Mt. Illiamna is closing

Mt. Illiamna is closing:
Dr. Paramo announced at a school board meeting last month that they were looking into closing Mt. Illiamna (Mt. I). Since then, Mr. Nielsen and Cindy Anderson (of Special Education) have visited Mt. I two times as well as the four schools that Mt. I students will be transitioning to next year, they also held a parent meeting last week. The District wants to transition students to neighborhood schools so parents have faster and easier access to them (Mt. I is located on base) and more importantly so that students have the opportunity to assimilate and eventually join the general education setting when they are prepared and able. The District has stated that they will have many supports (including keeping the teachers who are currently at Mt. I in the teams they’re currently in and working in the classrooms that are separate from GenEd, hiring behavioral interventionists, psychs, and counselors, training all staff at the four buildings) to ensure a smooth transition and success for the students. In the meetings they’ve been holding, they’ve acknowledged that attempts at new programs have gone poorly in years past and also stated they are working to get supports in place now to ensure that doesn’t happen again. They’ve also stated that they are very early on in the process.