The Lower Kuskokwim School District Board passed Resolution 19-90: Establish a New School in the Village of Mertarvik during their April 18th, 2019 meeting.
The resolution states that the village of Newtok is experiencing severe climate change and is losing coastline to erosion at an alarming rate. Furthermore, the village of Newtok is at threat of being underwater in the next three to five years due to erosion, climate change, and rising water levels, continues Res. 19-90.
“The village of Newtok has voted to move the community to a new location at Mertarvik. As many as 40 or more students will move from Newtok to Mertarvik in the Fall of 2019. The Lower Kuskokwim School District is the state authorized education agency charged with providing educational services to students in the villages of LKSD,” says the Resolution.
It was resolved by unanimous vote, 9-0.
Mertarvik, on Nelson Island, is located 9 miles upriver from Newtok.