Alaska lawmaker wants to do away with some rural schools and use online courses instead. Wanna guess where she's from?

Courtesy of Alaska Public Media:

That there are new ideas for changing how the state pays for education isn’t a surprise. That this cost-saving proposal could close 60 schools across the state is. 

“Certainly there has been talk that 10 students is, quite frankly — with the technology that we have today and the options that are available — it’s just too expensive,” Rep. Lynn Gattis said. 

Gattis is a Republican from Wasilla and chairs the House Education Committee. She’s one of the lawmakers considering introducing legislation to change a number of things about how schools in Alaska are funded. One of her ideas is to increase the minimum threshold for schools to receive full funding. She’s considering proposing 25 students as the minimum, but she’s open to a number higher or lower than that. 

“If I was in charge, I would open up those options whether it be virtual schools — I went to school when it was correspondence back in the day and we have come a long way,” Gattis said.

So Gattis was educated through a correspondence school, well that answers a lot of questions. 

And of course, of course, she is representing Wasilla.

Where else?

We have already closed a number of rural schools due to the fact that they did not have the minimum number of students available to keep them open, increasing the number to 25 would see many more close as well. That should be the opposite of what we are trying to do for our children.

As for online courses, well besides the fact that the students would not have personal interactions with an actual teacher, the largest internet provider up here, GCI, only covers this much area.

That's pretty good considering how bad things were in the past, but that is still a lot of communities left in the dark.

No this Gattis person is an idiot, and I would assume that nobody is paying any real attention to her concerning this issue.

After all she's from Wasilla!

Any ideas on improving education opportunities that come from Wasilla should be dismissed out of hand.

The USDA plans to bring indoor plumbing to Alaska villages. Yeah, kind of a big deal.

Alaska honey bucket. No, there is nothing sweet about this.

Courtesy of ABC News:

A remote Alaska Native village where only half the homes have indoor plumbing is among rural communities nationwide that will receive upgrades to rural water and wastewater systems with $352 million in grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is scheduled to announce the funding Thursday at a convention of Alaska Natives in Anchorage. 

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Vilsack told The Associated Press that ultimately, the future goal is to bring the entire nation into the modern world. 

"It's really designed to make sure people live in communities and in areas that provide the basic protections and the guarantee of basic protections that we all, as Americans, ought to have," he said. "It's an adequate supply of quality water. It's the ability to treat sewage properly so that it doesn't to harm or damage to the environment."

This may seem almost impossible to believe for those living in the lower 48, and actually those of us in Alaska cities often forget about ti as well, but there are thousands of residents who have to carry their own waste to a dump site for disposal, rather than simply pulling a lever like most people in the modern world.

Not too long ago I worked with a client from a very small village in Western Alaska who had never been out of his community before.

He was taken from his village after an incident and transported to a mental health facility in Anchorage. It was the first time he had flown on a plane, or ridden in a car, but those two things did not freak him out as much as indoor plumbing did.

After check in one of the doctors noticed that he was hopping around and realized that boy, who did not yet speak hardly any English, had to use the facilities.

He was taken into a room, which completely confused him as his family went out of doors to relieve themselves, and was encourage by male staff to pee into the toilet bowl.

Finally unable to hold it, he did just that. However when the toilet was flushed he became terrified and ran out of the room and almost out the front door of the building in terror.

So yes, this would be an incredibly huge deal for rural Alaskans.

Oh and by the way. These are the kinds of things that happen under Democratic administrations. And the kinds of things facilitated by Democratic Senators.

I am a Whittier teacher.

Courtesy of the YouTube page:

 Erika Thompson teaches grade school in Whittier, Alaska, a town where most people live and work in one building, and is only accessible by a miles-long tunnel with limited hours.

I thought that this little video about teaching in Alaska might be a nice change of pace.

Whittier is about 60 miles from where I am in Anchorage, and it is a very nice little community.

Some things can ONLY happen in Alaska.

So this guy living in McKinley Village, a place just as far off the beaten path as you can get, discovers that his outhouse is...uh...occupied by a snowshoe rabbit. This is not exactly something that most Americans have to be concerned about before they take their early morning "constitutional."

Here is the video of the rabbits rescue and release. (Warning, some of the language is NSFW.)

As you can see, despite what Sarah Palin's Alaska might suggest to you, Alaskans do NOT kill every living thing that they run across.

