School Board adopts 2010 budget; Upper Valley principals OK'ed

The school district has okay’ed two separate principal positions for Talkeetna and Trapper Creek.

The Mat Su Borough school board met last Wednesday in a special session and adopted the budget for fiscal year 2010.  That decision signed off funding for two principals in the upper Valley elementary school system.  One will serve Talkeetna elementary and the other will serve Trapper Creek elementary.  Those principals will be part time principal and part time teacher. 

For the last several years, both schools shared one principal.

Although principal Jodi Picou’s resignation in April didn’t have to do with the 30-mile distance between the 2 schools, it fueled the discussion that had been dormant for a couple of years. With three different principals in three straight years, teachers and others at both schools started up a campaign to change the principal split back to what it was previous to 2005 when Principal Chris Hagar  became not only the principal at Talkeetna, but Trapper Creek as well. 

Hagar said in an interview in April that he wasn’t in favor of the split at that time, but did the job to the best of his ability because he knew it was all about budget cutting.  He agrees with the idea of each school having their own principal on site each day to deal with issues.

Superintendent George Troxel says that it costs the school district $42,ooo more, annually, to employ two principals rather than one.  He said the school board responded to requests from both communities and schools to have one principal dedicated to each school.  He agrees it will help with continuity in curriculum planning and parent relationships.  Troxel said the district is looking for viable candidates within and outside the district and has posted the open positions.