Anchorage Daily News

Dimond High School government teacher Missy Nurmi goes to such great lengths to keep her political affiliation hidden from her students that she showed up at her party's caucus this year in disguise, wearing a camouflage baseball cap and sunglasses.

She supports the Anchorage School District's longstanding rules that school staff are not allowed to express their political views and works hard to stick to them -- including not being seen by her students at the caucus.

"It kills (the students) not knowing," she said. "Every day they ask me, 'Who are you voting for?' "

The School Board on Monday night modified the rules but continued the prohibitions against teachers and staff expressing their political preferences during school hours. The policy doesn't prohibit teachers from being political -- but it does keep them from being political in front of their students. Teachers can still wear pro-candidate buttons on their jackets, just as long as it's not while instructing. Teachers can decorate their cars with bumper stickers if they want. And, they can plaster their lawns and fences with signs.

But teachers and staff must put the kibosh on telling students what they personally think when it comes to who's running for office during classroom time.

With at least 2,200 Anchorage public school students who have turned 18 and are eligible voters, their potential influence is not insignificant.

Government teacher Nurmi, who is registered as "Other," believes she has a lot of clout with her students and does not want to sway them.

"I teach the spectrum and try really hard to keep myself out of it," she said.

This year, the pressure to share her own thoughts has been even greater. Nurmi attributes it to the general election excitement. She says most of the students are talking about Democratic contender Sen. Barack Obama.

East High School government teacher Margaret Gadsden is seeing the same. As an assignment, she gave her senior students a choice of observing either of the caucuses, at which Anchorage residents showed up at in record numbers on Super Tuesday. She said 25 students went to the Democratic caucus while only two went to the Republican.

Gadsden, who is a registered Democrat, tries to keep her opinions to herself as well. It's part of being a good government and history teacher, she said.

She wonders, though, why science or math teachers must also keep quiet.

"The students always want to know my opinion. I always say, 'I'm not going to tell.' "

Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343.

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