(H/T to the Alaska Dispatch.)

Sarah Palin often refers to Alaska as "America's Fort Knox" and claims it to be one of the "richest states." But REAL Alaskans do not see it that way.

Yesterday I post an interview that the Grizzled Mama did with Bill O'Reilly.

In the interview Palin once again makes the claim that Alaska is "America's Fort Knox."  This caught the attention of my friend Dennis Zaki who had been filming in rural Alaska back in 2009, before Palin quit as Governor.

Here is what he heard from the native Alaskans that he talked to about Sarah Palin.


Alaska Natives speak out about Sarah Palin from Dennis Zaki on Vimeo.

Now remember this is a woman who visited Haiti just ONCE and then suggested that America needed to do more by sending "airlifts" to help those poor destitute people. 

Well while she was our Governor she did NOTHING to help the Native community here is Alaska as they struggled through some of the harshest times in their recent memory. And when she finally flew out to "help" by bringing them cookies of all things, THIS is how she treated the people suffering in her state.

Just a reminder for anybody buying into Palin's new media image.

Alaska's shameful legacy.

Some Alaska Natives who died at the boarding school or hospital were buried in unmarked graves.

They were called Eskimos or Alaska Indians when they left their homes to go to the Indian school or hospital on Puyallup lands in the early 20th century.

Of the sick, many died before they arrived at the Washington reservation. If they were children, they often didn't know why they were being taken from their families.

Those that survived are now growing old and dying, and the Puyallup tribe is trying to record their stories before it's too late.

"All we have are death certificates or official correspondences, not personal views," said Amber Santiago, who works with the tribe's historic preservation department. "We just have the white people's perspective."

Starting in the 1860s, Natives from Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana and Alaska came to Puyallup Indian Reservation to attend Cushman Indian School. In the 1920s, the school was converted to a regional hospital that treated Natives up until the 1960s.

While students and patients came from throughout the Northwest, there is only one living member of the Puyallup tribe who went to the school or hospital. That's why Santiago is searching for anyone who can tell her more about what happened there.

"We're trying to reclaim our own history," said Santiago, whose mother was taken from Montana's Flathead Reservation at age 10 to be treated at the hospital.

All Santiago has to go on so far are some death certificates and interviews with about 20 eyewitnesses. There are many missing pieces to the story of what went on there, but none of them is bigger than what happened to the Alaskans.

"Everyone we talked about said 'the Alaskans, the Alaskans' . . . It's the only group that people mention over and over again, it's the common thread through all the interviews," Santiago said. "I really wonder about the Alaskans, since there were so many of them, what their stories are."

But so far, Santiago has yet to find a single Alaska Native to interview.

"It's the last state - the missing link," she said.

Santiago said that so far she's heard stories both good and bad about what it was like at Cushman. But for many it was a place of homesickness, confusion or illness, especially for the children that were there. One man came to the hospital to get his tonsils out as a child and ended up staying for years.

Many Alaskans died on Puyallup lands. Most of the other tribal members were sent back to their families when they died, but Alaska Natives were usually buried near the hospital, unattended by friends or relatives, without a headstone to name them.

One man Santiago spoke to stayed in a hospital room overlooking the cemetery. Every week, he said, he would see "a grave-digger and a man in black (a priest), just burying, burying."

"He said it was known they were Alaskan Indians," Santiago said.

Today, the cemetery has only Puyallup tribal members and what Santiago assumes are the graves of the Alaskans who died at the hospital. About five years ago the tribe purchased a ground-penetrating radar to find the unmarked graves. Since the buildings were demolished in 2003, the cemetery is all that is left of Cushman Indian School and Hospital.

The tribe is hoping to compile an oral record of the school in a memoir, and eventually build a museum about the history of the area.

"It's just a part of history that not a lot of people know about," Santiago said.

Santiago said that the Puyallup Tribe would like to hear from anyone who has a story about Cushman Indian School or Cushman Indian Hospital, or St. George's Indian Boarding School in the Fife/Milton area from the 1880s to 1930s. That may not be someone who attended but even their grandchild or friend.

"We want to piece together the story," Santiago said.

To contact the Puyallup Tribe of Indians call Amber Santiago at 253-573-7965 or amber.santiago@puyalluptribe.com.

I have been hearing these stories for years.

Alaskan native children ripped from their parent's homes and sent out of state to attend English only schools in an alien environment that did not understand, or care to understand, their language or culture.

