People carry signs at a Juneau rally in favor of an increase to the amount the government pays schools per student on Jan. 29, 2024. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Laurie Duncan got her pink slip at the end of April, after her second year teaching first grade at Xóots Elementary in Sitka. She got the news during her prep period. She was three months pregnant.
Nearly 20% of the teachers in Sitka were laid off this spring due to financial uncertainty. That included all of the district’s librarians and most of its reading specialists.
“I can’t really necessarily get a new job, because I’m about to go on maternity leave in August and have a baby,” she said, then laughed. “I’m kind of in a bind. This baby’s coming, and I can’t not have the baby anymore!”
Duncan has a master’s degree in teaching and plans to stay and raise a family in Sitka, where her husband is from. She had a plan for a long-term substitute teacher for the two months after she delivered. Instead, she lost her health care at the end of May. She didn’t find out she got a job back until July.