Twenty-five pictures released Thursday show deteriorating conditions inside Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka: narrow stairways crammed with boxes, brown ceiling stains dripping down walls, exposed classroom wiring, and a rat hole students named “Tip Toes.
JUNEAU, Alaska - Twenty-five pictures released Thursday show deteriorating conditions inside Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka : narrow stairways crammed with boxes, brown ceiling stains dripping down walls, exposed classroom wiring, and a rat hole students named “Tip Toes.
” Lawmakers released the pictures during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, one of several this week examining why conditions at the state-run boarding school have deteriorated so badly that 108 students withdrew this year. The school’s website says it typically Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk, R-Tok/Northway, walks down the crowded stairs of the girls dormitory at Mt. Edgecumbe High School February 2026.at a Tuesday press conference, three legislative committees have questioned Department of Education Commissioner Deena Bishop and Mt. Edgecumbe Superintendent David Langford. “In the case of Edgecumbe, we are directly responsible for the safety, quality of life and well-being of the students,” Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, NA-Sitka, said opening her Wednesday hearing.“ complained about the water tasting funny,” Hoffman told reporters. “Many of them said that they’d bring in their own bottle of water because the water tastes so bad. I had a glass of water, and I couldn’t finish it.” Released pictures show narrow passageways on stairs crammed by boxes, brown stains eroding the ceiling and dripping down walls, exposed wiring in classrooms, and the hole students said “Tip Toes” hides in. “They pointed out that in a corner, the rats were so prolific that one stayed in that one corner and has been there for quite some time, and they even gave it a name,” Hoffman said Tuesday. Looking at the picture during Thursday’s committee hearing, Stedman said the rat’s days are numbered. Pictures of Mt. Edgecumbe after lawmakers visited the High School early February 2026 show a hole students say belongs to a rat named"Tip Toes."But during that hearing, Stedman revealed rats weren’t the only “brown furry things” roaming Mt. Edgecumbe. “We were told that the garbage bill wasn’t paid and the garbage men wasn’t picking up the garbage and it attracted brown furry things running around, which is not really what you want,” Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka said. “There’s brown bears running around looking at your kids for dinner.”Alaska Senate Minority Leader Mike Cronk, R-Tok/Northway, looks up at the holes in the ceiling of the girl's dormitory at Mt. Edgecumbe Boarding School early February 2026.Despite the deteriorated conditions, one student testified that wasn’t the reason more than 100 students left. “I feel like the reason for the large amounts of people leaving in the eyes of the media is because this year we’ve accepted a lot of freshmen, and a lot of these freshmen, I would feel, aren’t as academically strong as previous years,” the student said to the committee. “Our school really encourages you to excel, and if you can’t do that, they’re very strict.”Chatham School DistrictLawmakers questioned that arrangement during Wednesday’s House Education and Early Development Committee hearing. Langford said he interviewed for the Chatham position first. After he got the job, Education Commissioner Deena Bishop asked if he could take on Mt. Edgecumbe, too. “I said, I think I can do both very well,” Langford said. “But really it’s gonna be up to the board in Chatham because they hired me first, and my allegiance there first.”“Every three months I meet with the board and we go over in detail what’s working, what’s not working, and make adjustments,” he told the committee. “Every time they’ve said unanimously that this is working well for all of us.According to documents shared during Thursday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, expiring COVID funds left Mt. Edgecumbe $1.6 million short in fiscal year 2025, which ended June 30. The school balanced its budget by selling land and cutting student services and travel, Bishop added. “We will be able to live within the means of the education dollars that we have,” Bishop said, referring to future budgets.“In regards to getting clothes cleaned, I don’t believe that you’re right-sizing that ship,” Hoffman said, referencing comments from Rep. Robyn Frier, D-Utqiagvik, who attended Mt. Edgecumbe and saw the same dryers she used 17 years ago. Langford said only two of the school’s 15 dryers work. Of the 15 dryers in the girl's dormitory at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, Superintendent David Langford said only two of the machines work.“This is just one example. There are a lot of other examples that I think the members that were there could address. In my viewpoint, this ship is not uprighted, and those are reasons people may not want to go back to the Edgecumbe,” Hoffman said. Bishop said she agreed with the senator’s statement adding the school was “absolutely not” where she wanted it to be.“I and my colleagues continue to act,” Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, said Tuesday. “We continue to advocate for school repairs and to address school infrastructure across the state, and it seems that we do not have a governor who wishes to lead.” On Tuesday, Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner told Alaska’s News Source the conditions at Mt. Edgecumbe were nothing new and “are multi-decade problems tied to a former military installation, not any recent policy decisions.” “The Dunleavy Administration has consistently funded education statewide while insisting that capital spending be targeted, sequenced and accountable,” Turner said.Lawmakers call Mt. Edgecumbe conditions ‘deplorable’Alaska Senate votes to require public schools to teach CPRLawmakers call Mt. Edgecumbe conditions ‘deplorable’
Edgecumbe Gary Stevens Lyman Hoffman Sitka Bert Stedman Akleg Alaska Senate Alaska House Of Representatives David Langford Deena Bishop Rats Chatham School Board Robyn Frier Utqiagvik Löki Tobin Anchorage Alaska Schools Gov. Mike Dunleavy
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