Whooping it up in Hooper

It's Sunday and I arrived home from Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay at 8 pm on Friday.  I always come home tired from a village trip.

* Since I sleep in the schools on the floor on my camp mattress, I don't sleep very soundly.
* The heat goes off in the night and comes on early in the morning, but it is never possible to be both warm enough during the night and cool enough in the morning.
* The custodians work until 11pm and some of the teachers are there at 7 am and I hate being caught in my pjs.
* I never drink enough water since I am always suspicious of the purity.  Many locals purify their water but distillers are too heavy to carry around and too expensive to leave at each site.
* I don't get out and exercise enough since I am working early and late and its dark until March.
* I schlep my bags around from airline to airline and from room to room.

 Since I leave again tomorrow, I scurry around to buy and pack groceries, wash and repack clothes, secure travel arrangements and email the people I will be seeing, file reports on my last trip and put away receipts.  That being said, I am semi-recovered.

In Hooper Bay, I saw a snowmachine towing a skiff across the frozen and snowy ground.  They were going seal-hunting in the water between the shore and the drifting sea ice.  Farther down, there were people walking out across the ice to go manaqing or jigging for tomcod.

The basketball tournament was a big success.  Hooper Bay beat Kotzebue, a major upset for them.  The road was plowed for hauling kids and gear during the tournament so a truck picked Betty and I up. Betty is a mentor who has been working with teachers there for 4 years. Scott Jr gave us a comfy, heated ride.    He showed the work on the new plumbing coming to town.  Except for the school and new apartments, no one in town has indoor plumbing...they all use honey buckets and haul water.

Road in Hooper Bay with street lights and power poles.

The school was all in an uproar.  There was early out due to parent conferences and this time of year morale is at an all-time low.  Many teachers are trying to decide whether to stay another year or go somewhere else.  It is unprofessional to sign a contract and look for another job, so sometimes its a long-shot to not sign, then look for a "better" job.  Although I think that people fit into some communities better than others, there is no easy job in education.  The little irritating things about people really add up in a place where getting outside is difficult in bad weather, people live close together in teacher housing and leaving town is expensive.

High stakes testing is coming up in a week.  Many kids are working at 2 grades (or more) below grade level.  Only 42% of the students are proficient at their own grade level.  The pressure to do well is really wearing on both teachers and students.  In Hooper Bay, the problem is exacerbated by low attendence rates (75%) and student behavior.  I don't pretend to know the answers.