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Pearl Creek supporters press board to act on charter as state guidance remains unclear
Summary
Residents, Pearl Creek advocates and district officials clashed over timing for review of a Pearl Creek STEAM charter application, with public commenters saying state Department of Education guidance requires the board to act within 60 days and district officials saying no written direction has been received.
Supporters of a proposed Pearl Creek STEAM charter urged the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board of Education on March 18 to accept and act on their application within a 60‑day timeline they say the state provided — even as district leaders said they have no written direction from the state and the statutory question is unresolved.
The public comment period at the board's regularly scheduled meeting included multiple speakers who said the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (DEED) had told the district in writing to take up the charter application within 60 days. Blake Esig, a Fairbanks resident who read from an email he said came from DEED, told the board: “Deed believes that the issue, school closure, which led to the proposal being out of sync with the local timeline, were not regular. Hence, it would be prudent for the FNSBSD, to hear the charter as it has been received. The district slash board has 60 days to do so, end quote.”
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