Juneau Board of Education candidate profile: Deedie Sorensen

Deedie Sorensen is seeking one of the three open seats on the Juneau Board of Education

Deedie Sorensen is seen at a Juneau Board of Education meeting on July 11, 2023. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Jasz Garrett

Juneau Independent

Deedie Sorensen: Juneau Board of Education write-in candidate for one of three open seats

Age: 74

Occupation: Retired teacher

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is your background in education?

“I started teaching kindergarten in 1974 in Montana and in 1981 I moved to Alaska. I started teaching kindergarten. I got a master’s degree in early childhood education and a graduate endorsement in special education in resource. My first job was as an intermediate resource teacher at Glacier Valley (Elementary School). I was a resource teacher for two years and then I taught pre-first. And then Mendenhall River (Community School) opened and they reduced the staff at Glacier Valley. I then was transferred to Gastineau (Elementary School). I was at Gastineau where I taught kindergarten and second grade for about until 1990 and then I transferred to Mendenhall River, where I taught until 2010 and I retired. And then after I retired, I did a series of long-term subs and ended in 2018 as a (substitute) teacher at Riverbend, now Kax̱dig̱oowu Héen Elementary.” 

“In 2018, I went to work as part of the office staff in a sole practitioner’s neurology office because I thought it would give me an opportunity to learn new skills and be an opportunity to learn new things. I retired in 2022. Once I was no longer working for the district, I ran for the school board. Since I no longer work at the medical office, being on the school board has taken up a great deal of my time.” 

“I have been on the school board for six years and board president for three.”

Q: What made you want to be a school board member and what makes you continue to want to be a school board member? Why do you care about Juneau schools?

“I think that our schools are the most important government function in our community. Our system of government doesn’t work without an educated

citizenry. I know that public education gets beat up a lot, but I believe that, given everything, it does a pretty remarkable job for most of its students.”

Q: Are there students you have worked with who you have seen grow up and be successful? 

“When you teach primary grades your relationship with your students doesn’t develop like it does if you’re a secondary teacher. When you teach kindergarten or first or second grade, people come up to you that are adults — now, some of them with gray hair, and ask me if I am Mrs. Sorensen. I can tell you now that I rarely recognize them because they look substantially different. But yes, I have because I can follow their names. I have had students that are college professors, that are police officers, that are in the fire department, that work in Hollywood. I’ve had lots of students and I feel each one of those successes, every student that leaves Juneau and is successful, it is a function of all — from the beginning to the end of their school experience.” 

Q: How do you plan to address recruitment and retention for the Juneau School District?

“Recruitment and retention is about funding and we have been flat-funded for so long. When I came to Alaska, I doubled my salary, and salaries and benefits were about 82%. Now it is 90% and we’re not really competitive with Washington. Washington has similar salaries, cheaper healthcare costs because of the availability and cost of healthcare there and they have a defined benefit retirement system. We’re the only state in the nation that does not have a defined benefit retirement system for school employees. So being competitive is extremely difficult. And I’m not sure what of that 10% that’s left, that’s not salaries and benefits, what we can do without.”

Q: You’re saying there’s not much more you can cut?

“We have to maintain the infrastructure and the state funding level dictates how much money we can have in our instructional budget. And what that means is that number, that Base Student Allocation number that the state sets, then goes through a state funding formula based on a whole bunch of different things, like students identified for special education, students in homeschool programs, students in CTE, big-long formula, and it determines an amount of money specifically for the Juneau School District. And then, because Juneau is an organized borough, it determines the total amount of money that can be spent on instructional education in Juneau. And then the state contributes a percentage of that (instructional funding).”

“The city then can contribute monies up to the cap. For example, rural school districts, the state funds because they don’t have a borough, the state funds 100%...It fills up our money jar to a certain point and then the city continues to fill it up. We are extremely fortunate because the Assembly has for years funded the school district to the cap so we are funded to the state maximum amount for our instructional budget. The city has also, as do different boroughs and cities around the state, funded things that are not part of the instructional program outside of the cap.”

Q: How would you navigate losing $8 million if the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development’s local contribution limitations go into place?

“First of all, I would rely on the administration to make recommendations on how we can rearrange things. Cutting that amount of money, I mean, the things that it funds are like arts programs like JAMM, cultural programs, all of the SHI and Goldbelt and Tlingit Haida grants. I mean, all of those would be gone. The money that supports CTE from some of the mines and other sources would be gone. A million dollars in funding for activities would be gone. Losing those monies would probably mean trying to figure out which of those things we can either do differently or do without.”

Q: Can you talk about the specific struggle to retain paraeducators? What are your thoughts on the importance of supporting children with special needs and how would you make sure those needs are getting met?

