Anchorage School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said the district will release an initial list of recommended schools for closing, combining, or repurposing on Nov. 1.
From Nov. 12-18, the district will host a series of community conversations where the public can learn more, ask questions, and offer feedback.
“We will also engage the Superintendent Advisory Committees during a special Multicultural Education Concerns Advisory Committee (MECAC) meeting for additional dialogue and feedback,” Bryantt said.
“For our valued employees, I want to assure you that we will prioritize your preferences for school placement if you are affected by rightsizing. Following Board approval of a Rightsizing plan, our Talent Management team will work closely with staff to assist with plans to ensure a smooth transition to your new campus,” the superintendent said.
The Nov. 4 School Board work session will also address the proposed list and the school board’s final decision-making process.
Anchorage is suffering from a loss of students, in part because families have opted for home schooling or private schools, or have moved to the MatSu Valley, where the perception is that schools are performing better than in Anchorage. In addition, Anchorage residents of childbearing age are having fewer children, if any.
Anchorage’s population has been shrinking for a decade. While the overall population in Alaska has grown 2.7% from 2010 to 2020, Anchorage Municipality’s population shrank 2.3%.
The goal of downsizing the overall footprint of the Anchorage schools has been under way on since April, with several school board meetings, community meetings and surveys.
When they shut a drill rig down on the North Slope, everyone is laid off.
Why would the school district operate differently, with the exception of bus drivers and teachers?
The whole idea of consolidation is the elimination of duplication.
Unions are the States biggest problem.
Photo at the top: I went to school there in the 70’s when it was called “Service-Hanshew” and was BOTH a Jr High and high school combined. I think there were only 4 portable buildings. No pool. Only a handful of students drove to school. The rich kids with sports cars…and a few stoners with beaters. Most of us rode the bus. The parking lot was mostly teachers. No parking passes back then. We had Home-Ec, Auto Shop, Leather and Wood Shop. I don’t think any of those electives exist today. Sad.
The ASD could get things started with an obvious choice: Abandon the reconstruction of Inlet View Elementary and decommission the school. I formerly attended Inlet View when children lived in the area, which is no longer the case.
I’m going to the kitchen to pop popcorn for this. Every school will be irreplaceable and vital to the neighborhood. The teachers unions will chime in. It will be a barn-burner, as we used to say in basketball. With families bailing by the hundreds from the educational (or is it re-education) system created by our school board and the superintendence. Anyone willing to bet the cuts and closures will not be nearly deep enough?
The closed schools should be repurposed as homeless shelters.
Evaluation of tax-payer paid community resources is always ongoing. The unfortunate thing is that in the next generation of Alaskans who’ve discovered educational apartheid didn’t work out so well economically aren’t going to be happy with having to purchase new infrastructure. But, maybe there’ll be enough time to come up with more earthquake- proofed and climate-change structurally engineered buildings. Who knows? They used to say wars were a way to deal with culling too many citizens … like modern day Russia, for instance. Except in Russia that plan backfired a bit with all the new father figures now as ex-cons released when the prison gates were opened. Oh well, we can expect corruption on a massive scale with the mighty smart Alaska majority voting in the convicted felon and his convict cronies to throw American government to the biggest and the bestest wolves. Hyperbole never hurts when it’s displayed for the rightest reasons, eh?
Evidence that ASD spends too much:
-Superintendent Advisory Committees
-Multicultural Education Concerns Advisory Committee (MECAC)
-Rightsizing plan
-Talent Management team
About time! Budget goes up and up as student numbers decline. Of course, improving student outcomes is not in consideration thus the reduced #s. They pretty much did it to themselves.
After shutting down a school campus, then what?
… Convert it to a Gender Re-Affirming Safe Space of Worship?
… Convert it into a Homeless Facility – Encampment?
… Convert it to an Illegal Invading Immigrant Sancturary holding facility?
… Revamp it into a Re-Indoctrination Facility for the Deplorables?
… Or, sell the asset to a much more efficient educational organization?
I am sure all of your ideas will be discussed in detail behind closed doors and the final draft will be disguised but a solution that will benefit all of the warped groups mentioned which will come with a healthy price tag for the few working class homeowners (tenants) that will be forced to pay for in exchange for squatting on muni property.
School district should figure out why families are pulling their kids out of school and make different decisions. Only stupidity would continue down the same road just to close down schools. And here we as parents are supposed to trust these “academics” to make decisions? Obviously the current system isn’t working and pissing off parents.