Wrangell officially threw its support behind a proposed accelerated high school program, after the Borough Assembly issued a resolution in favor of it at Tuesday’s meeting.
Coming to view during the planning process for the former Institute property’s future development, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program is looking to take its advanced summer curriculum to the next level with a residential facility. Currently operating between between regular school years, the program helps give rural, primarily Native Alaskan students extra preparation for college, with an emphasis on the fields of science and mathematics.
Around 2,000 students from eighth grade through the postgraduate level are currently engaged in the program, which is seeing the start of a new full-time school this fall in the Palmer area. Students will attend during the normal school year, but work at a pace which not only earns them college credits but shaves time off from their time in high school by up to a year.
What program founder Herb Schroeder would like to do is establish a similar campus, but with residential facilities, opening up the program to students not living in the Anchorage area. The campus he is proposing would accommodate 400 to 450 high school students year-round, and would benefit the Wrangell community with the necessitation of around 50 faculty and staff positions. Wrangell school superintendent Patrick Mayer has further explained the school would become a part of the local district, receiving funding through Wrangell’s state individual student allocation.
City manager Jeff Jabusch explained the resolution was a show of good faith on the part of the community, which could be used by ANSEP to demonstrate Wrangell’s cooperation in the process as it lobbies for development funding from philanthropic groups. At a public meeting earlier this month, Schroeder suggested the residential campus could cost as much as $50,000,000.
“Without this, nobody wants to put the effort in,” Jabusch said.
Assembly member Julie Decker told fellow members that conversations with Schroeder indicated such a school could be built in as soon as five or seven years. While she and other members have expressed varying levels of interest in the program, some considerations remain to be addressed, and the wording of Tuesday’s resolution demonstrated their support was not without reservations.
The document makes clear that the city, while supportive, would be free to step away from the project should problems arise.
“I think it would be a great thing for the community,” said Assembly member Daniel Blake. However, he wanted to learn more about how the dual school system would impact enrollment at Wrangell High School.
Accepting there would be some concerns to overcome, Decker was cautiously optimistic about the proposal. “It might be a really cool thing,” she commented. Working together, she suggested having the engineering-focused, college-centered campus could allow the current high school to further develop its own emphasis on technical preparation and skills training. “There’s a way that we can structure this that could be very positive.”
Jabusch suggested the first few years of the upcoming ANSEP school in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley might inform expectations of how a similar school might do in Wrangell. “They’re breaking the ground for us in a lot of ways, which might be a good thing,” he said.
Mayor David Jack further pointed out that an early development at the Institute site might help spur other construction there, serving as a sort of anchor property.
In other business, the Assembly approved a resolution which would alter the portion of health premiums city employees would pay for, setting it at 15 percent. The city itself would cover 85 percent of costs, or up to 90 percent if the employee enrolls in an approved wellness program. The change comes after Wrangell learned the cost of its public plan will rise close to 20 percent this coming year, and takes effect Aug. 1.
“In light of our budget meeting yesterday, I’m really supportive of this,” Decker said. “This is just an attempt to start reining in those costs a little bit.”
Jabusch said the uniformity of the policy would make negotiating for better policies in future an easier process, rather than having amounts set by tenure worked. “It puts everybody at the same level.”
Jack also brought to the Assembly’s attention problems with the local garbage truck being parked at length by the barge terminal while awaiting pickup, sometimes for several days. Complaints about the smell had reached his and others’ ears, particularly as the temperature has begun to climb into summer.
“We need to do something about that,” he said.
Jabusch confirmed City Hall had already contacted Alaska Marine Lines, the subcontractor responsible for the service. The company had found it convenient to keep the filled truck at the barge depot because a flat could be placed on its roof to keep ravens from picking out the garbage within.
“I think they’re looking for a long-term fix out there,” Jabusch reported.
Tuesday’s meeting was preceded by an extended workshop held jointly with the Forest Service, outlining its proposed plans for a Wrangell Island timber sale. (see Timber Sale article) Ranger Bob Dalrymple presented Assembly members with maps outlining five separate alternatives put forward for administering the sale, which would see the harvest of 65,000,000 board feet in at most a 10-year time period.
Assembly members expressed some concerns with the plan, noting the scale of the sale and the necessity of helicopters to complete a significant proportion of the harvest could price out smaller regional processors.
A special meeting has been tentatively scheduled for the middle of July, to discuss the newly-submitted assessment report of the Silver Bay Logging Company mill site by consultants Maul Foster & Alongi. Since earlier this year the firm inspected the 110-acre property and rated it for future industrial development.
“We just got this last Thursday and it’s a pretty thick document,” Jabusch explained. “I think everybody needs more time to digest this.”
Until then, the report is available for the public to read at the city website. Just click on the June 28 Assembly meeting entry on the http://www.wrangell.com calendar page, and the 32-page report is in the attached meeting packet under item 13e.
Reader Comments(0)