Three Alaska Native Villages have changed their school calendar so that students now can take part in things like the fall moose hunt and the spring migratory bird harvest.
Seventy miles inland from the Bering Sea, on roadless lands beside the Kuskokwim River, three Yup’ik villages are perfect examples of the educational challenges faced in Alaska.
This year, the district was allowed to operate on an academic calendar that’s aligned with seasonal subsistence harvests. School leaders spent much of 2022 working to get it approved by the state. Literacy coach Evelyn Esmailka wields a large ulu as she explains the differences between chum, chinook, and sockeye salmon to the small group of children. After this lesson, the kids will board drift boats to go fishing for salmon on the river.
Woody Woodgate, the school district’s federal programs director, said that staff favor indigenous foods in the district’s cafeterias.
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