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THE SKAGWAY NEWS.
Extension granted PAGE 5
Locals share photos PAGE 8
September 24, 2021
Traveling in Southeast PAGE 10
Sk a g w ay, A l a s k a
$1.50
Skagway School celebrates top scores
as it learns a new kind of testing
By Melinda Munson Each year, Skagway School Superintendent Josh Coughran crunches the data as soon as the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development releases test scores. For the fifth year in a row, and the fifth year since the statewide assessment tool, PEAKS, was implemented in Alaska, Skagway School District placed first in math and English Language Arts. When asked if placing top in the state ever becomes boring, Coughran answered, “No, never. It gets to be an expectation.” Skagway School also scored first in science for the past four years, but science marks were unavailable for 2021 due to statewide field testing. The 2021 results showed Skagway significantly ahead of every other Alaska district. In English Language Arts, 81.97% of Skagway School students tested proficient and advanced. The state average is 39.5% with Petersburg testing the next highest at 63%. In math, 77.42% of Skagway School students tested proficient and advanced. The state average is 32.38% with Wrangell testing the next highest at 51.96%. While Coughran is pleased by the numbers, he’s setting his sights even higher with 100% proficiency as the end goal. Coughran said Skagway students are “dialed in and paying attention” to the continued on page 3
Paul Sinciic photo, Brady Collection, as seen in “Skagway: City of the New Century” by Jeff Brady
Father G. Edgar Gallant, founder of St. Pius X Mission, stands with a sister of St. Ann and their students.
STC asks that residential school be acknowledged By Melinda Munson As the Civic Affairs Committee discusses a proposed resolution to divide Garden City RV Park into lots to be sold for affordable housing, the Skagway Traditional Council (STC) made two recommendations regarding the RV park, the former location of St. Pius X Mission, a residential boarding school primarily for Native youth. In the Sept. 9 letter ad dressed to the mayor and assembly, STC asked for an archeological assessment of the land (Blocks 95 and 102) “including the use of ground penetrating radar” and that “a section of this property be gifted to STC for the purpose of acknowledgment of the school’s existence and its impact on the lives of the Indigenous People of Southeast Alaska.” Sara Kinjo-Hischer, STC tribal administrator, confirmed the intent of the radar
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is to search for human remains. “It would be a reassurance,” she said. In the past year, the bodies of over 1,000 unidentified Native children have been found at residential Canadian boarding schools. Skagway’s mission school, founded by Father Edgar Gallant, was in operation from 1933 to 1959. There is no record of exactly how many students attended. According to “Skagway, City of the New Century” by Jeff Brady, 65 students were enrolled in 1953, 22 of those were Skagway residents. STC President Jame Bricker said students’ experiences varied. “…I’ve talked to tribal members that have attended Pius X Mission and there’s good memories there, there’s good experiences there, and their stories aren’t mine to tell. But I also feel that I
need to speak for my grandfather and my uncles who can’t tell us those stories any more, they’re gone -and just really acknowledge that no matter what their experience was at a boarding school, I can’t imagine that it is an experience that was better than they would have received with their mother.”
‘At what cost did we do this to people?’ Bricker said she regretted not making a case for the land when the Catholic Church sold the lot to the municipality. She believes it’s possible the federal government helped the Catholic Church fund the original purchase of the property, but hasn’t found any proof. “...that land, or at least a
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portion of it, should have been Skagway Traditional Council’s property, if it was funded for the intention of educating Indian children, then I believe the Native people in this valley should have had an interest in that land,” Bricker said. “I’m not Tlingit. I’m not Tlingit because my grandfather was relocated here,” she continued. “He and his brothers were taken from his mother and sister in Kodiak, and they were brought here for the purpose of eradicating a culture and creating one that supported ways that aren’t theirs. And I know nothing about my heritage -and it’s part of the reason I’m so passionate about trying to conserve what we know of, and what we have of Tlingit language, art and culture from my Tlingit brothers and sisters in this traditional valley.” continued on page 3 - STC
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