Joann A. Alexie Memorial School

About Us


Our current school-wide Title I, PreK-12 enrollment is 111 students, who are serviced by one Site Administrator; seven certified teachers; two Associate Teachers; one Preschool Leader; four aides; two kitchen staff; two maintenance technicians; a custodian; and any other laborers who may be hired for a specific task.

Community involvement is promoted on a continuous basis in an effort to develop effective educational programming. To this end, various community meetings and activities go on in the school building. One of the most significant, year openers, is the Title I meeting where each individual voice is heard, as the community celebrates its victories and devise ways to conquer its shortcomings.

This is followed by activities such as conferences, academically themed nights, family fun nights and celebrations. It is a mixture of working hard and playing hard. Activities such as Yup’ik Eskimo Dance take place on a weekly basis in an effort to approach teaching and learning within the “Yup’ik way of being”.  This connection is forming a bond between the school and community, through which both will grow stronger and better able to serve the students on their way to achievement.

A well-mapped district approved curriculum encompassing the Yugtun (Yup’ik) and English languages, as well as the knowledge and understanding of native traditions, has been implemented at JAAMS  Ongoing trainings are offered to ensure that all teaching and support staff have the highest competency to deliver the content in an engaging fashion with fidelity.

It is believed that a fundamental understanding of these subjects help students become successful and productive members of an ever-changing environment and world in which they are growing into adulthood. Whether in Yugtun (Yup’ik) or English the vocabulary we are using has evolved to be more future oriented. There is talk of graduation in the elementary classrooms and hallways, and of post-graduation options in the secondary hallways and classrooms.  JAAMS has added extracurricular activities in order to give the students more outlets for their energies, more incentives to attend regularly and more chance to express themselves by achieving success.  At JAAMS we are striving to increase math and reading skills in all of our students.

For many years students have been several years behind grade level. We have been going through the process of implementing curriculum with high academic rigor and expectations. We are offering numerous extended learning opportunities for all age groups. Teachers are also using extra resources such as Imagine Learning and iXL math to help students achieve our goals of improvement. Our 2017-2018 System for School Success Report indicated our Overall School Index Value to be 30.31. We are working hard to increase our ELA and Math proficiency scores.

Over the course of the next three years, JAAMS will be striving to increase graduation rates and Math and Reading proficiency levels. Attendance is an area that needs to be developed in order to increase Math and Reading proficiency. Currently being put into place are interventions and an After-school program to help students with Math. We are also implementing CHAMPS, a proactive and positive approach to school-wide and classroom management.

JAAMS will strive to foster more parental involvement through volunteering and parent/teacher contact. The school and community will also be holding Language Acquisition meetings to make a determination in the way they want to go, Dual Language through the utilization of the Gomez & Gomez Model, a continuation of the current Yupik First program or an English First program. It is the hope that the Dual Language Model will be the victor; as research has shown that it helps to foster a strong cultural identity in an otherwise traditional, Non-Native, American establishment; as well as playing a significant roll in the development of a strong first oral language in a culture whose strength has not been necessarily embedded in a strong orally language. This would offer transferability to the second language and as such offer students and student achievement a boost.

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