By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
The Girdwood Board of Supervisors had a full agenda at its monthly meeting held Feb.19. Major construction projects that could change the face of the community were discussed: everything from the construction of a new library and community center, building a new health center, and establishing shuttle bus service to Anchorage. But the issue garnering the most discussion was the prospect of building a new high school or charter school in Girdwood.
Currently there is a K-8 school in Girdwood, but the idea for a new high school has been an ongoing discussion in this community, since high school-aged students now commute over 70 miles roundtrip to Anchorage.
“It is not a new idea,” said Diana Stone Livingston, co-chair of Girdwood 2020. “Girdwood has at least a 25-year history of trying to get a high school here. Girdwood cannot make the next step economically if does not have a high school, and we are ready to facilitate and organize meetings.”
Alyeska Resort’s new owner, John Byrne III, also strongly endorses building a new high school. However, Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau, who attended the meeting, expressed her frustration over a lack of communication with the resort owner and other representatives in the community.
“Nobody from the resort has called me,” she said. “We have had no contact from anybody about this. So I’m a little frustrated with Girdwood 2020 and the resort owner that nobody picked up the phone.”
Supervisor Tim Cabana joined in, voicing his dissatisfaction with the absence of a high school in the community.
“We are by far the largest community not to have a high school,” he said. “I want to see something that there’s a future in Girdwood for a high school.”
Comeau said that 10 years ago the Anchorage School District investigated the pros and cons of having a high school in Girdwood and the opinion was split.
Girdwood resident and Four Valley’s Community School Coordinator Julie Jonas weighed in on the discussion and felt it was time for another survey to be conducted.
“Has anybody talked to any parents or students to survey what they think?” she asked.
Comeau said she would continue to look into the prospect of a new high school in Girdwood. She said she plans to meet with Girdwood 2020 representative Ethan Tyler to discuss it further.
Currently there are 62 high school students in Girdwood who attend South High School, and next year 36 students will enter Girdwood Middle School.
One point made by Cabana was that Girdwood families with students entering high school have opted to move to Anchorage rather than subject their children to the daily commute. He said if there was a high school in Girdwood more families would live in the community, and there would likely be more families interested in moving to Girdwood from Anchorage, which would, in turn, increase the number of students attending a local high school.
One option for Girdwood is to circumvent the Anchorage School District and build a charter school; but in order to do so, Girdwood would have to meet the state’s minimum enrollment requirement of 151 students.
Chugach School District Superintendent Bob Crumley spoke at the meeting to discuss setting up a charter school in Girdwood. A number of Girdwood high school students have participated in the home-schooling program offered by the Chugach School District, and there are more than 100 students from around the state enrolled in its home-school program.
Crumley described the educational philosophy of the school, which is a non-traditional school based on “the quality schools model,” as focused on standard based performance. Students in this program are not required to spend a set amount of time in the classroom; rather, when they meet curriculum standards, they move on to the next grade level. The school district also partners with businesses to certify students in specialized areas of learning, and it works with other school districts like Kuspuk School District and the Lake and Peninsula School District. They also have a correspondent program with Fairbanks and Nome.
“What I would like to see is both a classroom and boarding school for nine months with a minimum of around 40 students,” Crumley said. “The school would also be open to students from around the state who are enrolled in the Chugach School District.”
As for Comeau and the Anchorage School District, she said she would like to continue discussing the possibility of building a public high school or K-12 school in Girdwood.
“We’re not opposed to it at all, but we need to get everybody in the same room to discuss it,” she said. “We really do have a lot of optimism, and I would even be interested to talk about a K-12 school in the community. If the community says that’s what they want, then I think we could talk about making a case for that.”
In other issues addressed at the meeting, Sen. Con Bunde, who represents Girdwood, talked about property taxes and the need for more money from the municipality to fund road maintenance and future construction projects.
“I truly believe we’re not getting adequate money from the municipality,” Bunde said via teleconference.
Bunde said he doubted Girdwood could acquire more foundation money for educational needs in the area due to low student enrollment.
On road maintenance, Supervisors Chairman John Gallup discussed the need for more money to maintain local roads. The current budget for road maintenance is more than $400,000, but Gallup said the amount is insufficient to pay for year-round road maintenance and operations and much-needed road upgrades.
“The total budget for road maintenance and operations in January was close to $105,000—one-fifth of the total budget—the most in Girdwood’s history for one month,” he said. “We upped the road budget $190,000 from last year. We are going to have to be very economical with our road budget.”
Jacques Boutet, principal of The Boutet Company, Inc., which manages projects for Girdwood, presented a lengthy list of future and immediate construction projects proposed for the local area. With a new community center and library slated to be completed in the next year, Boutet said there is a need for more parking spaces to accommodate the facility.
Other road work is also needed, he said, including Olympic Circle, where improving the grade and drainage is a priority, and constructing pedestrian walkways and landscape, as well as paving the parking area and improving lighting. He said these projects are currently being addressed in a design process that is in its early stages. He also said there’s a feasibility study planned for a shuttle bus transit system to be set up between Girdwood and Anchorage.
Currently, there is a park and ride facility being constructed with a parking lot off Alyeska Highway at the corner of Holmgren Place and Girdwood Place. There’s also a proposal for pedestrian amenities for passengers to be constructed at the site. A draft resolution to fund a transit route shuttle bus study may be presented at the next meeting.
In addition to these projects, Boutet said pavement for parking in the new Town Square project is slated to break ground this year. Lastly, he said, an Arlberg Road extension for the development of Glacier Creek is in the early assessment phase with a lot of environmental issues as yet unanswered. He said there’s $1 million dollars available for federal funding to study the area for development.
Brooks Chandler updated the board on the Girdwood Library and Community Center, which will be adjacent to the Fire Hall. He said it could be completed by March 2008 and Pinnacle Construction was hired to build the center. The bid amount for its construction was $3,689,000. The building is expected to have wireless technology and computers will be heavily utilized.
Ginny Grupp made a brief announcement about the proposed Turnagain Arm Health Center. She said if it happens “it will happen very, very soon.” She said the board is waiting to hear back about a grant for the project, expected in June.
The board also voted 4-0 to support the leasing of publicly-owned land to local non-profit organizations like Little Bears and KEUL radio.
The Forest Service an-nounced a proposal for a parking lot and public toilet to be built at mile 2.9 on Crow Creek Road near the entrance to Crow Creek Mine. The parking lot and outhouse would accommodate hikers accessing the trailhead of the National Historic Iditarod Trail leading to the popular hand tram.
Finally, Rosey Fletcher made a short announcement soliciting public input on developing a youth commission in Girdwood for local high school students. There is an Anchorage Youth Commis-sion in Anchorage, she said, where students volunteer their time to work on projects and report to the Anchorage Assembly and the mayor. The commission provides a venue for youth voices to be heard on local issues and participate in youth-driven projects. If there is interest, she asked that the public call her office at 343-4458. Fletcher expects to have an open meeting in March in Girdwood with an Anchorage Youth Commis-sion representative to further discuss the opportunities for a youth commission in Girdwood.