Photo courtesy of Barb Atkinson
Cooper Landing School students grades K-6 participate in the annual rafting trip down the Kenai River.
By Susanna LaRock
Turnagain Times
Cooper Landing Correspondent
Cooper Landing School in Danger of Closing
In a small community like Cooper Landing that has been listed with the 2010 Census as having a population of 289 with only 8 percent being under the age of 18, one may wonder what there is for kids to do.
The kids of Cooper Landing don’t have a Boys and Girls Club or a skate park, but they do have an amazing school. For the students in Cooper Landing, school is not just the place they go to learn about academics. They also play soccer there, practice archery and learn how to cook lunches for their peers and mentors.
School is a place to invite the seniors for a tea party, learn how to garden in their school garden, learn how to identify local plants working on the schools nature trail, and learn how to cross country ski on the school’s ski trails. At school, the students are learning about community service by participating in community clean ups.
In the past few years, Students at Cooper Landing School have taken a fishing trip down Kenai River every fall, to learn how to fish with local guides. They have been on field trips to Anchorage to see all the new exhibits at the Anchorage museum. They have gone to ski school in Girdwood every winter to learn how to ski or snowboard. This is only the short list of the wonderful activities that kids in Cooper Landing have available to them, thanks to the school.
Gossard, the only teacher in this K-12 school, knows how important it is for kids in a small rural community to be exposed to as many experiences as they can. He goes above and beyond to make sure that his students get the best. The number of students enrolled in Cooper Landing School has been a concern for the last seven years, and Tommy started his teaching here with this concern looming over the community.
Gossard has looked at the positive factors in Cooper Landing School and concentrated his efforts on making sure that the students who are at Cooper Landing School have a top notch learning experience. His efforts have paid off, and all one has to do is ask a Cooper Landing student how they feel about their school to know that the kids of Cooper Landing are learning and loving it.
Ten years ago, there were around 30 students at Cooper Landing School. Many students have grown and graduated. Property prices have skyrocketed, making Cooper Landing a difficult place for young families to live. Cooper Landing has seen a decline in the general population and a decline in the population of young people. The state of Alaska will only fund a small school if there are 10 students enrolled.
In the last seven years enrolment has been down and this year the school is in eminent danger of being closed.
In a community the size of Cooper Landing it is not just families with school children who worry when the school is in danger of being closed. The school is the center of the community. It is the place where the whole community meets every year at Christmas time for a potluck and to be entertained by local youth with a play or a poetry recitation. It is a place for local experts to share their knowledge with the youth of the community. The Cooper Landing pre-school uses a portable classroom on the school grounds. Parents with babies and small children use the school gym once a week as a place for the little ones to play during cold winter months. People of all ages take piano lessons on the piano at the school.
With the founding of Cooper Landing Community School, the school has been playing an even larger role in the vitality of the community. Now the school provides a place for local quilters to have monthly weekend quilting retreats. There are weekly exercise classes, and the gym is opened daily for people who need a place to walk during the icy winter months. The community has enjoyed health fairs and earth day fairs at the school. There have been classes taught at the school for all ages on many things, from cooking to gardening to preserving food.
In short, if Cooper Landing School is in danger of closing, then Cooper Landing is in danger of losing a vital link in the community.
The solution to this problem is not always clear. There has been a big baby boom in Cooper Landing the last couple of years, but that doesn’t help student enrollment this year. If a family moved to Cooper Landing with a few school-aged children then the school would be in the clear.
If you have any questions, suggestions or would like to help keep Cooper Landing School open; please call Tommy Gossard or Barb Atkinson at Cooper Landing School 595-1244.
Heavy Rains Causes Flooding in the Kenai River and Lake
Due to heavy rains at the end of August and the beginning of September, there was flooding in the Upper Kenai River and Kenai Lake. Alaska Fly Fishers had to cancel, until spring, the 19th Annual River Clean Up scheduled for Saturday, Sept.10.
The water was so high that there was no bank to clean up. The Cooper Landing Seniors kept their date for the annual fall float, and it was reported to be a wild ride. With the water being so high and so fast in the river, some seniors reported that an hour was cut off of the trip, and Theresa Norris said that all of the rapids were more fun.
People with properties near the lake and river have been seeing the water levels rise dangerously close to their homes, but no major damage has been reported. The water was supposed to have crested Friday, Sept. 9, and residents near the water are looking forward to watching water levels decrease in the days to come.
Capital Projects Priority Meeting
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is hosting a series of meetings in order to identify community capital project priorities. The Assembly is in the process of developing the 2012 Capital project Priorities List for the upcoming legislative session. The Assembly will include, on this list, a maximum of two capital project requests from each unincorporated community in the Borough. The Cooper Landing Community meeting will be conducted by Assembly member Sue McClure and is scheduled for 10:30am Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Cooper Landing School on Bean Creek Road.
