Music teacher James Baldwin sings with first and second graders. (Emily Files)

Enrollment at Skagway School increased this year, which means the district will receive more state funding. (Emily Files)

The Skagway School Board is hosting a community forum next week to talk to residents about staffing for next year and possibly changing the school calendar.

Skagway School’s student enrollment increased to about 101 students this year. That puts the district into a higher state funding threshold. Superintendent Josh Coughran says the district will receive about $280,000 in additional funding this year. That could pay for additional staff and programs at the school.

“You know we did that community feedback survey on hitting that 101 threshold and the funding that comes with it and what people would like to see in terms of enhanced programs and things like that,” Coughran said.

The online survey is available on the school’s website. Coughran says about 50 people have responded so far, and he plans to make the results of the survey public at the forum.

Also at the forum, the school board will ask residents for feedback on whether to change the school calendar.

“One of the things that I noticed this year is that we had a lot of absences around the holidays, which isn’t necessarily uncharacteristic of any school,” Coughran said. “But I want the board and the community to understand that we have some control over the calendar.”

Coughran says the district could adopt a ‘non-traditional’ calendar that gives students a longer break around holidays to accommodate for those absences. Examples of the two calendars are available on the school website. The non-traditional calendar would give students and teachers the whole month of December off for vacation. Those school days would be made up with an earlier start date and a later end date to the school term, as well as no spring vacation.

The community forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 19 at Skagway School.