“As someone who spent many years in the classroom, I believe that supporting special educators is extremely important. Their bargaining unit is representing them at the bargaining table. I was really hopeful that bargaining unit would push to raise the wages in positions that are really difficult to fill. We need to be competitive with more than McDonald’s and the tourist industry to attract workers that are going to be here for the whole school year. But we will see how that goes.”

Q: When you say you were hoping “that bargaining unit” would push to raise the wages, are you referring to the administration’s offer?

“Yes. We care about our employees. We want the best for our employees. But it’s like when you’re shopping with a budget, you can’t always get what you want.”

Q: With the struggle to retain paraeducators, how can the district still ensure that kids are getting the support they need?

“At this juncture, there’s positions that are not filled, and there are identified students with identified IEP needs, we hire substitutes until we can hire a permanent employee.”

Q: There’s been public testimony seeking more engagement from school board members about the contract negotiations. What would be your approach in helping these teachers feel heard, even if you can’t be at the table?

“I served on every JEA bargaining team from the mid-1980s until 2009. That was the last three-year contract that I was on the bargaining team for (2009-2012). So I’ve had a lot of experience being on the other end of the table, asking for more for my members. I am concerned at this juncture about the financial circumstances for our members because they experienced a huge spike in their healthcare costs. JEA bargained to be able to control and select their own healthcare provider, because at that time, the district was in control of that and we experienced a 25% increase. JEA currently controls its health insurance and provider and their benefit menu. Each one of our units, each negotiation, the administrators, the classified staff and the teachers, each control their healthcare. They select their provider. They do all of that, and the other two healthcare providers for the other units, those people are not experiencing a dramatic increase in their costs. So there’s nothing that the district can do.”

Q: What about the teachers testifying to the school board recently about the spike in healthcare costs?

“They would like for the district to absorb this dramatic increase in their healthcare costs. There’s no way that the district can absorb their increase in healthcare costs.”

Q: What did you find helpful when you were bargaining as a part of JEA?

“In the 1980s, we had two reductions in force, where dozens of people actually lost their jobs. When we consolidated and did a reduction in force, there were only a very few people who were RIFed. There were a lot of people that got reshuffled because RIFs are based on seniority. I've seen dozens of people be put out of work. The school funding was volatile then when the price of oil collapsed. We voted to defer a raise and were essentially frozen for a couple of years, but doing that helped us not have another big layoff. Then we went through a period of higher oil prices and relative prosperity, but it's a boom-and-bust cycle, and right now we're on the bust part of that cycle.”

“Having a board member at the bargaining table is not going to make more money. Every decision takes seven board members to make a decision. And for all those years that I mentioned that I bargained, there was never a board member at the table and also, for all those years that I bargained, there was not an NEA spokesperson as a spokesperson for the JEA bargaining team. (There is now.) As a bargaining team, we spent years learning interest-based bargaining and collaborative negotiations and our bargaining teams were really, really skilled.”

Q: Can you share any thoughts on the privatization and uncertain future of the RALLY program, given the current lawsuit? 

“No, because we aren’t allowed to talk about pending legal matters.”

Q: Can you talk about the RALLY program more generally? 

“I remember when it wasn’t called RALLY, it was called Latchkey Started. It was in all of the elementary schools, and it was before school and after school, and then it changed names and became RALLY. It was still before school and after school and all the elementary schools. It was staffed and there were a ton of kids in every school in RALLY. Over the years, it’s become more and more and more difficult to find staff for the RALLY program. And because it’s a licensed childcare, there’s not flexibility in the staff-to-student ratio, unlike our classrooms, where we can add a few and teachers just get more burdened with larger classes, we can’t do that in RALLY. Last year, we were able to staff for a portion of the year four RALLY sites for a specific number of students. Towards the end of last year, we could not keep one site staffed so that it met the childcare staffing numbers, so we had to close that site.”

Q: Was the board involved in the decision to close the site?

“Not really. I mean, if we were out of compliance, then it’s not a subject of ‘Should we?’ It’s a subject of legal responsibility.” 

Q: What long-term planning should the school board be considering now for the homeporting of the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker? 

“In theory, for at least a period of time, the homeporting of the icebreaker, if it does include an increase in student population, it would probably help slow the decline of student population. I’m not concerned that we don’t have capacity. We have plenty of capacity. As we start to get involved in the actual nuts and bolts of the strategic plan, I’m sure that we will be looking for more specific things that we can do to welcome Coast Guard members to our community. It’s not going to be just the school district because the other issue is just housing availability here. We’ve hired teachers who came to Juneau and couldn’t find a place to live so they then declined the contract. I think we will do our part. One issue that I know can be difficult is high school students because Alaska tends to have a bunch of Alaska-specific thing and the district has some specific things for graduation requirements, so that will probably be an area that the policies will need to be examined so we are not impeding students’ opportunities to graduate and move on.”

