Partnership for Arkose Ridge Leadership Academy
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"Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes." - Buddha
01/18/2018
Happy New Year from Team ARLA. To the many who have supported our vision of a new kind of school, thank you! The dream persists for opening a small, local high school dedicated to projects-based learning, sustainability, and community connections. Last spring, we came close, but fell short of the district’s minimum enrollment of 30 freshmen and sophomores for launching Arkose Ridge Leadership Academy as a school-within-a-school at Palmer High. If you feel the school district should prioritize a school like this, we encourage you to call, write, email (or all of the above) Superintendent Monica Goyette and school board members (contact info listed below). Let them know you still support ARLA’s progressive vision, innovative school-year structure, and career concentration areas focused on local food, sustainable energy, boreal ecology, and community planning. More information is posted at http://www.anewkindofschool.org.
Fortune Magazine recently reported that “solar and wind industries are creating jobs at a rate 12 times faster than the rest of the U.S. economy.” According to the Department of Energy, there are five times more jobs in clean energy than in the coal, gas, and oil industries combined. Yet there are currently no programs dedicated to renewable energy in our district. ARLA has already established relationships with UAF, APU, and UAA for developing curricula in these sectors. Additionally, the need for local food production and food security makes undeniable economic sense, as do high-efficiency building design and low-carbon heating technologies. The Alaska Renewable Energy Project (REAP), the Cold Climate Housing Research Center and others are ready to partner with us toward development of curricula and certification programs in these areas.
It will take the collective voices of parents, community members, and professional partners to inspire a fresh look at the ARLA model by the school district. Please share this posting with anyone you think may be interested, and add comments here to reopen the conversation.
Thank you!
Rene Dervaes
Lead Parent Advocate
Contacts:
Dr. Monica Goyette
Superintendent�MSBSD Admin. Building
501 N. Gulkana Street�Palmer, AK 99645
Phone: 907.746.9255
[email protected]
School Board and Superintendent contacts:
Dr. Donna Dearman, President
P.O. Box 894
Talkeetna, AK 99676
(907) 841-9881
[email protected]
Kelsey Trimmer,Vice-President
P.O. Box 1394
Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 841-8632
[email protected]
Deborah Retherford, Clerk
4525 S. McKechnie Lp
Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 354-4961
[email protected]
Ole Larson, Member
MSBSD Admin. Building
501 N. Gulkana Street�Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 376-3658
[email protected]
Ray Michaelson, Member
P.O. Box 331
Palmer, AK 99645
(907) 354-3830
[email protected]
Yvonne Ruth, Member
P.O. Box 520714
Big Lake, AK 99652
(907) 360-8524
[email protected]
Dr. Sarah Welton, Member
P.O. Box 870725
Wasilla, AK 99687
(907) 373-5595
[email protected]
I'm sure many of you are eager to hear about the results of the extended registration period and this past Wednesday's deadline. The level of support and encouragement has been substantial. Even so, while we got 21 enrollments we remain shy of the threshold minimum of 30 students. Therefore, as stated in an email this morning, "the district is not going to be able to move forward with ARLA for the 2017-2018 school year." Paul Morley will be meeting with district administration on Monday to consider next steps. We will keep you posted.
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