Auke Lake Preschool’s RALLY Afterschool Program began, as advertised, on Tuesday, September 2, at three sites. Auke Lake Preschool is an independent, local center that is leasing space in Juneau School District (JSD) facilities to operate its program.

This week, APEA, the statewide parent union of JESS, filed for a temporary restraining order to halt the closure of the District RALLY program.

However, the District RALLY program ended a month ago, on August 9.

The District RALLY program had to close early at the end of last school year at one site because we did not have enough staff to meet licensing requirements. The District also did not have enough staff to maintain a RALLY program this fall at three sites.

There were five (5), 12-month District staff members represented by the JESS union, who worked for the RALLY program.

JESS staff who previously worked in the District RALLY program were reassigned to open positions within JSD.

The union alleges that JSD failed to notify the union of the RALLY closure and contracted with a private company without complying with the collective bargaining agreement.

Auke Lake Preschool is not a District contractor; they lease space in District facilities under a lease agreement.

The District met with JESS on April 16 about RALLY, the struggles staffing it (which led to the Sayéik: Gastineau closure before school was out), and about a request for information from other local centers.

• On June 30, the District Human Resources Director and Director of Operations had an in-person meeting with the JESS union president to talk about the RALLY closure and reassigning staff.

• On June 30, RALLY staff were notified by email of the program closure and of reassignment, in accordance with their negotiated agreement.

• On July 15, the Director of Human Resources and the JESS union president had a reassignment meeting to go through open positions and reassignments.

• On July 17, reassignment letters were sent to affected RALLY staff.

Hourly wages were not impacted by the reassignment to new positions. All reassignments were processed in alignment with the negotiated agreement and with consultation with the union president.

Again, JESS staff who previously worked in the program were reassigned within JSD. The District still has a number of classified JESS vacancies.

The union filing seeks to prevent Auke Lake Preschool from using the location it leased in District schools. However, Auke Lake Preschool is not named in the union filing and is a private center, with its own staff and programs. Families enrolled in Auke Lake Preschool’s RALLY program will receive updates directly from Auke Lake Preschool.