Nome school board named Alaska's outstanding school board for 2026

The Nome Public Schools board is Alaska's 2026 Outstanding School Board, the Association of Alaska School Boards announced Sunday, pointing to reading gains among the district's youngest students.

Last school year, the share of Nome elementary students reading at or above benchmark grew from 37% in the fall to 54% by spring, the association said. The number of kindergartners meeting reading benchmarks more than tripled.

The association credited the board with making student achievement "a firm expectation in every school improvement plan."

Those figures measure students at the start and end of one school year, not one year's class against the next. Statewide, figures released in August showed 4,264 fewer K-3 students ended last school year in the lowest reading category, also a fall-to-spring comparison.

The association also cited the board's Strategic Equity Framework, which it said aims to address historic inequities for Alaska Native children in K-12 schools, and a Portrait of a Graduate developed with broad community input. Board members have worked to strengthen tribal consultation, locally and through the association's policy committee, and toward creating State Tribal Education Compact schools, the association said.

Board members also teach cultural and language courses, judge science fairs and officiate at NYO, the Native Youth Olympics, according to the announcement.

Boards nominate themselves for the award, and an association committee picks one each year. Along with the honor, which is presented at the association's annual conference, the district gets a free registration for a student at the spring Youth Advocacy Institute, Superintendent Jamie Burgess wrote in a report to the board.

The Nome board meets Tuesday, when its agenda includes possible adoption of a new tribal consultation policy, which a district memo describes as a framework for consulting with Alaska tribes.