Photos: Hooper Bay School

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 11

Herminia Whipple teaches kindergarten class at the Hooper Bay School in western Alaska on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.

In a village school less than a decade old, teachers try to connect with some of the hardest-to-reach students in Alaska.

"How can you stay safe in bad weather?" kindergarten teacher Herminia Whipple asks her students. She reminds them how windy and cold it was just the day before, reminds them to keep their hands on their desks. Those who quietly raise a hand are called on to give an answer. Wear a snow suit. Use a hat. Wear boots. Stay home.

When the weather is cold and the wind is strong, just walking to school can be too much, and that's just one thing.

Test scores from last school year show the challenge at Hooper Bay School. In reading, 44 percent of the students were far below proficient and another 34 percent below proficient. In math, 65 percent were far below and 17 percent below. In science, 80 percent were far below and another 10 percent below proficient. Just 2 percent of the students were advanced in reading, with 3 percent advanced in math last school year; higher numbers were rated proficient.

Not a single student at Hooper Bay School tested as advanced in science.

"There is nothing wrong with our kids. Our kids are very smart kids," principal Hammond Gracy said. Gracy, officially the school instructional leader, is in his first year at Hooper Bay -- and his first year in Alaska -- after a long career as an educator in Florida, most recently in Marathon on the Keys.