Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City School District School Board holds its regular meeting this evening, and on the agenda is a discussion of the possibility of resuming an Unangan language education program in the school district.

The issue was brought up at the board's November meeting, when a group of parents and other local residents presented letters of support for resuming the program. That effort was led by City Council member Katherine McGlashan, who said at the time that bringing back language education should be a district priority.

"We're people of this land," she said. "It's history, it's culture, it's our heritage and it's something that we should keep alive."

The language program was discontinued in 2006 for lack of funding. The district had paid for it out of its budget reserve, and when that money dried up the language program did, too.

School board chair Tammy Fowler-Pound said that money is still an issue--the district thought it might get some excess funding last year, but didn't because of lower enrollment numbers.

"The district and the school board [are] committed to trying to meet as many needs as we can--and that can be a struggle," she said. "But I'm really kind of excited--I think we have a whole new opportunity to look at things differently, and possibly do things better than before with the Unangan language [program]."

The school board meets at 7 p.m. in the high school library.