Letters to the editor

Published 2:30 am Friday, April 17, 2026

Woe America

Schools, hospitals, bridges, medical suppliers, residential buildings, journalists and civilians are the targets of the U.S. and Israel’s bombings across Iran. Trump says, “We will bomb them back to the Stone Age.” We no longer have a Department of Defense; it has been transformed into the Department of War. Hegseth insists on building the “warfightingness warfighters” after we murdered 168 school children and their teachers.

Trump’s bullying has become the new standard in moral vacuity. By their actions, Trump and his minions insist that America is no longer the leader of the free world. Now, morality is for suckers and losers.

A budget always highlights a president’s values and priorities. Trump’s proposed 2027 budget calls for $1.5 trillion more for war, at the expense of childcare or healthcare.

“We’re a big country. We’re fighting wars. It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these things,” according to Trump.

Note that Trump didn’t mention clawing back the billionaire tax breaks that the One Big Beautiful Bill granted them. No, let’s keep harming everyone except the wealthy.

President Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War II, reminds us that “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

Michael A LeMay, Veterans for Peace

Homer

School board chooses lower enrollment

Last week, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board voted to close River City Academy (RCA), Sterling Elementary, Tustemena Elementary and Seward Middle School. Education funding from the state and the borough is based on student enrollment. The district has lost over 20% of students to homeschool and correspondence school over the past 20 years. Connections, our district homeschool option, provides the district with 10% less in state revenue per student. IDEA, a homeschool program outside of the district, provides no state revenue. Last year, enrollment in IDEA (~1400 students) cost our district over $8.3 million in state funding. While parents have the right to choose options outside of our district, school administration needs to acknowledge how their choices influence local enrollment. Superintendent Holland, Assistant Superintendent Dendurent, and the school board cannot assume saving money is as simple as deleting line items in a budget. Closing schools erodes trust with parents, reduces services, and accelerates enrollment loss.

Parents have felt disregarded, unheard, and shut out of meaningful engagement in the school closure process. Parents were told to send emails about school closures, but received no response from board members. The maintenance costs for Sterling Elementary and Tustumena Elementary, which are older, inefficient buildings and not currently operating at student capacity, are a major concern for Mayor Micciche because the borough is responsible for school infrastructure. Parents at these schools were not made aware of these maintenance issues and therefore, they were not able to engage in dialog about future options or creative solutions. RCA parents identified a grant and drafted a comprehensive letter of intent to proactively help provide funding for RCA staff. Assistant Superintendent Dendurent refused to submit the grant materials. At the time, she knew RCA was zeroed out in all three budget scenarios. She missed an opportunity to lead with integrity and communicate this reality with parents.

School closure creates a variety of cascading effects in a local community. Schools provide a local meeting place, provide jobs, and influence property values. Dianne MacRae was the only board member who expressed concern about the economic and cultural impacts of school loss. Community impacts are not being rigorously assessed and school-based strategies to retain students are not being actively pursued in the school closure process. Middle College, which was incubated in RCA, is an example of a school-based funding model that was not supported. In 2022, the board decoupled RCA and Middle College. Students no longer had to transfer to RCA to access Middle College. By 2024, the centralized funding model for Middle College failed because it cost significantly more than the RCA-incubated model. Many RCA students fled to homeschool programs when they could no longer access the Middle College program and then this lowered enrollment was used to justify closure. Other districts have been able to create and maintain sustainably-funded budget models for their Middle College programs. RCA also increased district adaptability given changing enrollment amongst schools because RCA moved buildings during the 2018–2019 school year as part of a district-wide consolidation plan designed to reduce building operations costs.

Opportunities to serve and retain students in the district are lost when schools close. RCA was created as an innovation space where the district could pilot new approaches. RCA received a Chen Zuckerberg grant to pilot a computer-based learning platform designed to integrate technology into education. RCA was also used as a proof-of-concept for moving away from traditional seat-time credits toward proficiency-based grading. RCA provided an option for students to have the flexibility of homeschool with more intensive input and support from educators who choose high-quality teaching materials, steward student development, and provide options for in-person teaching. These types of new approaches will be needed to navigate technological and other changes while retaining students in the district. Superintendent Holland and the board should be engaging with homeschool families to better understand their needs and whether local schools could synergistically provide more local homeschool services.

Each school also has the potential to provide unique services. As RCA parents, we understand that RCA provided a desirable and necessary choice for a distinct student population. RCA retains students who prefer or need self-directed and individual-based learning. For many students, this option is not just a matter of preference. Peer-reviewed studies provide strong evidence that traditional didactic learning is not effective for all students. Longitudinal studies show that self-directed and individual-based learning models often match or exceed traditional schooling in academic performance, while fostering greater autonomy, motivation, and critical thinking. RCA also served students who prefer to be known by the same teachers throughout their school career. The personal connections RCA fostered between teachers and students provided mentorship and developed social-emotional regulation skills. RCA successfully fostered a highly supportive and safe environment. District survey data shows that 90% of students report feeling encouraged to do their best, and 83% say their teachers care about their health and well-being. Dianne MacRae and Penny Vadla did not vote for closure because budget uncertainty is still high.

School administrators need to work proactively and collaboratively with the borough, state, and local communities to find better options. We are disappointed that Superintendent Holland, the school board, and the borough do not seem to be working together to solve complex infrastructure issues. We are deeply saddened that school administrators do not embody the leadership skills necessary to engage honestly in two-way dialog with parents. Our children deserve better leadership and management of our local schools. They are who will be most impacted by the lack of foresight and cooperation because this results in an inability to provide effective educational models to all students within the district.

Dawn Magness, Kim Keck, Lisa Bass

sales just concluding and the North Slope lease sale- the prospects for increased exploration will undoubtedly be successful.

Increasing production based on existing reserves suggests that 2 million barrels per day outflow is achievable, but only with President Trump’s energy and assistance. Such action will bring our nation to a degree of certainty in achieving independence on oil for the foreseeable future.

I would encourage Alaskans to join with our delegation to highlight the fact that we have oil reserves for certain. And yet, our delivery system, the TAPPS Pipeline, is only operating at 25% of its full 2 million BPD capacity.

We can’t afford to wait any longer. Alaska is an achievable solution.

Former Alaska Gov. Frank H. Murkowski