribe. Walter Robles is working with Ketchikan Indian Community on the project through Americorps, a federal service program. He says KIC placed one of the sensors above a downtown tunnel near Ketchikan’s cruise ship docks.

“So the one above the tunnel will be good to kind of see, okay, what’s the local effect,” Robles said in a phone interview.

That is, what air quality looks like closest to the ships themselves. He says he’s hoping to place another one at Houghtaling Elementary in a residential area about a mile and a half away.

“Kids tend to be more of a sensitive population, so it’s actually a very good site to have the other one at because we can kind of see, well, is there any — what lingering effects are there, pollutants getting more inland,” Robles said.

The AQMesh boxes are the first permanent air pollution monitors in Ketchikan. Previously, air quality estimates relied on mathematical models based on satellite readings.

Tony Gallegos heads up KIC’s cultural resources department, which houses a variety of environmental monitoring programs. He says that since the monitors are intended to work year-round, they could also provide important information about pollution during the offseason.

“It’s kind of nice to know what’s going on through the winter. You know, if we’re burning wood, wood burning can cause sometimes a lot of harmful pollutants in the air locally that sometimes can stick around,” he told KRBD.

So the new monitors will help answer some existing questions about cruise ship exhaust — and could raise some new questions, too.

State scientist Trost says there three more monitors are waiting to be placed in other Southeast port communities. She says Skagway has expressed interest, but she’s not sure where the last two will end up.

Air quality data for Juneau and Ketchikan is now available online at the Department of Environmental Conservation’s website.

The post Scientists hope new Southeast air quality monitors will provide insight on impact of ship exhaust appeared first on KRBD.