Ketchikan Gateway Borough School Board reorders agenda, prioritizes written reports and operational updates ahead of Aug.-Sept. school year

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Board of Education approved a work-session agenda and spent its July 17 meeting setting the business meeting agenda for July 23 and outlining operational reporting changes ahead of the 2025–26 school year.

Superintendent Ford Slack told board members the district will begin including concise written reports from directors in board packets starting in August and that principals will provide short school presentations beginning in September. "What you will see in August is the beginning of written reports," Superintendent Ford Slack said. "By the time we get to September, this means that each of the principals will also be doing a simple written report." She said the reports are intended to give both the board and the public a written record of staffing, budget and building-readiness information the district can reference later.

The move rearranges the board’s draft business-meeting order so those reports appear earlier; public comment was moved later so students or school presenters need not wait through the entire meeting. The board president summarized the change as a restructuring of priorities on the agenda and asked if there were objections; none were raised.

Why it matters: board members and the superintendent said timing and clarity of information are important with school start-up approaching Sept. 2 and with unresolved staffing and federal-funding uncertainty. Superintendent Ford Slack warned of continued statewide personnel shortages and federal grant uncertainty, saying she will bring updates after meetings in Juneau. "We do not have candidates for just about any position," she said. She also said the state’s historically grant-funded positions at the Department of Education are in flux and that the district needs to monitor potential changes from Washington and Juneau closely.

Enrollment, staffing and budget reporting Board members asked for consistent enrollment figures (the headcount used for budgeting versus current enrollment) to be included in the August report. Superintendent Ford Slack and Mr. Schueller (the district business manager) agreed to provide draft enrollment figures in August, noting that the state’s OASIS certification of student counts occurs in October and that early numbers are therefore provisional.

Transportation and school start times Board members asked that the district’s transportation contractor, First Student, be asked to attend the July 23 meeting or provide a report. The superintendent said she expected to hear from Michael Johnson of First Student about bus schedules and would ask him to appear if possible. Several board members linked the bus schedule and First Student’s guidance to any discussion about potential changes to school start times.

Safety and maintenance reporting Board member Melissa Reed asked that the district maintenance director include, in monthly reports, the status of outstanding work tickets that relate to life-safety issues (for example, fire alarms) and any mitigation in place until repairs are completed. The superintendent confirmed maintenance and summer projects will be included in the reports before school opens.

Policy and governance items scheduled The board packet for the July 23 meeting will include several policy items for first or second reading, including BP1312.5 (public complaints concerning board members), BP 9,020 and E 9,020 (board standards), BP 9,012 (communications to and from the board) and BP 9,200 (board member conduct). A previously discussed motion to direct the superintendent to reestablish the English Language Learner (ELL) department was listed under unfinished business for the upcoming meeting.

Website outage and technology support The superintendent and staff reported the district’s long-running separate school-board website was inaccessible after the staff member who maintained it retired and the clerk’s computer was hacked; meeting materials have been posted temporarily via the district site’s quick links. The district is contracting with the Southeast Regional Resource Center (website designer Colin Osterhaus and Michaela) to rebuild and migrate school-board content into a new board tab on the main district website. The superintendent said the old site will remain reachable using HTTP (not HTTPS) until migration completes.

Consent calendar and other items on the July 23 agenda The draft consent calendar items the board reviewed for the July 23 meeting include approval of minutes (April 23, April 30 and June 13 emergency special meeting), FY25–26 property and casualty insurance renewal, updated district authorized signatories for bank accounts, an administrative contract offer for a vice-principal position, a letter to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, and approval of a negotiated extra-duty contract with KEA. The board noted that items on the consent calendar are normally voted in one motion but can be pulled for discussion.

Other operational notes Jason House will present on the district’s final year of a grant that funds instructional/mental-health coaches; special-education staff will provide an update; Mr. Schueller will provide the budget update, and staff will report on summer maintenance readiness. The board also discussed reestablishing the Indian Policies and Procedures (IPP) committee required by board bylaws.

Votes at a glance - Motion: Approve the work-session agenda for July 17, 2025 — Outcome: approved. Vote recorded 4–0 (Thomas: yes; Reid: yes; Guthrie: yes; Tatsuta: yes). mover/second: not specified in transcript. - Motion: Enter work session — Outcome: approved (roll call recorded in transcript, votes recorded as yes). mover/second: not specified. - Motion: Exit work session — Outcome: approved (roll call recorded). mover/second: not specified.

What’s next The board will convene a business meeting on July 23 with the revised agenda. Superintendent Ford Slack and staff said they will provide the August written reports (including staffing and provisional enrollment figures) and try to arrange First Student’s attendance to answer bus-schedule questions.