By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO
In what appears to be yet another bait-and-switch ploy, Anchorage School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt recently informed parents that the district is preoccupied with reviewing presidential directives on immigration, as if this were the most pressing issue facing our community.
Meanwhile, our students are drowning in an academic crisis manifested and managed by the Democratic Party and the public education unions who routinely siphon public education dollars away from the progress of children’s education.
The Anchorage School District is experiencing a catastrophic decline in performance: Only 35% of elementary and middle school students are testing proficient in reading, and math scores are even lower.
At the high school level, the situation is even more alarming. Just 26% of students are proficient in math, leaving nearly three-quarters of our youth unprepared for the demands of adulthood, as reported by USNEWS.com for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.
While Dr. Bryantt proudly proclaims that every school is a “safe, welcoming, and supportive space for all students and families,” one cannot help but suspect that this is little more than a convenient smokescreen. It distracts from the district’s glaring failures: Anchorage school district students are not proficient in the core subjects of reading and math.
One must ask, what kind of future are we preparing for our children if we continue down this path?
How long will we allow bureaucratic inefficiency, spiraling budgets, and the corrupting influence of special interests to strangle the very institutions meant to nurture and empower our children?
Why is top-down management and administration the right of the state when the results are abysmal and not relegated to democratic legitimacy where parents, teachers and administrators are free to institute educational and operational improvements on the local level without the oppression of Leftist politicos and special interest?
As Thomas Sowell stated in Charter Schools and Their Enemies: “If we are serious about the education of children—and there are few things more important to be serious about—we need to pay far more attention to specific facts and far less attention to slippery words and phrases that obscure those facts.”
Inspirational rhetoric is hollow when it is not backed by meaningful, targeted action to address the stark inadequacies of our education system.
Yet, there is a counterpoint that must be considered. While immigration officials are being barred from stepping onto campuses—a move some interpret as a politically charged distraction—the district insists that its focus on safety is part of a broader strategy to create an environment where all students can thrive. This is a logical fallacy designed to insist that a secure and welcoming school environment is a necessary foundation for academic success. While I agree with this, it is a distraction from Dr Bryantt’s apparent incompetence.
While he contends that policies addressing immigration and campus safety are intended to protect our children from external threats, why does he not ensure that Anchorage schools are sanctuaries for learning, growth, and preparation for a productive future?
Why are we not asking, are we satisfied with such justifications? We must demand that we honor the federal and state funds earmarked for educating our children and condemn the use of these resources to advance the personal agendas of adults driven by special interests.
Anchorage taxpayers—whose hard-earned dollars contribute through what now appears as a misuse of our property taxes—deserve nothing less than complete accountability. It is unacceptable for public funds to be diverted to initiatives that serve the interests of lobbyists and political cronies rather than addressing the critical educational shortcomings that are documented by the data.
Ultimately, this debate is not merely about policy priorities—it is a crisis of values and leadership. The district must choose between continuing to invest in measures that do little to arrest the academic decline, or redirect its focus toward the pressing need to raise student proficiency and ensure that every dollar spent has a direct, positive impact on classroom outcomes.
The stakes are high. If we are to truly honor our commitments to the future of Anchorage’s children, then our actions must reflect the urgent need to improve academic performance and financial accountability. Our schools must be transformed into institutions that not only provide a safe space but also deliver a robust education—one that prepares every student for the challenges of tomorrow. Only by holding our elected officials and education administrators accountable can we reclaim the promise of our public education system and ensure that our children are not the unwitting victims of political subterfuge, fiscal mismanagement and rampant fraud.
While Dr. Bryantt distracts with misinformed politically charged issues, the reality remains: If policymakers choose to base decisions on ideological frameworks like “inclusion” or “diversity” rather than proven academic strategies, they must accept full responsibility for the declining student performance. With this responsibility, will the Anchorage public hold them accountable? Will the public replace them with performance results managers who focus on our children’s education and an improved future for all Alaskans?
In Anchorage’s public schools, unionized teachers are held accountable for credentials and seniority—not for the actual learning outcomes of their students. Dr Bryantt is the poster boy for this ridiculous attempt to provoke and justify civil disobedience. He cannot and must not be taken seriously.
Whether or not one supports linking teacher performance to rewards, separating these input metrics from real educational results sacrifices our children’s futures, favoring the entrenched self-interests of the education establishment, the selfishness of the public education union and the degradation of our children’s future over genuine academic success.
Michael Tavoliero writes for Must Read Alaska.
“Will the Anchorage public hold the district accountable for failing our students?”
Don’t count on it. There are too many dumb Anchorage voters to hold anyone accountable.
Here here!
No.
Look at the Anchorage city council – it’s very similar to Portland or Seattle.
LibTards and ProgComms.
Extreme SHAME on the so called conservatives that don’t go vote.
This is the very reason why Nepotism Murkowski has been reelected 3 times.
The Anchorage school district is run by a DEI superintendent.
The results speak for themselves.
Most likely no, the people of Anchorage are not interested in a good city, schools, and government. The voter turn out was only 30% for local elections. That’s a disgrace.
Will the Anchorage public hold the district accountable for failing our students?
… Likely ‘not’ as demonstrated countless times!
Anchorage and its schools are controlled by homosexual lesbian sexual deviants. These are mentally ill people. They should never be entrusted with
any position of responsibility. Especially they should never be allowed near children. They are grooming your kids to be queers and dope addicts.
Perhaps you can try to report on why homeschools are getting attacked by liberal media and your station is not working to support them?
