In the fall of 2026, the Nikolaevsk Charter School for grades K-12 will open in Nikolaevsk on the Kenai Peninsula. On April 1, Jason Roslansky, currently vice superintendent with the Copper River School District announced his position as recently hired principal at the new charter school on the Nikolaevsk Charter School FaceBook account.
His announcement states: “to the families, students, and community of Nikolaevsk, I want to extend a heartfelt welcome and let you know that I am committed to serving your children and serving alongside you. It is clear to me that this charter school has risen out of the true grassroots spirit of a community that deeply values its children and desires to take an active role in their upbringing and education.
Jason Roslansky will start his 26th year in the field of education at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. In a conversation with KBBI, he explained his extended background that brought him to the position of principle. After serving as a United States Marine, he went to college at South Dakota State University, originally starting in agriculture economics before transitioning to education. He graduated with a political science degree and was originally a teacher up in Norvick, Alaska before moving to Sioux Valley, Minnesota, where taught high school in a Lutheran Missouri Senate school for three years. Next he moved to Wall, South Dakota and worked as a social studies teacher for middle school, high school before beginning an administrative degree through South Dakota State University. His first administrative position was at the Selby Area School District in South Dakota, as a K-12 principal.
“After leaving Selby, South Dakota, I came up to Tok, Alaska, where I was the principal for five years. Then, we had an opportunity where I was able to go back as a school administrator to Minnesota and work for the LCMS church school system again. I spent six years in Minnesota, where my kids were able to also go to school there, and then came back to Alaska. And since being back in Alaska, I've been the principal of Tanana and most recently, I'm the Assistant Superintendent for the Copper River School District.”
The full Nikolaevsk Charter School (NCS) application, a 181 page document submitted to the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development in Juneau, is available to view through the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The application states that the philosophy of NCS rests on three pillars: 1) individualized, student-centered instruction. 2) hands-on, real-world experiences and 3) career readiness and community contribution.
On September 29th, 2025 the Nikolaevsk Community Council voted unanimously to support Alaskan Homestead Education leasing the former school building, “which has always been more than a place of education.” Now, Nikolaevsk Charter School describes the use of this building facility and capacity: “The Nikolaevsk School facility offers a well-rounded environment that supports both Montessori education (K–8) and Career & Technical Education (CTE, 9–12). The school sits on 11.35 acres, providing more than enough space for outdoor learning and student-led projects.”
Natalie Thomas, board member for the academic policy committee, described some of the background of collaborative homeschool efforts that lead up to the coordination of the charter school application: “when the Nicholaevsk public school was shut down last year, we saw it as an opportunity to take a final stab at getting a charter school going. So ever since June, we've been meeting pretty much weekly. We formed our academic policy committee in June, and November was when we were approved by the School Board. January was when we were approved by the State. We're super excited to finally be at the point where we have a principal and starting to work on staffing.”
The charter school will hold an open house on April 17th to help parents with the enrollment process and introduce families to the school. The April 17th event will include a movie night in the gymnasium and exact times are not set yet but Thomas estimates that it will be held in the afternoon through early evening. Mr. Roslansky will not be present for the upcoming open house because he is still fulfilling obligations of his position in the Copper River district; his contract begins July 1st. Roslansky noted that enrollment is live on the Kenai Peninsula School District website.
Thomas concluded with these remarks:
“The Nikolaevsk Charter school correspondence program is really going to give families that opportunity to connect with their neighbors and for their kids to be involved in exciting projects that benefit the whole community, we're going to be doing a school garden, building a community ice drink, and we want to bring the home school families into those projects….”
Reporting from Homer, this is Emilie Springer.
