It was a year of changes —big changes —for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, according to Liz Downing of Homer, school board vice president.

At the end of the 2008-2009 school year, Superintendent Donna Peterson retired, replaced by then Assistant Superintendent Steve Atwater.

"I'm really thrilled we have (Atwater) at the helm. He brought a lot of great experience and solid ideas to the position," Downing said.

In November, Melody Douglas, the district's chief financial officer, also retired. A realignment of duties has her responsibilities divided between Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones and Laurie Olson, finance director.

Homer also saw some changes, with D. Alan Gee, principal of an elementary school in Snellville, Ga., replacing Rayna Duenas as principal of Homer High School.

"I see positive things happening at the high school, bringing in new kinds of courses, new opportunities, a real sense of community, where all types of students will feel like they belong there," Downing said.

After Charlie Walsworth announced his retirement, John Hurley, principal of Richard Johnson Elementary School in Metlakatla, was selected as principal of West Homer Elementary School.

Looking back over the year, board member Sunni Hilts of Seldovia, who represents schools of the southern peninsula, excluding Homer, believes the district is "on the right track."

"We're moving into some new and better practices," said Hilts, listing an emphasis on individualized education and efforts to coordinate with other district schools and the University of Alaska to offer students more choices, such as distance and online learning and the sharing of resources.

The new year brings opportunities to see some improvements repeated.

"The main thing from my perspective is working with the Legislature to get locked-in, forward funding," said Downing. "That has made a huge difference for our school district."

This is the third of a three-year forward funding agreement, meaning that, unlike past years, school districts know the amount of funding they will receive from the state prior to formalizing district budgets.

"We haven't had to pink slip teachers, haven't had to make decisions not knowing what we're going to be working with until close to schools starting," Downing said. "That's allowed us to plan ahead. It had been crisis management for years, but now we can make smart decisions knowing what we'll have to work with."

Hilts, who was the board vice president during the 2008-2009 school year, agreed.

"It makes a huge difference in the efficiency of budget planning, a huge difference in the morale of teachers to know they won't have multiple pink slips and then wait to see if they have a job at the end of the summer," said Hilts.

After years of factoring in a 2 percent enrollment decline district wide, it finally appears the KPBSD student population is leveling off.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it creeps up there over the next several years," said Downing, forecasting a swing in the opposite direction.

Dave Spence, director of the district's planning and operations, has created a six-year list of capital improvements and major maintenance projects, which, if funding can be found, will see some needed renovation and repairs. The projects range from window and locker replacement to new roofs — there are 50 acres of roofs in the district —asphalt repair and track upgrades. The list includes 35 prioritized items and totals $20.5 million.

"Every year, of course, the borough gives us money towards some of these projects, so we set that aside, especially for some of these district wide projects, and just continue to chip away at them," Spence said. "To try to accomplish these projects in a big way, we put in applications to the state to see if we can't get grant funding for them. To be quite honest, with the scope of some of these projects and dollar amounts, we'd have to have a bond."

Already being discussed is the possibility of one school to serve three villages at the head of Kachemak Bay —Voznesenka, Razdolna and Kachemak Selo. Facilities in each of those communities were privately constructed, are privately owned and are leased to the district.

"The need is great in the villages for better educational space, but the (community) support also is good and the kids are doing well," Hilts said. "Their successes are growing year by year. I am very, very excited about the educational prospects at the head of the bay and on this side, also."

Also looking ahead, Gov. Sean Parnell's proposed performance scholarship has stirred excitement. As outlined by Parnell, students meeting certain requirements, maintaining specified grade point averages and attending accredited Alaska post-secondary institutions would qualify for scholarships of corresponding amounts. There also is the possibility of replacing the high school qualifying exam with a program that assesses student strengths and weaknesses, Downing said.

"I think the direction education is heading is making it more personal, more individualized, so we're getting away from seat time and everyone learning everything at the same time, to an education that really meets the needs of the individual student," Downing said. "There's a long way to go in that direction, but I see real pockets of progress so that it makes education meaningful in terms of personal growth and career development for each student."

Pointing to her concern that the district increase efforts to work with children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Hilts said, "I think it's very important for us to see ourselves as educators and not blocking off different groups. That'll be a great benefit to our kids."

For the district's 6-year capital improvements and major maintenance projects, see the Web at www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/departments.aspx?id=278

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.