Q: How do you feel the consolidation plan is going now that it's been a year?

“I think that the consolidation plan has gone remarkably well, largely due to the dedication and incredible flexibility of our certified and classified staff. They have made it work. I think that the high school has more students taking more classes in person and fewer classes online than prior to the consolidation. I am anxious to see if the research that we did around sixth grade that said that sixth graders make more academic achievement in elementary schools than they do in middle schools, I’m anxious to see the state assessments to see how our sixth graders did.”

Q:  Are students still having trouble with their math and science classes?

“Middle school was because the two middle schools addressed the seventh and eighth-grade science curriculum differently. Some students were initially repeating science. We worked that out. We hired more staff at the middle school level. The middle school staff and administration figured out how to address that.” 

Q: You said there are more opportunities for kids to take in-person classes instead of online? 

“Before consolidation, there were about 70 students per semester in each high school taking online classes to get enough credits to graduate. And now that number collectively is substantially reduced.”

Q: Are there students who have to be on waitlists for the classes they want?

“I would guess that there are, simply because it seems to me like that’s always been the way, even when I was in high school. But I don’t know for sure because a lot of that winds up being about scheduling and when you have students who have special interests like music or art where things are only offered in different period slots, then they have to work all the other things around that. It’s become a scheduling piece as much as a waitlist piece.”

Q: So, overall, you feel like it’s going well?

“I do. I know that some people are concerned that there’s insufficient options in sports for students, but I feel like we’ve tried to make multiple options in every sport available for students. I recognize that we only have one team now instead of two.”

“I support all of the activities because that’s the reason many students come to school, but my main focus is on the instruction, the core education.” 

Q: What are your thoughts on the cellphone ban policy that went into effect this school year?

“I’m excited about it. I think that it is going to give students an opportunity to get to know each other. It’s my understanding that lunches are noisy again because people are talking to each other. I think that is extremely important. I think that the distraction of electronic devices is substantial and students learning how to be routinely distanced from their devices is very helpful. It should be apparent to everyone how addicting their use is.”

Q: So you think it helps with mental health?

“I think it helps with mental health. I think it will help with focus in the classrooms. I’m hopeful that by having a more real person-to-person environment, students can treat each other more as people rather than some virtual target.” 

Q: If you were faced with the decision to keep federal funding or eliminate DEI, what would you do in that situation?

“My thought here is that diversity, equity and inclusion is sort of in the DNA of schools since the BIA schools closed. I mean, our population is very diverse. We have students from wherever they come from that are in our schools. We meet them where they are and do everything we can to support whatever needs they have and they are included in everything that we do. Whatever language someone might want to change, there’s no way it could impact what we do.”

Q: Do you think the Alaska Native language curriculum and programming is important? And if so, why or why not?

“I think that the Native language programming is important. I think the varieties of ways that it has evolved in different programs is very interesting. We have the TCLL program, which strives to make Native students bilingual. And we have the JAMM program, which strives to make all the students in the schools have the ability to understand Native language as it relates to their music program. In both cases, there’s a lot of research that shows how important it is to develop second language skills early in a child’s life. That’s the only language program that’s being offered in Juneau that is available for our youngest students, kindergarten through second grade, in both of those programs. So yes, I think it’s important.”

“I think that there’s also a debt owing to Indigenous peoples to help them restore fluency in their Native languages.” 

Q: How would you like to see the Alaska Native programming in schools grow?

“I like the JAMM model that exposes all students, all young students to a second language, because research shows that it doesn’t matter what the second language is, it will make other languages easier to learn. As our students move through the program in Tlingit language, we potentially have more people that could offer that language to young children. Any child that wants to continue to pursue Tlingit, that language is available all the way through middle school and high school. For students who want to take a different language, they will have a fundamental second language to build (on). Their brain has already developed the capacity for more than one language.”

Q: What else would you like voters to know about why you’re running for school board and what you hope to achieve?

“I’m running for school board because I feel like I have the most experience with difficult situations and I foresee that the future could be very difficult. I had chosen not to run because of health concerns but those are pretty much alleviated now so I feel like I have the capacity to do it.” 

Q: How do you think you can take the past challenges you’ve gotten through as a school board member into the future difficulties to come?

“Because of all the financial crises, I have an excellent understanding of all the working pieces of our budget. I also have a really functional understanding of state funding. I am really a steel-eyed realist about how things are. I can be creative — we were creative with the consolidation. But at the end of the day, we have how much money is in the jar and we have to make it work.”

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.