BETHEL, Alaska (AP) – A school in danger of being lost due to erosion due to climate change is at the top of the state’s list for construction of a new school building.
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development placed the school in the southwestern Alaska town of Napakiak at the top of its priority list for replacement for the upcoming fiscal year. KYUK-AM reported.
The school is only 20 meters from the Kuskokwim River and is getting closer each year. Just two years ago, the school was less than 61 meters from the river.
Climate change is a contributing factor to the erosion caused by the Kuskokwim, a 1,125-kilometer-long river that turns into an ice road for travelers in winter.
It has been a constant problem in Napakiak, but the pace has accelerated in recent years.
Many communities in Alaska face the same dilemma because they are affected by a warming climate that is thawing permafrost (permanently frozen soil) and compromising riverbanks.
Napakiak rose to the top of the school replacement list after the legislature approved more than $ 3 million in September to demolish the existing K-12 building, said Tim Mearig, facilities manager for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.
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After the state makes an initial investment in a school construction project, it receives a higher priority for future funding.
The dire situation in Napakiak also caused a change in the way the state assesses impending disasters.
Previously, the state’s grading system didn’t take into account whether students were about to lose their schools, but that has changed.
The school in Napakiak is only 20 meters from the Kuskokwim River and is getting closer every year. Just two years ago, the buffer zone was 61 meters. #Alaska #ClimateCrisis #Erosion
“The situation in Napakiak caused a change in the score,” Mearig told KYUK-AM, which is Bethel’s public media outlet.
However, being # 1 on the replacement list does not guarantee that the community will get the funding for a new school.
“Of course, that is completely up to the legislature,” Mearig said. “But it’s a positive sign that the governor’s budget includes a way to finance that.”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Republican, last month included $ 55 million for a new school in Napakiak in his budget proposal.
If the legislature approves the funding, Mearig said the project can be completed in time to move students to the new school before the existing structure cannot be occupied.
The Lower Kuskokwim School District hopes to buy some time by demolishing just the middle and high school wings of the existing K-12 building this spring.
That would create an additional 826-meter barrier between the river and the existing portion of the school, Superintendent Kimberly Hankins said.
“The idea is to remove that part and extend the life of the rest of the building by … hopefully two years,” Hankins said.
Older students will be transferred to portables. The plan is to relocate all students to these structures if the river reaches what remains of the existing school before the construction of a new building inland.
Napakiak, a town of just under 400, is 10 miles southwest of the central community of Bethel.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com