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Tuesday, November 5th 2024

Election Day is just around the corner on November 5. While ASD initially planned for in-person instruction on this day, given some recent developments and observations, the Administration has determined to shift November 5 to a Remote Learning Day. 

A number of key points were considered when making this adjustment: 

• Sixty-five of our schools will serve as voting locations on election day, including all secondary schools.
• It is not possible in many of our buildings to have a separate entry point to an isolated area of the school for voting. Some elections will be held in areas that are only accessible by going through the main entrance and using hallways where students are learning. In a high turnout election, this could create operations issues and bottlenecks for voters.
• While the recent primary election had a relatively low turnout, it presented safety and operational challenges at multiple locations. As this is a Presidential election year, ASD would need to suspend or compromise its standard visitor management and safety protocols to accommodate the voters and increased vehicular traffic which will enter our campuses to cast ballots, thus elevating our level of risk.
• Though a minority of our schools will not serve as voting locations, many of our families and staff have students that attend multiple schools. Additionally, all of our neighborhoods will be impacted by increased vehicular and foot traffic on election day. For these reasons, all schools will shift to remote learning on Election Day. 

For your awareness, our neighbors in the Mat-Su School District will also not host students on election day.

This decision was not made lightly, but safety is our highest priority in ASD. After reviewing all the options, this is our best path to maintain continuity of learning while making the voting experience as smooth as possible for the thousands of people who will depend on our school buildings to cast ballots.

Sincerely,

Jharrett M. Bryantt, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Dear ASD Families, Staff, and Community Members,

I want to update you on the next steps of our Rightsizing initiative, a process that has been ongoing since April. During this time, we’ve gathered valuable insights through multiple School Board work sessions and community surveys, all with the aim of reimagining our schools to better serve our students and staff.

During the October 15 School Board work session, the Board reviewed and approved the use of a rubric that will guide the next phase of Rightsizing. This rubric, shaped by community feedback gathered through recent surveys, will help ASD determine which schools may need to be repurposed, closed, or have boundaries adjusted. We are committed to a process that is transparent and informed by community values. District administrators will use this rubric to guide a detailed analysis of our buildings to create a list of candidate schools for the Rightsizing plan.

Though the process of identifying school buildings for consolidation or repurposing is incredibly emotional for the community, the decision to move forward is driven by a sense of urgency to improve levels of academic service for all students. The intent of rightsizing our facilities footprint is to improve academic offerings across the District, despite declining enrollment and stagnant levels of recurring revenue from the State.

Next steps and timeline

On the evening of November 1, ASD plans to release an initial list of recommended schools for closing, combining, or repurposing. Afterward, from November 12-18, we will host a series of Community Conversations where you 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. 

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.

Please mark your calendars for the , where we’ll delve into the proposed list and our decision-making process. Thank you for your continued support and involvement as we work together to reimagine our District for a better future.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jharrett Bryantt
Superintendent, ÅÝܽÊÓƵapp

Dear ASD Families, Staff, and Community, 

This month’s topic is all about safety, preparedness, and wellness – topics that touch on many aspects of school and community life as we head into the colder months. 

With winter quickly approaching, our team is pursuing options to lease three front-end loaders and two graders to support our aging fleet of heavy machinery. These and other measures will strengthen our preparedness for winter.

We also encourage families to prepare for the possibility of remote learning during inclement weather. While we understand this could present challenges, remote learning remains an important tool to maintain continuity of learning when severe conditions prevent in-person attendance. 

On the topic of preparedness, we want to call attention to several upcoming calendar events which affect the school day: 

• October 14, Indigenous Peoples Day - no school

• October 23 and 24 parent/teacher conference days; 

  • Elementary students will be dismissed at 11:30 a.m. 
  • Middle school students will be dismissed at 1:00 p.m. 

• October 18, student release grading day 

• October 25, student release staff professional development day

• November 5, election day, remote learning day for students

As we enter the cold and flu season, we’ll have details coming soon about flu vaccine clinics that will be available throughout the District. You can find information on the Healthcare Services webpage on “How sick is too sick?” and guidelines for when to keep your child home.

We remain committed to student safety and well-being. The ÅÝܽÊÓƵapp strives to provide a safe and respectful learning environment. The STOPit app allows for easy reporting of incidents involving harassment, intimidation, and bullying, with the option for anonymous submissions. More information can be found on our Reporting Concerns webpage.

Lastly, I’d like to end on a high note: three of our schools— Alpenglow Elementary School, Aquarian Charter School, and Northern Lights ABC School—have been recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools! This is a tremendous honor, and I couldn’t be more proud of the students, staff, and families who have worked hard to achieve this distinction.

Thank you for being engaged and for helping keep our schools safe and welcoming for all.

Sincerely,

Jharrett Bryantt, Ed.D.
Superintendent,
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August 26, 2024

Dear ÅÝܽÊÓƵapp Families and Staff,

Welcome to the 2024-25 school year! We are thrilled to have students back in our classrooms and are so grateful for the trust and support of our families, teachers, and staff. The first few days have been off to a strong start, and I want to take a moment to share some highlights and important updates with you.

