After more than four years of concentrated efforts, the Nikolaevsk charter school has finally been given permission to launch.
Members of the Alaska State Board of Education unanimously voted to give final approval of the charter’s application during a special meeting on Jan. 22.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education previously approved the charter’s initial application in November in a narrow 5-3 vote, following lengthy discussions over concerns that district administration and board members held regarding the application. A summary recommendation by district administration on the board’s Nov. 17 agenda said that an “absence of verified financial data, finalized facilities agreements, compliant enrollment documentation, and a viable staffing and instructional plan poses significant fiscal, operational, and legal risks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.”
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland said Tuesday that the district will work with the academic policy committee that spearheaded the efforts behind the Nikolaevsk charter application to “iron out the details.”
“Now that it’s approved, we will proactively reach back out to the APC president and work with them on next steps — hiring a principal, staffing, see where they are with the buildng lease — and start planning forward from there,” he said.
State education board chair Sally Stockhausen expressed her excitement for the APC members.
“I can’t wait to see how it comes together,” she said. “It’s one thing on paper, but I can’t wait to see how it comes together in real life with people.”
During her presentation to the state board, Mariah Kerrone, a Nikolaevsk parent and member of the APC, outlined a K-12 school that offers a homeschool program in addition to a “traditional five-day-a-week program.”
“We felt like, in our community, many people have turned to homeschool but aren’t getting the support that they need,” she said.
The charter school also plans to establish a Montessori curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade and focus on career and technical education for high school students.
State education board member Lt. Col. James Fowley, who also serves as the board’s military advisor and chairs the CTE committee, said he was impressed with the focus on CTE, and asked Kerrone how the charter plans to balance the responsibilities of running their homeschool program alongside the brick-and-mortar portion of the school.
“Most of the homeschool programs in our area take about 200 homeschoolers per advisor, and we’re able to work it into the budget to where we have 75 homeschool students per advisor,” Kerrone said. “That advisor is dedicated to just addressing the homeschool students, and then we have 20 students per class for the in-person classes.”
She added that the Nikolaevsk community also has “a really big parent involvement” and “many” parents plan to help in the classrooms.
Kerrone also noted during the meeting that the charter school would move into the existing Nikolaevsk School building, approximately in July. The district voted last year to close Nikolaevsk School, citing low student enrollment and high deferred maintenance, as a cost-savings measure in the face of a $17 million deficit. The building reverted from district management back to the borough following the closure, and the APC had reportedly been in talks with the borough over several months regarding reopening the building for the charter school.
Borough Planning Director Robert Ruffner did not respond to a request for comment to confirm that the borough has approved the charter’s use of the Nikolaevsk School building.
Deena Bishop, Commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, thanked KPBSD for approving the charter at the local level.
“There were some bumpy roads, but we’re always happy when we can come and meet parents’ needs and students’ needs and bring choice to fruition,” she said. “So I really applaud this working group and this APC for sticking with it.”
Proponents of the Nikolaevsk charter school did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
