A lot of people have praised the existence of Mosquito Lake School, but their kids never had the opportunity to attend. There s the potential if the parents are willing. If it closed, students attending the school would have to home-school, attend Klukwan School, or catch a bus to Haines Elementary every morning. Erickson said he thought the long bus ride was an acceptable option for young kids. My personal belief and my personal experience is it really doesn t make much of a difference for the kids.
Kids are pretty flexible.
If closed, the school will be taken off the state s list of schools, so reopening it could be difficult, Erickson said. In light of dwindling enrollment in recent years, it s unlikely the state would approve reopening the school, he said. That s my own assessment. They re not going to commit at this time. The building would become state property if the school was closed, but the state usually sells closed schools back to municipalities, Native corporations or other interested groups.