By DAVID BOYLE
The Anchorage School Board decided to repurpose one of its closed schools — Lake Hood Elementary School — and make it into a Alaska Native Cultural Charter School.
The board defied the Administration’s recommendation that the Rilke Schule German Immersion Charter School be transferred to the closed Lake Hood campus.
But the board instead pulled the DEI card and pushed the Rilke Schule kids to the back of the proverbial bus.
More than a hundred Rilke Schule parents and students have testified to the excellent learning occurring at the school. The school has outperformed most of Anchorage’s schools by a significant margin in PEAKS state standardized testing for all grades:
| School/District | English Language Arts | Math |
| Anchorage | 36% | 36% |
| Rilke Schule | 60% | 60% |
| Alaska Native Cultural Charter School | 23% | 17% |
So much for rewarding outstanding performance.
On the other hand, the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School students are vastly underperforming other average Anchorage students.
Rilke Schule is also more cost-effective to operate than the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School.
As background, here is the per student cost comparison between Rilke Schule and Alaska Native Cultural Charter School:
| School | Local, State & Federal | Local & State Only |
| Rilke Schule | $14,047 | $10,224 |
| Alaska Native Cultural Charter School | $19,15 | $11,545 |
(The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School receives more than $5,000 in federal dollars per student.)
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has been housed in district buildings for several years. It last shared facilities with Bettye Davis East High School, which was not a good fit for the younger students. Two years ago, it moved into the recently closed Abbott Loop Elementary School for at least five years.
Unlike the Rilke Schule Charter German Immersion Charter School, the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has not had to pay rent for its facilities, which can be a substantial expense for any charter school. Rilke Schule pays $738,000 in rent, which takes up to 20% of its operating budget. The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has paid zero rent.
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School finally came to the discussion at the 11th hour on Feb. 6, when its representative testified that the Lake Hood Elementary School campus was a good fit for its school.
An Alaska Native Cultural Charter School representative stated that because her school was a Title 1 school, it should be able to move into Lake Hood, which was also a Title 1 school. That reasoning makes very little sense in determining which school should move into the closed Lake Hood campus.
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School Academic Policy Committee president stated that, “Awarding this facility to a school that does not require Title 1 funding would deprive our community of critical resources.”
He further stated, “By not choosing ANCCS, you are reinforcing a system in which our voices and needs are marginalized and our history of trauma minimized. It is one of equity, cultural preservation, and social justice.”
Enter Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — DEI.
That set off alarm bells for board member Pat Higgins (formerly the board representative from the Marshall Islands) who moved to amend the memo by replacing Rilke Schule with the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School for the move.
“I am not going to abandon the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School,” Higgins said. But he seems to have no problem abandoning Rilke Schule children.
Higgins also has some conflicts of interest, as was recently the senior director of human resources for Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
Board member Margo Bellamy wondered why the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School got so concerned at this last minute. She noted that the school had another three years it could stay in the closed Abbott Loop School. And voters approved a bond which has more than $2 million to bring Abbott Loop School up to code. That money is still available.
Remember, the administration recommended that Rilke Schule be housed in the closed Lake Hood School because its current lease was expiring this year. On the other hand, Alaska Native Cultural Charter School just moved into the closed Abbott Loop School and has another three years remaining with a fire code exemption.
Here are some more facts to consider. Rilke Schule has 485 students and Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has 342 students. Thus, the large Lake Hood School is a much better fit for Rilke Schule. Clearly, the Rilke Schule with 143 more students has a greater need for more space than does the ANCCS.
Here are the facts from the most recent Capital Improvement Plan that should be considered in this decision to occupy the closed Lake Hood School:
| School | Square Footage | Classrooms | Student Capacity | Student Count |
| Lake Hood | 61,549 | 29 | 469 | XXX |
| Alaska Native Cultural Charter School | 58,341 | 16 | ** | 342 |
| Rilke Schule | 39,500 | 23 | ** | 485 |
(** the CIP gives no student capacity for charter schools)
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has more than enough current square footage to accommodate its students. On the other hand, Rilke Schule is squeezing its students into a very small building.
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School only has 16 classrooms while the Lake Hood School has almost double that number. The Rilke Schule requires almost 50% more classrooms than the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School.
The choice is clear when one considers these facts: Rilke Schule needs much more space than does the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School; Rilke Schule’s lease expires this summer while the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School has three more years in the Abbott Loop facility.
But facts don’t matter when DEI is dominant in the decision-making process.
The rationale for allowing the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School to move into the Abbott Loop School must fall under the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guardrail the board has established.
The administration was right in choosing Rilke Schule. The board was wrong in choosing ANCCS.
Financially it makes no sense. Logically it makes no sense.
But when DEI enters into the equation, logic and finances are cancelled.
David Boyle is the education writer at Must Read Alaska.