First, we’ve made notable progress in filling critical roles, including transportation staff, paraeducators, and food service staff. While we still have more work to do, our collaborations with employee bargaining units have made a positive impact, helping us move a step forward in retaining and recruiting wonderful team members.

To ensure we are continuously improving, I, along with other District staff, have been visiting schools across the District to hear directly from parents, students, teachers, and principals. Your feedback is essential as we work to address any challenges and create the best possible experience for our students.

I’m also excited to share that, thanks to our recently approved 2024-25 budget amendments, we will be making enhancements to security measures to improve the safety of our buildings. In addition, we will be implementing the Raptor Visitor Management system Districtwide this semester as a new measure designed to further secure our schools. 

Our staggered start times this year have received positive feedback, particularly from high school communities, where students from the class of 2028 were welcomed to their new campus a day before their sophomore, junior, and senior counterparts. This Freshman Academy first day of school event included field games, orientation activities, and team-building challenges to allow freshmen the opportunity to meet their teachers and get to know their school. You can watch more about the ASD Freshman Academy first day of school . Thank you to our staff involved in this special day for setting such a positive tone for the year.

I’d also like to officially welcome our youngest learners to ASD! Our preschool and kindergarten students began their school year last week, making it an official full house!  

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to our families, employees, and students for making these first few days successful. Your patience and enthusiasm have been key as we kicked off the new year with many new initiatives, including the new school start times and the staggered start to the school year. Your ongoing patience and trust are appreciated as we navigate these first weeks of school and the changes taking place. 

We’re ready for an amazing school year, and I look forward to working together with you to make it a success!

Sincerely,
Dr. Jharrett Bryantt
Superintendent
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ASD Community,

I am writing to seek your input on an incredibly important topic: The future of the ÅÝܽÊÓƵapp’s (ASD) facilities in our community.

Currently, ASD operates 91 buildings throughout Anchorage. More than 90% of those buildings are schools. To be clear, every one of our school campuses offers something special to our community. Our campuses are filled with wonderful teachers, are conveniently located in many of our neighborhoods, and have produced thousands of alumni and members of our community. The time has come for us to consider a number of other facts as well. 

• Many of our buildings were constructed more than 30 years ago and are in need of critical upgrades and maintenance to support the students of today. In fact, current deferred maintenance costs for ASD buildings are approaching $1 billion.  
• In the last 10 years, the Municipality of Anchorage (MoA) has seen a decrease of 17,000 working-age adults and nearly 5,000 fewer students in our schools.
• More families than ever are opting for different modalities of learning. For example, ASD correspondence school enrollment has more than doubled since the 2014-15 school year. Similarly, enrollment in ASD choice programs has grown over time. Most of ASD’s charter schools are housed in leased buildings with high rent payments or in buildings that are unsuitable in size or design to fully accommodate their growing enrollment.

In other words, the realities of ASD and the MoA have fundamentally transformed since our large footprint of neighborhood schools were initially designed and built. For that reason, I am coming to you, our community, to get your honest perspective on the highly emotional and complex topic of campus consolidations so we can reimagine how ASD utilizes its facilities given the realities of today. 

While ASD is making bold strides to improve reading, math, and life readiness for all students, our underutilized campuses present a major barrier that could be sustainably addressed with an intentional school consolidation plan. A thoughtful plan means we can reimagine our buildings for the needs of now and beyond. For example, reimagine how the land currently occupied by one of these underutilized campuses could be repurposed by the MoA to serve a variety of broader community needs. Or, reimagine how ASD’s unused space could be used to house its high demand school choice programs. Think about it this way, when our charter schools are housed in buildings without cafeterias, we’re limited in our ability to offer hot meals to students. Some of these choice programs have growing waitlists because their current locations are at capacity. Reimagining our footprint unlocks an opportunity to match families to specialized choice programs that meet their children’s needs, while offering services that are comparable to those in our neighborhood schools. Additionally, if more ASD schools were at higher levels of utilization than today, ASD is better positioned to sustainably offer more services, electives, and academic opportunities for our entire student population. 

Rightsizing ASD could also unlock non-academic opportunities for our community. Imagine if one of our underutilized elementary schools were co-located with a community childcare center, offering subsidized childcare to our current and prospective employees. These are the types of premium benefits we could offer to our talent, despite the State’s persistent underfunding of schools that limits ASD’s ability to increase wages. 

ASD aspires to be the top-performing large urban school district in the nation. And, I recognize that our current portfolio of schools have provided a strong foundation for generations of Alaskans. With that said, I envision an ASD that has been completely reimagined and redesigned to offer a world-class education given the realities, conditions, and resources that are forecast for the years to come. 

I humbly ask for your perspectives on what rightsizing ASD means to you, and whether you believe it is possible for this to be done in a way that acknowledges our community values. As a next step, I ask that you visit our Rightsizing ASD webpage, take our survey, and learn more about this important project. 

We’re ready and eager to hear from you. 

Sincerely,

Jharrett Bryantt, Ed.D.

Superintendent

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