Anchorage School District Superintendent Dr. Jharrett Bryantt issued a second high-drama letter to families and staff on Friday, continuing to sound alarm bells over budget cuts but offering little accountability for his own role in spreading initial misinformation about the scope of the financial crisis.
In the new letter, Bryantt accuses others of “false claims” and “deliberate disinformation,” while failing to acknowledge that his first letter earlier this week contained inflated figures and exaggerated impacts. That first communication painted a bleak picture that suggested the district was facing a $98 million deficit, an inflated number that included federal funds that were never intended for recurring expenses, as well as one-time vetoes that are still under legislative review.
Nowhere in his latest missive does Bryantt disclose how many layoffs the district was actually able to avoid after reassessing its finances. Instead, he vaguely credits the use of “vacant positions and limited alternative funds” to reduce layoffs, while insisting that the cuts will still lead to “real and lasting impact” on programs ranging from after-school activities to literacy support.
This selective release of information is a calculated communications strategy. “This is damage control, plain and simple,” said a teacher. “They sent out the first letter to create maximum panic, then walked it back slightly without being transparent about the actual numbers.”
Bryantt fails to update the public on how many teachers and support staff have been laid off, how many were reabsorbed into vacancies, or whether the supposed “devastation” announced earlier in the week has been meaningfully mitigated.
In the Friday letter, Bryantt briefly references a positive development: Partial restoration of some federal funds, including those earmarked for the 21st Century Program, following advocacy from a bipartisan group of US senators; he names Sen. Lisa Murkowski in his political missive. But he doesn’t say how much and continues to characterize the district’s situation as an unfolding “crisis,” blaming both state vetoes and federal grant delays.
His letter concludes with a rallying cry against “confusion, false claims, and even deliberate disinformation,” encouraging parents and staff to use the district’s FAQ page to “defend the truth” and “protect the integrity” of ASD.
Read the news article about Bryantt’s first letter here:
