Subsistence issues and school

In the Chefornak Schools I have learned that the students are given one day per week to hunt if they bring a note from home and clear the note through the pricipal. He calls up the parent who wrote the note to make sure that the trip is necessary for the family. The schools main interest is that the young men (usually its the young men in the school) highschool and junior high accompany their dads or relatives on hunting to learn the skills. When they need to make up the missed school day. it is the students responsibility to make up the work, the school does provide supervised after-school study halls three evenings per week.
The school schedules are not adjusted for subsistence activites. During this time the subsistence activites include seal hunting for migrating seals heading south, hunting for mostly cacklers, canadian geese and ducks, fishing for certain fish, clamming, berry picking. mouse food gathering before the snow falls, and then their are some certain plants right after freeze up, you can pick off from the ponds. So spring and fall are very active times here especially when the birds are migrating north or south. Towards fall it's mostly to pick berries. Once the freeze up begans the young mens subsistence activities taper off.
Our school has seemed to have worked out the issue of subsistence activities by addressing the issue to the parents. It seems most parents are supportive of the school attendance policy. As for the teachers and aides that need to pursue subsistence activities, they take annual/personal leave as provided in policy. My husband who is a secondary teacher tries to save his leaves for the spring time especially because of the seal hunting season. I have also asked another certified male teacher here and he said the same thing about saving leaves for the spring seal hunt. I guess the leaves would depend on the regions where people live as to when they can take them. I know in our area, the subsistence activities we do are usually late in the season during the fall time, while the areas up river from the Kuskokwim do early subsistence activities in the fall, then the subsistence activites reverses itself in the spring, where the coastal activites occur earlier in the spring and later in the upriver areas of Alaska. I think this subsistence activites "time span" would be a vital issue to be considered if a state or school district were going to issue a manditory law or requirement. I think they should even consider why the students are coming to school so sleepy in the mornigs during the fall and during the spring. (I think sleepy kids has something to do with the subsistence activities at home).

The photo is of one activity some people do as they are out on their subsistence activities.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/upload/done/