The children were given English language names, often from the bible, and punished for speaking to each other in their native language. It did not take long for the children to forget much of their lives back in Alaska, and when they returned, often after years of being away, they were foreigners in a foreign land, unable to interact with their families effectively or to hunt and fish which was vitally important to provide for the community. Sometimes these schools were located in Alaska, yet still the harsh discipline and disregard for native culture were evident.

It is a shameful chapter in Alaska's history that is still having a negative effect on rural Alaska native communities today.

When American style schools were started in Alaskan communities, the idea was to wipe out Native culture - to undermine connections with spiritual worlds, lands and waters, and to break the feelings of individuals and groups that are the essence of a culture. The agenda was to "civilize the Natives" and to make them more like the white settlers. Any beliefs that Natives had that involved understanding the world differently, or defining their place in the world as separate and apart from the white settlers was not allowed in school. English only language policies were strictly enforced, and punished anyone speaking in a Native language. Those policies erased Native languages from schools and from some communities as well. Schools disparaged Native language, food, dress and customs. At the same time the curriculum of the schools and the teachers taught students to view the world from a Western point of view. Policies were aimed at the hearts of students. Feelings of inferiority and shame were associated with things Native. Good grades and rewards were associated with things Western. This was a tough message delivered by a powerful system.

The cohesion that was vital to the survival of these communities was broken, and seems never to have been completely replaced even after the practice of removing children from their homes stopped.

The true meaning of Thanksgiving can be found here.

Winter has come again to Alaska, and just like we feared, villages in the rural areas are not faring well at all.

This comes to us from our good friend Ann Strongheart in Ugashik.

Well Thanksgiving is here and I spent last night not only preparing food for Thanksgiving dinner but also calling every household in Nunam Iqua. I called to not only wish them all a Happy Thanksgiving but also to check on everyone and see how they were faring so far this winter.

Unfortunately I did NOT receive good news. I was able to reach 23 out of the 36 household and out of those 23 families that I did talk to 22 were already struggling and requested help again with food to make it through the winter.

The complicating factors are a fall flood which destroyed fishing nets and boats, increased Fish & Game restrictions which cut their subsistence fishing season in half (These idiots have NO idea what the term "subsistence" means!), and a disappointing commercial fishing season which wiped out the yearly income for many of these families.

Now I know that it is the holiday season, and that you will find charities asking for donations just about everywhere you go, but I ask that you give this request special consideration. Because it comes from Ann Strongheart.

You see just this last August Ann lost the love of her life, her husband Segundo Strongheart, leaving her alone with a young daughter and another on the way.

And just a few weeks ago that baby, Glenna Gabriella Kegginacengaq Strongheart, was born.

Yet even with the passing of her beloved husband, and a newborn to care for, Ann has reached out to those in need.

I have again complied a list of the needy families in Nunam Iqua and I am hoping that y’all will be able to help me get food to them. Since I am wintering in Ugashik this year I will not be able to accept food and distribute it like I did last winter. So this is why I will only be doing the adopt a family for the winter food drive this winter.

If you would like to help and can adopt a family for the winter please email me at nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com I will then match you with a family in need at Nunam Iqua and provide you with their name, address, family size and needs.

If Ann, with so many reasons to focus on her needs above the needs of others, can do so much for the people in her community, can we really refuse to help? As I sit here digesting my Thanksgiving dinner and contemplating braving the crowds of "Black Friday", I am all at once painfully aware that there are so many with empty bellies, and families with NO gifts to give their loved ones.

So if you are able, just take a minute to send Ann an e-mail and ask what you can do to relieve her burden. Ann is somebody from whom much has been taken, perhaps we can demonstrate to her that there are others whose hearts are as "strong" as hers.

I am not a religious man, but I swear if there is a heaven, Ann Strongheart should have a special place dedicated just to her. And I have no doubt, that if such place exists that Segundo is standing there patiently awaiting their reunion.

(You can click the title to read all of Ann's heartbreaking post.)

President Obama meets with tribal leaders. Discusses possibility of visiting Alaska.

Meeting with tribal leaders from across the country Thursday in Washington, D.C., President Obama heard calls from Alaska Natives for help combating suicide, coastal erosion and offshore drilling.

