Clear communication at the state-run boarding school Mt. Edgecumbe High School is among the top priority areas to improve students' residential and academic life, a special committee told members of the Alaska State Board of Education this week.
The state board established the committee last March to review concerns and create recommendations for improvements after a tumultuous school year at Mt. Edgecumbe. Challenges included state budget cuts, staff and administrative turnover, and a wave of student disenrollment. In the 2025-2026 school year, nearly 100 students, a quarter of the student population, left the school.
The disenrollments put Mt. Edgecumbe in the spotlight, prompting legislative hearings, an investigatory visit from Alaska senators and representatives and questions about deteriorating facilities and reductions in staffing, students activities and support services, as well as concerns around students' mental health and quality of life.
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development administers the school with the governor-appointed Board of Education. The school's population is predominantly Alaska Native students from across the state. Deena Bishop, the state's education commissioner, told lawmakers in February that the rapid changes at the school were part of a "right-sizing" effort after COVID pandemic relief funding ran out in 2024, forcing the high school into a series of cost-cutting measures in 2025.
Legislators responded this year, approving millions for repairs and renovations to dorms, classrooms and dining facilities, and $450,000 for student travel, utilities costs, student activities and mental health services this school year.
Kadyn Cross, a junior and student body president at Mt Edgecumbe, is from the village of Koyuk on the coast of Norton Sound. He participated in the special committee and told the board on Wednesday that while progress has been made, money only goes so far.
"I've seen facilities fall into despair, leaky ceilings, outdated dorms and a cafeteria that struggled to meet basic expectations. I've also seen students and staff leave because they lost faith in the school and the system," he said.
"But this year things are looking up. Legislature approved millions in funding for repairs," he said. "There's a new system of sense of optimism on our campus, and I would like to say that trust will not be rebuilt by money alone. It will be rebuilt by transparency, communication and by a clear understanding of who is responsible for what."
Clear and consistent communication among students, families, teachers, staff and administrators was a major theme of the 22 recommendations developed by the committee.
The committee consisted of two students, two parents, a tribal representative, an alumni, and a member of the Mt. Edgecumbe advisory board and a state board member. They conducted surveys with 186 students, 65 parents and 14 staff to collect input and identified recommendations across five categories: school culture, student engagement, communication, academics and student life.
Students and families want timely information from Mt. Edgecumbe on school matters, the committee said, and changes in protocols, including dormitory policies and expectations, academics, and on and off-campus activities. It also noted communication with families should take into account potential limitations of reaching families in rural Alaska, as students attend from over 100 communities across the state.
The committee recommended the school should establish appropriate channels for students to provide feedback on rules, policies and procedures that affect their experience, especially around the student dorms and when changes are under consideration. It emphasized the administration should continue to improve the quality and conditions of the student dorms, and increase responsiveness to "long-standing and intermittent" maintenance concerns.
Recommendations included strengthening support for students, with a more proactive approach to addressing mental health and wellbeing, including clear roles and responsibilities for staff. The committee advised developing more peer-mentoring among upperclassmen and younger students to bolster school culture and engagement.
It also advised establishing a process for surveying students and families that withdraw from Mt. Edgecumbe in order to identify and address concerns and improve student retention.
On the academic side, the committee recommended an increased focus on preparing students for life after graduation, with clear grade-level progression of expectations, resources and opportunities to boost readiness for college, career training and the workforce. It also advised more opportunities for parent involvement in academic planning.
Following the presentation of recommendations to the state board on Wednesday, Board of Education Chair Sally Stockhausen said she wants to see updates from DEED and the administration on the work completed and progress in each category.
"I would like it to stay in the forefront of our minds and not become another thing that we put on the shelf — 'Well, that was nice that we did that,'" she said. "And so I would like to see, in a format that addresses these recommendations at our meetings, that we get a regular update on what has been done so far… both from the admin and staff perspective, but then also from the student perspective. I think we need to keep their voice very much in this the whole time."
Upgrades and improvements underway
The Board of Education held its meeting in person at Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka this week, which included a tour of the campus and meetings with students and staff. On Wednesday, Superintendent David Langford gave a presentation to board members further detailing the significant upgrades in progress across the campus.
"It's amazing what can happen in a single year," said Langford, who was hired in July 2025.
Langford said $24 million in additional state funds is earmarked for upgrades and renovations over the next several years. That includes a complete kitchen and cafeteria renovation and replacing leaky dorm windows and roofs. He said already the administration has made upgrades to the food served in the cafeteria and the dorms, including new dorm furniture and replacing decades-old laundry machines and mattresses — which was of particular concern for legislators during their visit.
"We even threw out about 60 mattresses that were here from World War II that were in our storage. We weren't actually using them, but we discovered them and got rid of them," he said. "So thankfully, thanks to our legislature, all the mattresses have now been upgraded."
Langford said this year Mt. Edgecumbe is fully staffed academically. He said all students have access to new computers thanks to a grant from the Alaska Federation of Natives. He said staff has made upgrades to classrooms and teacher and staff training — and English curriculum, which is the first update in roughly a decade, he noted.
"Nobody could even remember the last time they got a new curriculum. So, thanks to the support of DEED and the reading program, we were able to get the first (new) curriculum in 10 years. And just two days ago, the books arrived, so we're very excited about that," he said.
He said the school is still working on hiring a full-time mental health clinician, but has a wellness coordinator on staff and has contracted local counselors. Langford said this year new opportunities for extra-curricular activities, trips to town, sports and Alaska Native cultural activities have grown.
Despite the attention and improvements, enrollment is still down this year. As of Oct. 1, there were 350 students enrolled, down from an average of roughly 400 students, but enrollment is still in flux, Langford said.
During public testimony, Mt. Edgecumbe alumni, parents and current and former staff emphasized the need for continued support and investment from the board, DEED and the administration for the future of the school. Xander Swanson, a student government representative, highlighted the school's unique culture and education for students from across the state.
"We are the only place where students from the Arctic, the Interior, the Aleutians, the Yukon-Kuskokwim and the Southeast live together, learn together and become one community. We bring our languages, our traditions and our home communities with us and share them," he said. "And when we graduate, we don't stay here. We go back, or we go on, and we carry what we learn to our villages, our regions, and the state. It has been true for generations. Our job is to make sure that stays true. Thank you for investing in us."