The Kodiak Island Borough School District is offering a new incentive to retain its temporary international teachers. This is after the Trump administration priced the district out of international recruiting last year through a massive visa fee hike. Now the district wants to sponsor these teachers to get green cards – permanent legal residency – for about $10,000 each.

The dissection is part of a program called Salmon in the Classroom, which gives kids hands-on experience with the salmon life cycle.

In the Kodiak Island Borough School District, nearly one in five current teachers have a visa. Now, it’s recruitment season for next school year, and the district’s top administrator says international teachers are not being recruited.

The Kodiak Island Borough is negotiating with the Tribe for the former North Star Elementary building after it pitched using North Star to expand its daycare services.

The interim chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage was in Kodiak this week, touring its Kodiak College campus and meeting with its staff.

Kodiak has significantly fewer students than predicted for the second year in a row after the school district completed its student count on Oct. 24. It’s going to be a major consideration as school officials revise the current year’s budget, and plan for next year.

Kodiak’s school district superintendent announced on Oct. 16 that she will resign at the end of the school year, citing family reasons. Her last day is June 30, 2026.

The Oct. 11 fair drew about 150 visitors to meet recruiters from 18 local and statewide employers as well as 30 colleges and universities from around Alaska and the Lower 48.

One of the grants that was partially cut provides financial support to universities with large Alaska Native student populations such as the University of Alaska Fairbank’s Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham. That grant is called Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.

President Donald Trump announced plans to increase the cost of some types of work visas on Friday. It’s the latest move to tighten national immigration policy, and encourage domestic hiring, but more clarity is needed.