Students express frustration about post-graduation prep

Students and community showed up in force at the April meeting of the Nome Public Schools Board of Education meeting, expressing their discontent with the lack of support for graduating seniors and their post-graduation planning.
Six students and one parent addressed the board, saying that the lack of support was leading to missed opportunities, confusion around deadlines and that the staff members in charge of post-graduation planning are overworked.
Kaya Kent, a senior, said that her older siblings had received a lot more help with post-graduation plans than she had. Kent said that the staff members being tasked with helping prepare students were overworked, and that she had to do a lot of her preparations by herself. “It’s really hard for students, especially students that don’t even know where to start, to even be able to succeed after high school,” she said. “I think that should be a priority.”
Junior Sage Gregg said that it’s frustrating how much solo work she has had to put in to get a jump start on her post-graduation plans. She said that students feel that the preparation that is available has gotten steadily less effective. “If you want students in Nome to succeed, I feel like that this time needs to be invested into their future,” she said.
Alora Stasenko said that it’s frustrating that much of the workload is borne by guidance counselor Aaron Brown. “He works really hard for the students at Nome-Beltz, but one guy cannot provide for 250 students,” she said.
Parent Katie O’Connor and her daughter Neva Horton, an NPS Extensions student, said that not receiving communications about scholarship packets and other graduation materials led to missing out on opportunities. “Why aren’t these resources already available online for our students and our parents?” asked O’Connor. “Why are we segregating the other students in our school district, such as our homeschooling students?”
She suggested that there be a webpage available on the school’s website with all the information needed to prepare for graduation, including scholarship material and deadlines. O’Connor told the board that she had compiled a spreadsheet with the relevant material and was happy to share it with the school district.
During the principal’s report, Nome-Beltz Middle High School Principal Teriscovkya Smith said that Nome-Beltz used to have two counselors, but now there is one full time and one part time counselor handling all the students’ needs.   
“I think, by looking at Ms. O’Connor’s feedback, we can create a system that can be self-sustaining,” she said.
Sara James, the student council president and student representative on the school board, said that the lack of guidance had led to her missing out on opportunities and potentially taking a gap year instead of heading off to college in the fall.
Superintendent Jamie Burgess acknowledged that the guidance counselor is overloaded.

New principals
In other news, there will be changes in principals next year. Nome Elementary School Principal Michelle Carton is departing Nome and will be replaced with Corey Shepherd, who has ties to Nome. Carton said in an interview with the Nugget that she is leaving due to family issues.
Anvil City Science Academy Principal Emily Annas is stepping down from her position at the end of the school year and Ayden Wickman, a teacher at Hogarth Kingeekuk Sr. School in Savoonga has been hired to replace her.
Annas will stay in the school district and has been hired as an ACSA reading teacher. She also has interviewed for the district’s Director of Federal Programs position, for which a final hiring decision has not yet been made.
Annas and Carton started as principals with the district at the start of the current school year.
Jennifer Schreve has been offered a contract as the new NES assistant principal.
In her NBMHS principal’s report, Smith said that she is having a hard time filling vacancies in teaching positions. She told the board that the school needs to fill middle school and high school art positions, a middle school English language arts teacher and a biology teacher. “We don’t have applicants. This isn’t a funding issue. We don’t have applicants,” she said.
Smith said that the school is looking for creative ways to find applicants, such as LinkedIn.
Smith also noted that the review process for the revision of the student handbook has changed. Instead of just a group of administrators reviewing the revised handbook, the new handbook has also been reviewed by teachers, parents, tribal members, the counselor and the student council. “By the time you review it, it has had a variety of perspectives and lenses, and I’m grateful for that,” she said.
During principals’ reports, both Carton and Annas noted that students from both schools will be participating in the Katiluta Cultural Festival, coming up April 30 to May 2.
During her NES principal’s report, Carton noted that the NES Student Council has really stepped up this year – students meet twice a week, run the morning announcements and wrote a proposal that got AC to provide a healthy treat for the state testing. “It’s been really interesting to see kids all the way down to third grade really take an interest in student leadership,” said Carton.
Annas said in her report that she is trying to organize a Bike Bus for the Tuesday after Memorial Day for ACSA students, where students will bike to school with parents and volunteers chaperoning in a large group, along with a police escort for safety.

Action items
The board approved six action items at the meeting, including several administrator contracts, the purchase of 180,000 gallons of heating fuel through NJUS at a cost of $670,000 and a FY26 budget revision. The administrator contracts approved were for new NES principal Corey Shepherd, Director of Technology Jim Shreve and Andrew White for a Systems Administrator position.
The board accepted the resignation of Board Member Nancy Mendenhall, resigning after 11 years on the school board due to personal family matters, effective May 13, 2026. The school district is seeking interested candidates to serve out the term until October 2026. The deadline to submit letters of interest is May 13 and the board will hold a special session with all candidates on May 19 at 5:30 p.m. in the NES library to select a replacement.
The next regular meeting of the school board is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the NES library.