The principal of Ketchikan High School joined other school district officials from across the state to testify in front of the Alaska House and Senate on Monday.
Rick Dormer is the principal of the high school in Ketchikan and the head of the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals.
“We are trending in the wrong direction,” Dormer said during the joint hearing of the state House and Senate education committees at the Capitol. “Every school needs quality leadership and quality teachers, and Alaska is losing their educational leaders at a very rapid rate.”
Dormer was one of a handful of officials and association heads who testified during the hearing from school districts like the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage, and Galena, as well as the director of the Alaska Educator Retention and Recruitment Center.
The testimony came as lawmakers mull over how much money the state will put towards education funding next school year.
For years, Alaska schools have faced stagnant state funding, rising costs, and budget uncertainty. Many have had to cut back resources. Ketchikan is in the process of restructuring the island’s elementary schools and combining some grade-level classes to help reduce the budget deficit. The process has been met at every stage with protest. Community members have even put together their own alternative plans to cut staff and combine facilities that they say would have a lower impact.
Dormer said it’s not just facilities being affected, though. Schools need resources for students’ mental health.
“Unfortunately, I can come to you and tell you that just the last month, Ketchikan lost a teen by suicide, and we had another teen attempt to take their life. They’re going to be okay,” Dormer said. “It’s just so real, and it’s right in front of us.”
Alaska leads the nation in teen suicides, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dormer testified that nearly 40% of the school’s students have reported feeling so anxious, tense, and/or scared every day for two weeks in a row that they couldn’t finish their work. Some 41% reported feeling so sad or hopeless that they didn’t want to do the things they normally like doing.
“So they’re frightening (statistics), and we know they have a direct impact on student achievement. And we also believe these statistics are consistent across the state,” he said.
Ketchikan High School has a social worker on staff to help students navigate the depression minefield of being a high schooler. The position is funded by a federal grant.
“That’s for over 500 students, we have one social worker,” Dormer said. “And that is not typical. That’s actually above and beyond what a lot of students get, and again, this is federal funding.”
The School Social Work Association of America generally recommends that schools have at least one social worker for every 250 students. Dormer said most schools in Alaska can’t afford to hire counselors or social workers right now and most can’t rely on federal grants.
“As a principal, I can tell you that hiring a counselor is about impossible at this time. And then, if you have the funds in the first place, how can you find them? And then how can you retain them?” he asked.
Retention came up a few times in Dormer’s testimony – it was a big part of nearly every testimony during the joint session. The officials said Alaska has a problem keeping teachers and continuous budget uncertainties are compounding that.
Another testifier referenced University of Alaska Anchorage research showing that high turnover costs districts more than $20,000 extra per teacher to recruit, hire, and train.
Retaining administrators is also a problem. In a matter of weeks this spring, Ketchikan’s school board president, another school board member, and the district superintendent resigned.
Dormer came to Ketchikan in 2022 after over a decade leading the high school in Petersburg. But he’s said he’s actively interviewing for other jobs outside Alaska, too – in Oregon.
“Because if I go to Oregon, I can get a defined benefit package, I can have higher wages, I can have a lower cost of living, and I don’t have to take the time and expense to get on a Boeing jet to see my family. It is a challenge. We want to stay. I want to stay. But we’re also highly educated professionals. We have personal goals. We have professional goals. And I can tell you that there are a lot of options out there,” he said.
According to Dormer, Alaska’s teens deserve high-quality teachers and administrators who want to stick around.
A bill before the state Senate would increase per-student funding for Alaska schools by $1,000. It already passed the House. If it makes it through the Senate, it’ll end up on Governor Mike Dunleavy’s desk.