Teachers

John Faciane was teaching English classes to his students at Senshu University outside of Tokyo as the massive earthquake hit. "It was like a truck hit the building. " He's been teaching English there for the past few years and has seen a fair amount of quakes back home in Anchorage as well as in his adopted country of Japan. "At first I knew something was going on because i felt like I was on a boat or something," said Faciane, "I felt a little woozy and then I was like oh there is an earthquake because they happen a lot over there and then I could feel it getting bigger.

A Romig Middle School teacher received an award Friday considered on par with the Nobel Prize awarded to scientists or the Grammys awarded to singers. It's called the Milken Educational Award. It comes with a $25,000 prize and one big surprise: the recipient isn't aware they've won -- not even aware they've been nominated. Mark Elfstrom, a seventh and eighth-grade science and math teacher at Romig, was that unknowing teacher Friday afternoon. He led his students into an all-school assembly.

An Anchorage man missing in Japan after the recent tsunami has been found dead. Twenty-six-year-old Monty Dickson was teaching English in Japan. He had been able to call someone after the earthquake, but was not seen again after the tsunami struck. A wave washed over the three-story building Dickson was in after the quake. Monty's family says they will be making arrangements to bring his body home. They got the call about his death late Monday night. The family hopes to go to Japan at the end of the week.

by Ashton Goodell Tuesday, April 20, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- At Monday night's school board meeting, Anchorage teachers said they're at an impasse in contract negotiations and asked the school board to come back to the negotiating table. Teachers say Anchorage is no longer competitive with other districts in the state. Talented teachers point at high turnover and inadequate benefits and are asking for a reason to stay. Ten teachers, all with different backgrounds, drove home the same point at the meeting.

Nearly 30 teachers sat down in the Dimond Center Mall to grade homework late Friday afternoon. It was an event aimed at raising awareness about the hard work teachers put in to educate Alaska's youth. Teachers called the sit down event a "grading mob.” “It's not just about grading. Many counselors are going home and working on schedules and planning how to talk to a student the next day, it's not just a 9 to 5 job,” said East High School Effective Skills teacher Maureen VanWagner.

Teachers in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough will return to the bargaining table with the school district. Next Monday the district, teachers and other certified educators will sit down to resume contract negotiations. Teachers have been working only their contracted hours since late April, and protested outside the school board meeting last week. Both actions were messages to the district that there's been a lack of progress in negotiations.       Mat-Su Education Association President Jill Showman says she is glad to see that the message was received.

An elementary school teacher in Santa Fe, New Mexico is accused of dragging one of her special needs students down a hallway by his legs. The school's security video shows the teacher grabbing the boy, who is blind, by the ankle of one leg and dragging him down the hall. While she is dragging him, another teacher joins and grabs his other leg. A third person watches and walks with the trio. The first teacher is now on administrative leave, but both teachers seen dragging the boy are facing child abuse charges.

by Rebecca Palsha Thursday, March 11, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A memorial service was held Thursday night for an itinerant teacher most likely killed by wolves. An autopsy conducted Thursday shows that wolves likely killed 32-year-old Candice Berner in the southwest Alaska village of Chignik Lake, according to the Alaska State Troopers. Village residents found Berner's body a short distance from town on Monday. Multiple injuries due to animal mauling caused Berner's death, trooper Col. Audie Holloway said, referencing a report from the state medical examiner's office.

Teachers took to the streets Saturday, rallying against Gov. Sean Parnell's education budget as well as deep cuts in the Anchorage School District's proposed budget for the 2013-2014 school year. ASD teachers and school staffers stood outside of the Anchorage Legislative Information Office building on 4th Avenue Downtown with signs in opposition to the proposed budget. Eagle River High School art teacher Jacob Bera says he was hit hard when he heard about the proposed budget's 215 lost positions.

Anchorage School District teachers spent much of their Thursday prepping classrooms on their first offical day back from the summer break. It looks like Santa's workshop in the days leading up to Christmas, but William Tyson 5th grade teacher Lisa Gendron is facing the same reality that hits her wallet at the end of every summer. She expects to spend between 400 and 700 dollars on her students this year and that's down from last school year. The first day of class begins August 22. “For some of my kids it's just basic things like pencils and paper, I go through a lot notebooks,” said Gendron.  “I buy lot of them at warehouses and big stores, sometimes I have kids who don't have coats and backpacks in the past.