About 30 people gathered in Nikolaevsk School’s library on Sunday to share memories and thoughts after the Kenai Peninsula School Board unanimously voted in May to close the school, which serves a primarily Russian Old Believer community about 19 miles outside of Homer.
On Sunday, food was laid out by the entrance to the school. Poster boards displaying class pictures and memories filled both sides of a long hallway of classrooms with a vaulted, wood-beamed ceiling.
Lisa James’s son has attended Nikolaevsk School for 12 years. She said all the sports and academic trophies, photographs of students and classes from over the years, and even a book filled with village history that was kept within the school, will be packed and moved to Homer Middle School at the end of the month.
“I think these villagers believe that this was their museum,” she said. “This does not belong in a box in the middle school, this belongs in the community.”
But Sunday, the focus wasn’t on the future. It was on the impact the school had on the lives of many, both within the community of Nikolaevsk and beyond.
Alexey Kalugin was one of the first students to attend Nikolaevsk School. He said his family moved to the area in 1968 and he began as a student of Bob Moore in 1972, when the school was still contained within a series of trailers. The current school was built in 1976.
Steve and Bea Klaich fell in love while working as teachers at Nikolaevsk School in the 1990s. Steve was the high school science and math teacher from 1989 to his retirement in 2020, while Bea taught third and fourth grade students.
“Everybody would tease me and say ‘Why don’t you marry Mr. Klaich? Why don’t you marry Mr. Klaich?’” she said, joking that one student noted that Steve had a big house right next to the school as a reason for their potential romance. The pair held their wedding reception in the gym, with students coming in dribbling basketballs.
Both teachers moonlighted as sports coaches for the school, helping lead an exceptional athletic program.
Nikolaevsk girls were known for their basketball, volleyball and soccer skills and basketball was deeply ingrained in the community culture, according to several former students who spoke about their meaningful experiences. One person remembered the first time they played against the Nikolaevsk girls soccer team, and how they realized the other students could effectively hide the ball within their long, traditional skirts.
Another spoke about a memory of learning how to sew for the first time while helping create uniforms for the girls basketball team.
Palmer Bailey wanted to extend his thanks to the school and students. His wife, Bonnie, and he raised two girls who attended Nikolaevsk from 1995 to 2009. Bailey said he got his start in public speaking right there at Nikolaevsk School, at the encouragement of Steve Klaich when the school received a new sports sound system.
“Getting comfortable with the microphone, being able to articulate in that way, really it brought us into what we do now, which is running Christian radio stations in western Alaska,” said Bailey. “This (school) is a big piece of our life.”
Multiple parents from outside Nikolaevsk highlighted the experiences their students had coming into the school from outside the community. Many grew emotional while speaking. One woman said her daughter “couldn’t make a friend to save her life” at Homer area schools, but when a friend from Anchor Point suggested enrolling her daughter at Nikolaevsk, she took the chance.
“It was the best thing we did,” she said, growing emotional. “The Russian girls were so sweet.”
Some on Sunday noted the world has changed in recent years and said they recognized that students may be looking to branch outside of the community. Others expressed frustration at the district and said they hoped the borough realized that they would not be sending their children to a school in Homer or Anchor Point.
According to previous reporting by the Peninsula Clarion, there were 21 students enrolled last school year at Nikolaevsk School. Based on closure scenarios presented to the school board earlier this year, those students would need to commute to either Chapman School or Homer High School.
Blake Sawyer was a 2004 graduate of Nikolaevsk School and has been an advocate for establishing a charter school in the area. He said Sunday that a group of community members were planning to have a meeting about next steps on Monday, June 2.
Nikolaevsk School will close officially on June 30.
Lisa James holds up a book containing Nikolaevsk History on Sunday, June 1 in Nikolaevsk, Alaska. She said the book, along with trophies, photographs, and other school items will be boxed up and relocated to Homer Middle School upon Nikolaevsk School’s closing on June 30. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
A hallway of Nikolaevsk School is filled with posterboards featuring photographs from different school years on Sunday, June 1. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
