001Good evening everyone. We'll call ourselves to order. Today is Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 at 6:08 p.m. We're here for the ASD school board meeting. Uh present in the room are members Higgins, Lessons, Donley, our student representative Madison, myself, Archer Jacobs, member Hollowman, and member Bellamy. online with us is member Wilson. Uh, student representative Madison, would you please lead us in the flag salute and then land acknowledgement, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We acknowledge that we gather here today on the traditional lands of the Denina people of the Upper Cook Inlet. For thousands of years, the Denina people have been and continue to be the stewards of this land.
002ASD is committed to diversity and inclusion, and it is with honor and respect that we recognize all indigenous people who live and learn in our community. >> Thank you, Madison. We want to welcome you to our meeting and thank you for attending and supporting the work of the Anchorage School District and this board. The board thanks students, parents, teachers, staff, school business partners, and the entire community for your investment in our district with your time, your talent, and your tax dollars. Our first order of business tonight is the approval of the agenda. Members have the agenda in front of them. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written? >> Mr. Chair, I move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. Made by member Bellamy, seconded by member Hollowman. Is there any objection
003to adopting our agenda as as uh printed? Seeing none, we have an agenda. Thank you everyone. We'll go to reports under B1 student representative report. Madison, the floor is yours. >> All right. Thank you. Um, first off, um, as I am student advisor board president, we had our December meeting on the 9th and we were able to have students ask themselves how they support their different schools communities during the holidays. We were able to get a lot of different input such as different students who do canned food drives, clothing drives, uh, winter dances, they give their staff greeting cards, they do toys for tots, a lot of different things that they're supporting their student body with, which was really great to hear. Next over at this meeting as well, we had resolutions, three submitted from
004just Eagle River High School and one of them was actually passed and it regards um parent activity passes that would now be implemented at Eagle River High School. Um as well since we at our school, we usually do a student pass where you can just purchase um an admission for the entire season without having to go back and do it over and again, but this time they innovated one for the parents. And then we had another resolution that was postponed to our next January meeting and that one when it will be discussed um regards having an ASD fine arts graduation requirement by.5 credit and so that will be discussed at our next meeting. And lastly, there was the third resolution that was submitted and it regards um foreign language class policy in ASD basically saying
005that if a student took a class of a foreign language in middle school, then they would be able to at least take some part of a gap year or two in high school and still obtain the same credit. So, let's say maybe they took Spanish one in middle school, they would still be able to continue to Spanish 2 even in like their junior year, if that makes sense. So that was discussed at our last meeting and hopefully we'll see the new resolutions at our next one. And then lastly, we are also updated with the Alaska Associations of Student Government's new conference in the spring which is actually going to be in Juno. So students will have a chance to visit the state capital and see a lot of great things happening which is going to
006be April 23rd through 25th. Hopefully a lot of ASD students go. But that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there questions for student representative? Member Bellamy. >> Oh, no. I'm sorry. >> Okay. Seeing no questions for our student representative. Thank you, Madison, for your report. Um, u, I understand Colonel Hansen's with us for a military report. Welcome, sir. Welcome back, sir. Good evening. Good evening. Uh, President Jacobs and Superintendent Bryant, members of the school board. My name is Colonel Dustin Hansen, mission support group commander and Jay Bear, student uh, leazison officer and advocate. It is good to be back and it is good to be re-engaged with the team. It's good to see you all again. Um, I want to say, uh, speaking of the team, I want to give a special
007shout out to, uh, my mission partners on the Anchorage School District staff. Uh these past couple weeks we've seen gale force winds, we've seen icy roads, we've seen power outages on Jar and uh we've had uh I've been very happy to work with Jim Anderson and um Sven Gustesson uh in terms of just uh communicating what the uh what the impacts are with these weather conditions and working through um just mitigating multiple problem set after problem set. Uh it's been great to work with this team right here. So, uh, thank you to the ASD, um, staff. Um, I also want to say, uh, it's been, uh, it's been great working with, uh, my school leaison officer. Uh, she's down to a oneperson team. And, uh, despite that, she has worked very hard to build, uh,
008what we're calling readers for leaders. And I'm pleased to announce that the Airport Heights Elementary School uh just near the um Morell Field uh is going to kind of pilot this program. And this is where members from Jbear are going to be uh listening to kids reading to them and encouraging the kids to give them just a safe non-judgmental space to read to whatever your proficiency is and help them improve their reading proficiency. Uh, I want to say thank you not only to Miss Adele Daniels, my school as officer, but there's other uh other princip uh the principal Rachel Penny uh the volunteer coordinator Stacia Thomas and Colette Morin, the director Anchorage School Business Partnership. They've been instrumental in getting this program going. So, I'm very happy that we can work together with them and