Our state loves to drag down successful schools but not celebrate them.
Can you give a citation for where anyone said ICE or any law enforcement is banned from ASD campuses.
That’s not what Bryantt told the public or the ASD community.
Are you speaking for yourself, Andy, or as the president of the school board? I remember when you guys attacked member Dave Donley for not being specific enough about his written words in op-eds. Shouldn’t you give a disclaimer on your comment, since you oversee this policy?
To your point, the letter I got said, “ASD remains committed to following established protocols when interacting with law enforcement, including federal immigration authorities. While complying with all applicable laws, we are steadfast in protecting the learning environment and the rights of our students and families. Any immigration official seeking to enter ASD property will be required to present a judicially signed warrant. This warrant will then be reviewed by ASD’s legal counsel to ensure it meets the necessary legal standards before any action is taken.”
To many of us that means ICE cannot even approach the school administrative office to discuss a situation. They cannot step foot on school property unless your minion Jharett Bryantt gets the lawyer to approve it, no matter how long that approval process might take. As the president of the school board, you might see it differently, since you are all-in on the DEI, woke agenda and have no apparent interest in making sure illegal gangs from south of the border are not invading our schools.
Care to elaborate on the “academic crisis manifested and managed by the Democratic Party and the public education unions who routinely siphon public education dollars away from the progress of children’s education” and provide specific examples of money earmarked for education being diverted or siphoned. I can easily point the finger at the Republican governor who vetoed increases in education funding which hasn’t kept up with inflation. Some shit biased reporting if you ask me.
I’m extremely sad to see you using the “nom de plume” of George Washington and then turn out to be such a leftist. (Ol’ George would be rolling over in his grave.) In no other type of organization EVER would it be considered smart to keep throwing more money at a problem and then not make sure it was fixed by those funds. At some point in time, some real accountability and results need to happen.
The asd is a great place for the Alaska DOGE team to investigate next, it is way, way to top heavy on supervisors, principals & “experts”!
Want to cut the asd budget start with these folks!
And the Politicians wonder why working class families are leaving. With this kind of performance, who would want to have their kids in Anchorage schools. Until the people of Anchorage wake up the School District and the Assembly will make this the Detroit of the North.
Public probably would if they could, but how can they?
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Anchorage education-industry officials apparently have some reason to feel so well protected from accountability that they’ve diversified into in-your-face child-trafficking, secure in their belief that taxpayer/parents can’t do anything about it, otherwise would they be insane enough to do it?
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What else but the knowledge that state grand jury and election systems are hopelessly FUBAR’d for the foreseeable future would make education-industry officials feel confident enough to fail our students and start trafficking illegal-alien students?
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Isn’t that a federal beef? You mean child sex trafficking prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 1591 which makes it a federal offense to knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain a minor (defined as someone under 18 years of age) knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the victim is a minor and would be caused to engage in a commercial sex act? (‘https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/citizens-guide-us-federal-law-child-sex-trafficking)
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Anchorage School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt’s public position on harboring illegal immigrant children leaves any doubt about the “knowing” part?
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How “commercial” does it have to be for parent/taxpayers to be forced into subsidizing it for the benefit of Anchorage’s education-industry officials?
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Taking taxpayers’ money to harbor illegal-alien children for the purpose of exposing them to pornography, grooming, indoctrination, coercing their self mutilation without parental consent, dumbing them down so they have no idea what’s happening to them, while telling the feds to butt out, what’s that but child trafficking? That’s cartel behavior, yes? This mob apparently have money and muscle to behave like drug cartels? Yet John Q’s supposed to hold them “accountable”, whatever that means, while not overdoing the cruel-and-unusual-punishment part too much?
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Big stakes for Anchorage’s education-industry, no? Their careers, maybe even life expectancies, depend on boosting falling enrollment numbers to get more money, lying more convincingly about ethnic enrollment numbers to get more money, colluding diligently with fellow co-conspirators to launder more money through Anchorage’s very own version of La Familia, failure’s surely not an option, so they must have a vested interest in –not– having to worry about what the “public” might do, are we wrong?
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So hardworking Anchorage education-industry folks will sit still while good-natured parent/taxpayers “hold them accountable”? Really, who knew it was so easy?
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Nah… isn’t the best bet getting totally behind Alaska DOGE, helping them find out what props up the education industry, pushing hard on the advantages of qui tam lawsuits so insiders have major financial incentives to help bring this thing down, persuading President Trump’s Secretary of Education to withold funding until we figure out where the money’s going, assuring DOJ’s aware of possible child trafficking in Anchorage schools?
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Now that’s “accountable”, yes?
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If there was some reasonably practical way, Michael, of tearing this enterprise down, firing every son of a… person associated with it, rebuilding it into a top-quality education system, don’t you think parent/taxpayers would have figured out how to do it by now?
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We’re stuck with a rear-guard action like homeschooling, not a bad thing, mind you, but it hardly solves the problem. Point is, we need 911 …muscle, money, expertise, ruthless prosecutors, fractal software, forensic auditors, …without which nothing will change for the better.
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Good news is you, Bob Griffin, Alex Gimarc, and Alaska’s DOGE kind of busted the lid off this can of worms. Keep shining the spotlight on them, roaches’ll won’t be able to run their empire ’cause they’ll be too busy running for cover …and that’s when they’ll start making show-stopping mistakes …won’t happen overnight, but it’ll happen.
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How’ll that be for accountable?
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