Kivalina team: Village, school dysfunctional

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- The Kivalina community has low educational expectations coupled with a ''pervasive community tolerance of student misbehavior'' supported by some parents, according to a report from a team charged with sorting out problems at the village school.

The report, issued Monday, cited poor test scores at the McQueen School and numerous documented incidents of serious aggression toward school staff.

The school in the northwest Alaska village was shut down for two weeks last month and five teachers were transferred after they complained that they were being harassed and threatened physically and verbally.

The school reopened March 18 with five new teachers and a security officer.

State Education Commis-sioner Shirley Holloway appointed a seven member team to investigate the cause of the problems. The team was made up of educations, juvenile justice representatives and a state trooper.

The report called the Feb. 27 shutdown ''the result of a long and complex chain of events in a dysfunctional school in a dysfunctional community'' and ''little has changed as a result of the school closure.''

Despite rampant finger-pointing, team members agreed that no group or individual is to blame for harassment and violence against teachers and students evident at the school. But the report said now there's a chance to turn things around:

''At this point, the future success of McQueen School depends more on the behavior of adults than on the behavior of children,'' the report said.

In addition to noting discipline problems at the school, the report said low test scores are a sign of ineffective teaching. And some residents of Kivalina said there's a damaging gap between what's taught in the classroom and the daily life and culture of the tiny Inupiat Eskimo village, about 85 air miles northwest of Kotzebue.

The five-member local advisory school board -- an intended link between the village and district headquarters in Kotzebue -- hasn't been trained properly, the report said. Advisory board members and village leaders told the team they were never told that closing the school was a possibility.

Some team members joined Holloway, commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Development, and Rep. Reggie Joule at the Kivalina town meeting Monday to discuss the report and possible solutions.

Recommendations include the Northwest Arctic Borough School District's forming a team of community and regional leaders and parents to develop a ''school improvement plan,'' help improve student test scores, and student and community involvement.