009just continue to like beat the drum of like let's improve our reading proficiency for all of our students um across Anchorage. Uh Jay Bear continues to uh be full steam ahead. Uh we had a very busy past six months despite the government shutdown. Uh we uh still continued getting after exercises. We still continued working on um hiring and building out our workforce. Um we have big projects down the road. There's uh there's a lot of large projects coming to JBar in the next 5 to 10 years. I'm going to see an additional demand, I would imagine, upon our school district. more families coming in, more students, uh, and, uh, it's going to be important that we continue to work together and and be this partner, um, be the the partner that we want to be,
010uh, to ensure everybody thrives. Um, and then finally, I have a a request for information from member lessons. The last time I was here, member lessons, you you you probably remember this, but you had asked me how many folks uh, I guess um, enlisted into the uh, military. So, I did a little bit of homework. I I don't have the the perfect number, but I do have something that'll kind of inform where we're going. So, uh I talked to the recruiters uh in the Anchorage School District area and uh across the state, and I'll give you a little bit of context, ma'am. Um in academic year 2324, uh across the state, 479 people enlisted. academic year 24 to 25. So last academic year we had 599 people enlist from across the state. Okay. So that's
011across the street. So then dialing that into the Anchorage School District, what I could measure was the number of seniors that took the ASVAB, which is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. It's the test that you take before you enlist to kind of see where you land with what your skill sets are. So, the seniors in academic year 23-24 who took the ASVAB, uh, 242 out of the Anchorage School District. The following year, last year, those seniors, uh, 281, so about a 4040 person increase. Now, if you add the Alaska Military Youth Academy, those numbers spike significantly. uh then that total number would be for this past year 768. But if you if you subtract from the Anchorage Military Youth Academy, uh 281 seniors took the ASBA ma'am. So that could give you a little
012bit of context of who's enlisting. Uh that's all I had unless there's any questions. Again, it's good to good to be back for however long I'm back for. Thank you, Colonel, for your report. Are there questions for our military representative? Member Higgins. >> Oh, thank you. Well, first of all, I appreciate what you're doing at Airport Heights. I know they do, too. And getting involvement like that makes a big difference and and we've seen studies over and over again. So, I appreciate that and getting a heads up about the increasing number of people coming here. If you can make sure and do some screening to make sure they have kids and that they're spouses or teachers, it would mean an awful lot to us. Thank you. >> Good, good copy. Lots of kids, lots of
013teachers. More. Thanks, member Bell. >> Just a comment and a thank you to not just to you, but to Adele. She is amazing. >> Um and uh I'll look for your Jbear soldiers over at Airport Heights. Uh I I go on Thursday morning. So, uh Okay. >> I'll hook up with them. >> Yes, ma'am. And and J Bear Airmen, too. >> The airmen, of course. Yes. Thank you. Thank you all. I appreciate your time. Thank you for your report, Colonel. Oh, ma'am. >> Member lessons. >> I just wanted to say thank you for the followup on multiple issues and um really I I'm grateful for um the relationship that ASD has with JBR and this airport heights pilot program is just such a wonderful um example of what's possible. So, thank you. >> Yes. Yes.
014And I'm hoping more to come just grow that capability out. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> All right, we'll move on to B3 board conference and committee reports. Is there a knowing our our meetings are Thursday? Yeah. Yep. Thursday. Um does any board committee chair wish to make a report at this time? Seeing none, we'll move on to C1 under goals and guardrail monitoring college career and life ready high school graduation rate. Dr. Bryants and any introductory remarks before I begin our process? >> Uh, no, Mr. President. We'll invite up our team and then we're happy to jump into Q&A. >> Perfect. And we have to read our script first. Um, we are now going to have our goal monitoring conversation on the technical report that was given to us at our
015122 meeting. Tonight, our conversation will focus on CCL goal 3.0. The percent of students graduating college, career, and life ready or CCL are measured by four-year graduation rates will increase from 81% in June 23 to 90% June of 28. I want to confirm all components are of the report are present and they clearly show the following. One, what is being monitored and is focused on is a specific or interim goal. Two, data from previous reporting periods, the current reporting period and the target reporting periods are present. And three, the superintendent's evaluation of performance. With that said, we'll start with questions. member lessons, the floor is yours. >> Thank you, President Jacobs. Um I um really appreciate the chance to um have these school monitoring conversations. I think they're fundamentally a chance for all of us
016to check in with how do our investments, you know, uh translate into student outcomes? How do public dollars change kids' lives? And um graduation is one of the ways that a kid's life has changed uh hopefully for the better. So um this one is an important uh conversation. I had a I wanted to open with some thoughts that I had to really celebrate and I shared these with the team, but I just think they're important to begin. Um the four-year graduation rates increased districtwide last year and it's it was ASD's highest overall graduation rate since before COVID, right? We're seeing signs of recovery. Um the gender gap closed. We're seeing male students outcomes improve which I think is really critical and I know we've talked about the gender gap and some of these student outcomes
