The Wrangell School Board met in open session on Tuesday, Sept. 18 to take a number of reports regarding the on-going operations in the district and to approve a series of grants and employment contracts.
The meeting began, however, with a workshop dedicated to a board self-assessment.
District Superintendent Rich Rhodes explained the purpose of the assessment during a break in the discussion.
“I think it’s a self-reflection on what we’ve been doing and whether we have been doing it well,” Rhodes said. “We want to look at continual improvement because that’s our goal. We also want to recognize that the board has been doing a great job.”
After reconvening into regular session, the board took up a presentation from teacher Michelle Galla regarding her online government and civics class – and learned about how she is holding a statewide class over the Internet to give students an insight into our national leadership by utilizing top-notch experts from around the country.
“Basically, I have my students here in Wrangell, but I also have a student who is in Igiugak and she is part of our class this year, so we have an online statewide class,” Galla said. “Because we have a student who is on the other side of the state, we have been able to get some extra tools from the commissioner’s office.”
Those tools include a web presence that allows students to take virtual tours of Washington D.C., to include the Capitol Building and its interiors.
But Galla hasn’t stopped there – she has invited and received lectures from some of the top minds in academia, government and journalism to provide online education to her students.
“I have been very interested in online education for years,” Galla added. “The material I have been teaching to our students in twelfth grade is what I have converted into an online class. It uses material I was trained to use by the State of Alaska, which was a yearlong program that came from the Center for Civics Education.”
The program, “We The People,” contains a pair of core units, “Project Citizen,” and “Foundations of Democracy,” which Galla teaches.
“These are materials that are paid for by the U.S. Congress since (President) Reagan’s first term,” Galla added.
Galla’s online class provides not only the virtual tour and standard curriculum related to government and civics – but adds the aspect of letting her students hear from some of the finest minds in government, journalism and other professions via live streaming video.
“I wanted to bring Washington and other parts of our country to us,” She added. “But most importantly, I thought it would be nice if the kids had a ‘dream team’ of guest lecturers. There are people out there who have real expertise to share.”
Galla asked a number of experts to speak to her class – and a number of them took her up on it, including U.S. Senate Historian Don Ritchie, Rhodes Scholar Peter Levine, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Adair of PolitiFact.com.
“I asked 20 in all to speak, and all 20 said yes,” Galla said.
The board also approved acceptance of three grants for the district; a $500 SEARHC fuel donation, $2000 in funding for a University of Alaska Outreach Coordinator, a $15,000 Upward Bound award, which is an increase over the $8,300 award last year, and also approved the application for a SEARHC food service grant to provide a food storage shed for the district.
A contract addendum for Monty Buness as activities director, in the amount of $4,375, was also approved, as was a $1,750 addendum for Jennifer Miller as the community schools coordinator. Ray Stokes received a $4,968 bump for his work as a math teacher at Stikine Middle School, and Therese Pempek received an additional $6,750 for her directorship of the Upward Bound position.
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