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By Sentinel Staff The new state system of village high schools will not take the place of Mt. Edgecumbe school in the educational and cultural life of Alaska Natives, a host of witnesses testified Thursday at a BIA hearing here. The hearing was one of nine scheduled in eight states in connection with the Reagan Administration’s planned closure and phase-out of BIA schools, including Mt. Edgecumbe. Funding for Mt. Edgecumbe’s operations has been assured through the 1982-83 school year, but under present plans no freshman class will be enrolled next fall. Testifying Thursday morning on the important role Mt. Edgecumbe has played in its 35-year history were Sitka Community Association President Andy Hope; Frank O. Williams, speaking for the Mt. Edgecumbe alumni, the Sitka ANB and the ANB Grand C George Davis of the Hoonah ANB, and Carolyn Martin, an aide to State Sen. Nels Andersen of Bethel. The hearing officer was Education Specialist Bill Brady of the Juneau office of the BIA. He heard the statements without comment. The hearings are required by federal administrative rules in connection with closures such as the ones now planned. Among those testifying at the hearing’s second session Thursday evening was Bill Brady of Sitka (no relation to the hearing officer), who said a recent meeting of Southeast Native organizations went on Forecast Mostly sunny today and Saturday. Fair tonight. Northeast winds 10 to 20 mph. High today and Saturday in the mid to upper 40s. Low tonight in the mid 30s. Outlook, sunny, record against the closure. He said he believes the government has not fulfilled the obligations of its trust relationship with the Natives. He cited the school’s facilities and its highly qualified staff, and the school’s importance as a cross-cultural institution as major reasons for its continued operation. Six Mt. Edgecumber students, representing freshman through senior classes, presented statements citing many reasons for continuation of the school, as did a teacher, Cathy Sutton, a Mt. Edgecumbe teacher for 11 years. Mary Ann Kapotak, a senior from Portage Creek, urged those who will make the decision to personally visit the schools that are supposed to supplant Mt. Edgecumbe in the villages, to judge for themselves whether they offer a satisfactory alternative. All of the students testifying said these newly built secondary schools are inadequate. The points they made about the village high schools: Discipline is lax, with much tardiness, truancy and a high drop out rate. Special programs are not available. The teachers are overburdened and have a high turnover rate, to the detriment of the quality of the education offered. Students are more exposed to drugs and alcohol in the villlages, and are much more likely to become ‘‘involved’’ in them than at Edgecumbe. At Mt.Edgecumbe, on the other hand, “opportunities for developing personal leadership are limitless,’ said Eleanor Weedman of New Stuyahok. ‘We have the chance to interact with students from other parts of Alaska,’’ she said. She said that many Mt. Edgecumbe students are planning professional careers or leadership roles in the Native Corporations, for which a_ village education would not be a_ suitable preparation. She pointed out that Mt. Edgecumbe has remedial classes as well, and a number of dropouts from village high schools have done well at the Sitka boarding school. Benny Stevens of Stevens Village, said his village does not even have a high school. ‘The state boarding home program is not the answer’’ to the phase out of Edgecumbe, he said. Under the boarding home plan, students attend public high schools in the nearest urban center and board with individual families. Anvu student, Margaret Phillips of Chuathbaluk, said the Mt. Edgecumbe experience helps students to be in dependent and better able to make career choices. Leah Thompson, a freshman from Bettles Field, said that concntration was impossible and the lessons were too easy in her village school, where grades 6 through 12 were taught in one room by a single teacher, and that she consequently got poor grades. She said Mr. Edgecumbe had been such an improvement that it would not be fair to deny future students the same opportunity. Brenda Walunga of Gambell, “an isolated island near Siberia,’’ said that if not for Mt. Edgecumbe, she would never have had the courage to speak in public, as she was then doing. “Why waste our greatest natural resource, people?’’ she asked in urging continuation of the school. ‘A feeling of unity that lasts a lifetime is formed at Mt. Edgecumbe,”’ said Mary Ann Kapotak. ‘What price can be put on a useful, productive life?’’ asked Mrs. Sutton, the teacher, commenting on the federal and state contentions that Mt. Edgecumbe is too expensive to operate. “Closure of Mt. Edgecumbe will be a tragic mistake and will have serious consequences for Alaska,”’ she said. The hearing, at the Centennial Building, coincided, appropriately enough, with the week-long Native Awareness Week celebration now under way there. The hearing record will remain open for inclusion of written statements, which must be received by April 16 in the Office of Indian Education Programs, 18th and C Streets N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240. SPEAKS UP — Eleanor Weedman of New Stuyahok addresses a public hearing at the Centennial Building Thursday night. She and other Mt. Edgecumbe High School students spoke in favor of keeping the school open. (Sentinel photo)
Newspaper Details
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Sitka, Alaska, US
Fri, Apr 02, 1982
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Jessica W.