017before. Um, I think that there were some important and needed improvements in the four-year graduation rates of some specific subgroups of our students, and those are necessary. Um, the gap between, it's not here, but you can look at it on our dashboard. The gap between the highest graduating sort of comprehensive high school and the and the lowest comprehensive high school, that gap has shrunk a little bit, and that's a good thing. Um, and I think there's some really great things happening at particular schools, and I won't list them all, but I am going to give a shout out to Service High School. Um, which I looked since FY22 to FY25, um, male students at Service High School just in particular are doing better and better and better each year. Um, it's like an eight point
018difference, which is really amazing. It's not a oneoff. It's consistent growth. And I think that's really um impressive and should be celebrated. Um I don't know if we really have a policy of not talking about specific schools, but if we can celebrate something, why not? Um the technical question I wanted to begin with was um really related to ownership of the you know, we have the board goal. Let's try to aim for a 90% target in 20 FY, you know, in June of 20 May of 2028. And then I understand that the administration owns the interim goals. Um the interim targets though if you looked at last year's report have changed because you have a different slope essentially from last year's data to this year's data. Um we have a different slope moving forward. So
019I guess could we talk could you talk about did you need to change the interim target? Why did you need to change the interim targets? >> Thank you board member lessons. Uh great question. Um let me begin by just echoing some of what you said. We're really thrilled about the report. Um as it shows the highest graduation rate we've seen in six years. Um with me tonight presenting are a number of the department leads representing those students in in historically underperforming subgroups who really showed positive gains. So before we get started with the technical uh response that Chris can take the lead on, I'll just invite each member of the the presentation group to uh introduce themselves and we can start with Bobby on my right. >> My name is Bobby Laferty. I'm the director
020of ELLL. >> Uh good evening. Jason Hassy. the director of special education instruction. >> Jamie Galvin, director of indigenous ed. >> And I'm Eric Bachman, senior director of high schools. >> Thank you. I'm Chris Opitz, senior director of assessment and evaluation. >> And I'm Robin Harris. I'm senior director for choice schools and alternative schools. >> Okay. So, um just thank you for the question, member lessons. Um it's it's really, you know, we we actually looked up uh how school districts across the nation sort of approach this and it's it's sort of 5050 if you will. Um and it it some school at times when after one single year um the annual targets will change based on a consistent slope as you referenced uh to the end goal. At other times, um, some districts, um, maintain
021their original goals. Um, what we've what we've seen typically in the Anchorage School District, um, is we've we we've tended to, uh, lean towards changing the slope. Um, not for any other reason than it's just one of the two approaches. And there may be pros and cons to both of those. And so, beyond that, I don't have a lot of a lot more insight into that. Um well thank you and you know I concede that under the student outcomes focused model of governance that we adopted that we went through the administration owns the interim metrics. So but it was just something that I observed comparing last year and this year. Um could you guys talk a little bit about things that have worked well um in especially closing the gender gap with um maybe male
022students that's why are we seeing growth among some of um some of those students in ways that we hadn't previously can you talk about what's been working well >> yeah to be honest um our primary focus has been on you underperforming subgroups from historically disadvantaged groups. Uh the question of males and females and the graduation rate um has not been a a concentrated focus of ours. I would hypothesize that um our expanded focus on CTE and hands-on education may be playing a role in higher achievement among males. um you referenced one of our high schools which has a very uh extensive roll out of CTE. So that that would be my best hypothesis at this point. I think I would add to that, you know, we're really working on a proactive response to graduation rate
023as you're aware. Um, we have a data system built that allows our our teams, administrators, counselors, teachers now to identify students who are falling off track very early. And so the data shows that males more than females fall off track earlier. We may be getting ahead of that with this proactive approach. That's another hypothesis. member building. >> Thank you. I do share member lessons uh kudos highlights um because I think I think we're on the right track. Um I I'm interested though. Um I sent in about five or six questions from member um myself, member Wilson, and uh member Jacobs. And they have to do basically with interventions for the lower performing groups. I mean I'm I'm and I do want to know I mean the our Alaskan Native American Indian students um showed the
024greatest gains and that's amazing. Uh so I want to know what you know kind of the what have we learned from looking at that data? um what are we doing differently? And and then the other part of the question is what are the interventions for the lower performing or the groups that are not graduating on time? >> Yeah, thank you for the question board member Bellamy. >> This is the question that um in in inspired this large group of presenters to come. Um, and the one thing I want to say as a point of introduction and then we'll turn things over to Jamie who leads the Indigenous Education Office, um, is that [clears throat] we're working very hard at a leadership level to break down silos, traditional departmental silos, and really working to create collaborative
025teams that address goals that are our singular focus. In this case, making sure that students stay on track to graduate with the ultimate goal of raising the graduate graduation rate to 90%. Um, so this team is now working together regularly on this. Um, and we have exciting projects that we're working on that I look forward to sharing with you. Um, one of which involves extensive work from Jamie and her department. So, I'll turn it over to her. >> Great. Happy to share. Um, and thank you for recognizing that in the data that our indigenous population has um, shown some growth in the last um, year. I do want to start out by saying that my department is it has been fully staffed. Um and that's amazing. We have a teacher expert and a supervisor and
