Author: alaskaadmin

This story was originally published in the Mat-Su Sentinel.

PALMER — The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District will use state and local taxpayer funding to cover startup costs for a new program allowing teachers and staff members to carry concealed weapons in schools, district officials said.

School board member Andrew Shane helped spearhead the concealed carry program and initially said he planned to propose an amendment directing the district to move forward with the policy only if officials could secure outside funding.

That amendment was ultimately not introduced and was not part of the final policy the board approved in June ahead of its annual summer break.

Shane said he still hopes to secure grant money to cover the program’s costs, but declined to share specific details about who could provide it.

He said he believes the program is worth doing now regardless of the funding source because it addresses what he said is a critical school safety issue.

“One of the main reasons I ran was because I wanted to make our schools a safer place,” he said. “There’s going to be people that believe that this is the wrong way to do things, and there’s people who believe this is the right way to do it.”

The concealed carry program is meant to supplement the district’s existing school policing program, which operates under contracts with the Wasilla and Palmer police departments.

Those contracts provide five officers who rotate among elementary and secondary schools in Big Lake, Wasilla and Houston, and secondary schools in Palmer. They cost the district about $800,000 annually, according to contract documents. Schools in Talkeetna, Trapper Creek and Willow do not have assigned officers included in the contracts.

District officials estimate initial startup costs for the concealed carry program will run about $130,000, according to data released in June. That includes consultant fees for designing rules and standards to operate the program and costs for creating a training program for teachers and staff who want to participate. District officials are expected to provide an update on program costs and progress next month.

District officials closed three neighborhood schools and made more than $11 million in other cuts ahead of the current school year because state and local funding did not match the district’s ongoing costs.

A $16 million state funding package tied to oil revenue and announced late last month restored money to some of the cut programs, including about $1.5 million for student transportation and activities, and covers new shortfalls, such as more than $5 million in increases to staff health care costs.

The district will designate money to pay for the concealed carry program as part of the school district’s October budget update, Assistant Superintendent Katie Gardner said in an interview last month.

Setting up the concealed carry program is one of the administration’s six priority projects for the 2026-27 school year, Mat-Su Superintendent Randy Trani told the board at a work session late last month.

“The concealed carry is in the works now — including training standards and how individuals will be chosen to participate,” he said.

Once the program opens for enrollment, accepted teachers and staff will receive a $500 stipend designed to cover the cost of required training and certifications, according to the policy.

Would-be participants must hold an Alaska concealed carry permit and complete between 24 and 40 hours of initial training to qualify, then between eight and 24 hours of annual training to remain in the program, the policy states.

Participants also must undergo a psychological evaluation before joining and complete additional screenings after experiencing a “life-altering event,” as defined by a policy the district is developing as part of implementing the program.

Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com

This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra and Isabela Espadas Barros Leal of The 19th. Meet Shefali and Isabela and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

The first-ever congressional hearing on menopause is coming with a request to the federal government: Evaluate how to better fund treatment and research of menopause and healthcare for middle-aged women.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat who convened the Wednesday hearing, and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican, announced the request in a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which investigates how the government uses federal funds.

“Considering the importance of a rigorous health research agenda for women, we are interested in a GAO report related to menopause, with a focus on the federal government’s role in advancing research, ensuring access to evidence-based treatments, and strengthening oversight of existing programs,” reads the letter, which was also signed by Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic from Maryland, and three Democratic women in the House.

The GAO request, Gillibrand said during the hearing, “will tell us what the federal government actually does on menopause, how well our doctors are trained and where the gaps are. You can’t fix what you refuse to even measure.”

The hearing, titled “Half the Country, Zero Hearings: Meeting the Moment to End the Menopause Care Gap in America” and held by the Senate Committee on Aging, which is chaired by Scott, focused on topics such as training physicians in caring for menopausal patients and increasing funding for research into the topic. Speakers included gynecologists and other experts who study menopause and treatment options.

“I am proud to lead the fight to get this critical healthcare issue out in the open so that we can find the best ways to improve research, training and care for women experiencing menopause,” Gillibrand said in a statement to The 19th. “I am committed to working with all of my colleagues — men and women, Democrats and Republicans — to meet the moment on menopause.”

Several of the speakers praised the Food and Drug Administration’s recent removal of the black box label on some hormone treatments but urged further research to help a more diverse range of patients. At least one speaker mentioned her own difficulty in getting insurance coverage for menopause treatments, including estrogen patches, which have faced chronic shortages. 

Menopause has seen an explosion of interest in recent years. Most statehouses have considered menopause-related bills, including those that would require insurance to cover menopause treatments and expand hormone therapy coverage for state employees going through menopause. Laws have passed in states of all political stripes, including Illinois, Louisiana, Utah and California. Multiple bills are under consideration in Congress, including legislation that would increase funding for research, address medical education and provide workplace accommodations for people experiencing menopause symptoms. None are likely to pass before the November midterm elections.

Dr. Lynne Coslett-Charlton, an OBGYN in Pennsylvania, said interest in learning more about the subject has been so widespread that she was recently surprised by a patient in her mid-20s who wanted to discuss symptoms associated with perimenopause.

“‘Perimenopause has a vibe, and I want to be ready,’” Coslett-Charlton recalled her patient saying.

That attention has also come with a surge of misinformation, especially surrounding alternative treatments to manage symptoms, a fact highlighted by the witnesses.

“Menopause has become big business, and many women are turning to influencers rather than trained clinicians for advice. Much of my time is spent counseling patients about different supplements and unregulated products marketed online on different platforms,” Coslett-Charlton said.

But witnesses urged more than just symptom management. Addressing hormonal changes, they said, is vital to help prevent other health risks that older women face, including heart disease, bone loss and genitourinary syndrome of menopause, a common condition tied to the vaginal dryness many women experience in their 40s or 50s.

“Women’s health research, particularly in older women, has been underfunded. We need studies that further examine how hormonal changes across the lifespan influence healthy longevity,” said Jean Wactawski-Wende, dean of the School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Buffalo.

About 30 percent of women in the workforce are between the ages of 45 and 60, which is when most will experience symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. That can include hot flashes and night sweats, but also heavy bleeding, pain during sex and mood swings.

Figures range, but the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research group, estimates that menopause symptoms result in losses of $5.4 billion annually, largely due to women retiring early or scaling back their involvement in the workforce as symptoms worsen. Gillibrand said during the hearing that “as many as one in 10 women leave the workforce because of menopause.”

“This issue has way more resonance than members of Congress or everyday voters realize,” said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, the executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at New York University’s School of Law, who testified at the hearing. She added: “I hope this hearing is part of that education.”

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.