Ketchikan school board approves K–6 restructuring, rejects formal Point Higgins closure plan

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District Board of Education voted Wednesday to restructure grade levels at Houghton, Point Higgins and Fawn Mountain elementary schools for the 2025–26 school year, and earlier on the same agenda declined to formally open a closure plan for Point Higgins.

Board president O'Brien announced the passed motion to restructure K–6 at Houghton, Point Higgins and Fawn Mountain after a roll-call vote of 5 yes, 1 no and 1 abstention. The board earlier considered but rejected a motion to approve the creation of a Point Higgins Elementary closure plan; that motion failed unanimously when the board voted “no.”

The restructuring vote follows staff presentations of “red-line” budget scenarios prepared under the assumption that the state Base Student Allocation (BSA) does not increase. District staff said the “red-line” package without additional state funding would require roughly $5.9 million in reductions; the presented specialization/consolidation option — the plan that passed — was the district’s proposal intended to preserve specialists, libraries and key programs while reducing personnel through grade-level realignment and school-site consolidation.

Superint…