This story has been updated with additional information about UAS’ plans at Floyd Dryden.
One of two Juneau schools closed last year due to consolidation is poised to continue a kids-focused existence with childcare, preschool and tribal education programs, while nearly all of the classroom space at the other school may be demolished and turned into a parking lot.
Using two-thirds of the former Floyd Dryden Middle School for tribal early education and childcare programs got preliminary approval from the Juneau Assembly on Monday night, while allowing the University of Alaska Southeast to use the remaining space for a preschool is being subject to further review due to a request for a no-cost lease.
City officials have said options are more limited at the former Marie Drake school since renovation costs would be “extreme.” The Assembly’s Public Works and Facilities Committee in December authorized staff to proceed with details of a plan retaining the planetarium, gym and some other facilities, while demolishing 80% of the classroom wing to make space for parking, which has been cited as a critical need due to nearly all high school students now attending Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé.
City Manager Katie Koester noted in an email Tuesday no official decision on Marie Drake’s fate has been made by the full Assembly.
The Assembly on Monday unanimously authorized city staff to enter negotiations with the interested parties for reuse of the 52-year-old Floyd Dryden building that was closed as part of last year’s school consolidation by the Juneau School District. If negotiations succeed most of the building will be occupied by the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, which is pursuing plans for an extensive Native culture and languages campus for youths.
A review of proposals seeking the use space at Floyd Dryden ranked Tlingit and Haida’s at the top, “along with the community use of the gym for senior, adult, and youth sports and activities,” Dan Bleidorn, lands and resources manager for the City and Borough of Juneau, wrote in a Jan 30 memo to the Assembly.
“The next highest-ranking use for the building was UAS with the proposed use of ‘Educational programs & childcare & workforce development,’” he wrote.
Tlingit and Haida’s Early Education program is already working on obtaining a Conditional Use Permit for the space, and planning and designing interior remodeling, according to the member. Dixie Hutchinson, a spokesperson for Tlingit and Haita, stated in an email to the Empire on Tuesday there will initially be capacity for 90 to 110 youths at Floyd Dryden when the space is ready.
“We are going to try to expand another daycare classroom and provide wraparound services to programs that do not reach full day,” she wrote. “We hope to expand to serve 110–140 children within the first two years.”
There are currently about 55 to 60 kids in three local Head Start school programs affiliated with Tlingit and Haida, up to 10 at the Haa Yoo X’atángi Kúdi Language Nest program, and 30 to 40 at the Little Eagles and Ravens Nest — LEARN Childcare, according to Hutchinson.
Tlingit and Haida last April announced plans for a new 12-acre tribal education campus on forested hillside behind Fred Meyer and a re-imagined 457-acre Cultural Immersion Park near Tee Harbor, which would expand on the programs envisioned at Floyd Dryden. However Tlingit and Haida President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson said during the announcement that fundraising for the new facilities will take three to four years, with construction beginning soon after.
While a shortage of childcare availability in Juneau — and elsewhere in Alaska — has been cited as a problem that is contributing to workforce shortage, a steep continuing drop in the city’s student population that has been occurring for the past 25 years is expected to continue for at least the next decade. Juneau’s public school enrollment that peaked in 1999 at 5,701 students in 1999 has dropped to about 4,000 this year and is projected to decline to about 2,800 in 2034.
Hutchinson, when asked about Tlingit and Haida’s expansion of youth education programs while the student population is declining, stated the focus is on long-term cultural heritage and education availability.
“Tlingit & Haida is confident our early education programs will flourish and continue to have a lasting positive impact on our communities,” she wrote. “Tlingit & Haida Education Campus is a transformational project grounded in the principles of tribal sovereignty and the cultural revitalization of our community’s.”
The UAS request to use the other one-third of Floyd Dryden for a childcare program was sent back to the Assembly’s Committee of the Whole for further assessment. Mayor Beth Weldon at Monday’s meeting said that discussions with UAS officials on Friday more time is being sought so they “know exactly what they want out of that space.”
Elizabeth Cornejo, a UAS spokesperson, stated in an email Wednesday the university’s school of education is working with CBJ and other partners “on ways we can work together to help address Juneau’s childcare workforce and capacity needs, adapting models that have been successful elsewhere.”
“In the conceptual Early Childhood Development Center proposal, in which UAS is one of many contributors, UAS would act as the educational affiliate, providing educational programming and workforce development pathways in partnership with childcare providers,” she wrote. “While UAS is not in a position to lease the Floyd Dryden space from CBJ, we are interested in being the education partner in the collaboration. There is still more to discuss and define as the proposal evolves from concept to formal partnership.”
At the Marie Drake building one of the concerns is a high level of asbestos in the building, according to CBJ Public Works Director Denise Koch during a presentation of options to the Public Works and Facilities Committee in December. An inspection by an independent company did not find asbestos in breathing space, but components were found in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units.
The committee adopted her recommendation to preserve part of the building while demolishing much of the space that would be costly to renovate, since “there was a really high need for parking in the area, but it would still retain the pieces of the building that have already been remediated and have a lot of use and value,” according to the minutes of the meeting.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