Acknowledging broken promises of the past, the president vowed to involve tribal governments in federal decision-making. Alaska Native leaders called the summit -- the first of its kind in 15 years -- a historic move by the White House as the president and several top aides spent the day talking with tribes.

"They actually apologized for the neglect we've received in the past from past administrations," said Sen. Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon, who attended the meeting as co-chairman of the Alaska Federation of Natives. "And they promised us in front of God and everybody else that they would be there for us to make sure that things work out a lot better for us."

If the administration follows through on their desire to REALLY work with Native Americans on some of the daunting problems facing those communities that would wonderful news. For too long the indigenous people of our country have been treated like second class citizens (if they are lucky) and ignored because they did not have the political clout to gain access.

So does President Obama get it?

"I get it," he told the crowd. "I'm on your side. I understand what it means to be an outsider."

Obama talked about the need to tackle climate change, particularly in Alaska, along with joblessness and crime in tribal communities.

"Few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans -- our first Americans," he said.

That sounds good but the President is a politician so I always take those kinds of statement with a grain of salt. However this one gives me more hope.

The president talked about unemployment -- as high as 80 percent on some reservations -- homes without access to safe water supplies, and high rates of sexual assault as examples.

"The shocking and contemptible fact that one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore," Obama said.

Those are much stronger words, and give me hope that Obama is serious about doing something substantial for the native community in Alaska, and the lower 48.

And I hope he takes us up on this offer as well.:

"If you ever decide you want to get away from it all, come see one of us," said Bill Martin, president of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska.

"I often want to get away from it all," Obama replied. "So I'm very much looking forward to visiting."

Of course he DID quantify that statement.

“The only thing I do want to make sure you understand is that when I do visit Alaska, it’s going to be during the summer.

"So, just wanted to be clear about that.”

Smart man.

I wonder if the President could work in a visit to the local bloggers while he is here. After all we have been accused of working for him all along, so maybe it would nice to finally met the "boss". (No not Springsteen!)

By the way if you are in Alaska and just cannot wait until summer , the President will be making a refueling stop at Elmendorf Air Force Base next Wednesday.

Governor Sean Parnell appoints first ever Director of Rural Education.

Juneau School Board member Phyllis Carlson will be the state's first director of rural education, Gov. Sean Parnell announced Thursday.

Carlson works for the Tlingit-Haida Central Council and is in Anchorage for the Alaska Federation of Natives convention, where Parnell announced her appointment.

In a press release announcing her appointment to the new job, Carlson said it was both a privilege and a challenge.

"Because education is so vital to preparing youth to meet their future goals and become productive citizens, it is very important that we find connections between what they know, their world view, and the educational system that serves them," she said.

Alaska's great distances means that it has a higher proportion of small schools than any other state, but many of them have struggled academically. Carlson attended a one-room elementary school in Chignik.

Bill Martin, president of the council, praised the appointment, which got an ovation at the convention.

"Oh, it's tremendous, nothing but good news for us," Martin said.

Carlson most recently served as director of the Vocational Training and Resource Center of the council, after a long term as manager of its Johnson O'Malley Native Education Program and a stint with Head Start.

She has worked with the Rural Systemic Initiative of the Alaska Federation of Natives, University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Science Foundation.

She has worked for many years at the central council, but is Aleut and graduated from Kodiak High School.

Carlson has lived in Juneau 34 years but grew up in the tiny community of Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula, where her dad was a commercial fisherman.

After 4 years of Frank Murkowski, and two and a half years of the disastrous Palin administration, I have to admit that I have learned not to expect much from our Alaska Governors. And my expectations for Sean Parnell, a man I referred to as Palin's lapdog, were just as low.

However against all expectations Governor Parnell as done something intelligent, proactive, and groundbreaking. It is like he learned NOTHING from working with Sarah Palin.

For too long the Alaska rural school system has suffered from a lack of funds, inadequate teachers, and out dated school equipment. I have worked for the school district and have heard many a horror story about terrible conditions, student apathy, and seemingly insurmountable cultural differences.

Having a person who is completely focused on the inherent problems facing parents, teachers, and students in rural communities could finally bring those classrooms into the 21st century.

I can do nothing but applaud Sean Parnell for this decision. My only caveat is that he remember that this position needs to have access to the funds required to make the dramatic changes that are absolutely necessary to address the problems in rural Alaska. If Ms. Carlson does not get the financing she needs, this position will just be another empty gesture with no real impact at all.