For the fourteen school-aged students in Stony River, back-to-school this year meant moving outside of the community for classes or attending them online at home. That’s because the kindergarten through 12th grade Gusty Michael school in the upper Kuskokwim River community of about 50 has been closed for the second consecutive year.
Minutes from the Kuspuk School District meeting in July outlined multiple reasons for the closure, including maintenance issues and difficulty hiring teachers. A letter to families in 2024 also cited concerns about the physical safety of employees, referencing two separate physical attacks on a Stony River employee prior to the 2024 school year. The letter stated that “the district isn’t confident that if another employee were sent to Stony River, they would not be attacked.”
Some families in Stony River said that they feel these attacks have been misconstrued and are rooted in a negative narrative of the community. Alyssa Gregory is a parent of six and worked in the school as a teacher’s aide, assisting with online classes before the building was closed. She said that she’s attended the school board’s meetings online.
“They've never had any interest in even trying to open our school up again,” Gregory said.
Gregory's oldest child has left the community to attend boarding school, like several other Stony River teens. She said that her kids miss the school.
“They wish for their school all the time,” Gregory said. “We live right across from the school, and they look at the school all the time and say, ‘Oh, I wish we were over there right now.'”
Kuspuk School District Superintendent Madeline Aguillard said that closing the school was not a decision the board made lightly. She declined to comment further at this time.
Even before the school closed fully, students had been functioning without a teacher and took classes online with the support of in-person staff, like Gregory. Now, without access to the building, Gregory said that students have lost school meals and access to the school gym for exercise and as a recess space on particularly cold days.
But the closure may not be permanent. The Kuspuk School Board will consider whether to reopen the Stony River school in 2026.