026um all of our schoolbased um student support specialists are in schools. So that's um that's a highlight and I want to share that and I've shared this before is like the number one thing that our team wants to do is build connections with students and help them feel a sense of belonging in the school. And by doing that, I think it also um helps them want to be at school and be successful um as well as getting them involved into sports and different clubs and that sort of thing. And when kids feel connected um they're more likely to come. I did want to add that um in our PLC's we've been building staff capacity in the sense of um meeting with the assessment and evaluation team to um build data analyt literacy and then to
027be able to access the analytics and insights and know how to pull um pockets of students to be able to say like if this kid is um on the verge of um failing that class and their percentage is at uh 55, how can we get them to a D, C, and then higher. Um so really grateful to have those partnerships with other departments in ASD. Um and then um along with that like the leading indicators with progress FS and attendance. And so our elementary team has been focusing around attendance um in their PLC's. And then our secondary team is more focused on getting those kids that might be um falling through the cracks back on track. Um as well as providing coaching conversations. So um talking with students on how they can be a successful
028student. Um navigating through student connect so that they know how to check their grades. Um, and then as well as just like being able to provide examples of how they can um, have conversations with their teachers and not be afraid to do that, but really step into that leadership role and say, "I want to advocate for um, my grades and um, how we can, you know, get them to turn in missing assignments and just having those conversations." Um, and lastly, I just want to end with one of our grant goals in our department is cultural identity. And when our students are feeling seen, valued, and connected, I think it really speaks to um the success of them sitting in a classroom and feeling um connected to each and every one of the schools that they
029attend. >> That's awesome. Um while we are on on this topic of uh make you know why are we what are the interventions what's working what's not working Asian stu Asian and black students experience a decline and usually it's I know African-Americans have historically I think perfor came we're lower than most but Asian students what are we what are we attributing that too. >> Thank you for the question and we appreciate you looking at the details. um based [clears throat] on the questions that you sent in, we just did a really um brief uh dive into the data and we went back a few years and what we noticed is it's not a trend and so it's actually been sort of up and down a little bit and so um but but I think the
030importance of your question is um really grounds us in looking and keeping track of that data and if and when we do see a trend over time, we would definitely investigate that further. But fortunately, we don't see that as a trend over years. >> So, do you do you think um and Jamie, especially for you, um are we giving you the resources that you need >> to do what we are expecting you to do? >> And the same thing will go to Robin and down to uh you. I would like everybody to respond to that please. I'll go I'll go. Go ahead. >> Just a a a brief statement about that. Jamie just mentioned her department is fully staffed and that is making a huge difference. Um so yeah, to fully staff our department makes
031a big deal. But what what I want to emphasize is part of our approach uh is increasingly datadriven. recognizing which schools have the largest cohorts of students who aren't graduating or are off track before graduation and making sure that's where we're focused and expending our resources. And that's really the line of the work right now. And so we have certain schools, not to name them, but that have larger cohorts of students who aren't graduating um disproportionately represented by the departments who are here, ELLL, special education, indigenous education. So members from those departments are hyperfocused on supporting those teams in those schools now. And I think we're going to see continuing growth like we saw in this report. Great. >> Jamie also mentioned the PLC's. They're working. That's an investment. >> Absolutely. And um my teacher
032expert and supervisor and my department have really been um targeting those uh conversations with our teams. and we're really grateful that the district recognized that my department wanted to move ahead and do a PLC targeted just our student support specialists. Um, as far as support, I think that um, I've been very grateful to um, sit here at the table in front of all of you guys and um, also being able to work with Eric and dad and assessments and conversations with ELLL and SPED as those things come up. I would say that um the partnership has been amazing and I do feel uh extremely supported. Um yeah, I'll leave it at that. >> Okay. Anybody else want to respond to that? Robin, what what are you seeing? >> I think for some of the populations
033that I oversee with the alternative schools, they are um somewhat transient in nature. Um they are in and out of those schools. And so I do know that our staff is um mostly staffed with all of that can be you know we have some special education holes in some of our programs but I think our PLC's are working just as well as what Jamie had talked about. They are really digging into what the issues are and how we can better help our students to get on track to graduate. whether it is that credit recovery piece or helping them get back into their neighborhood schools because of that transition natural transition that they have in some of our alternative schools. Well, I don't want to say, you know, the greatest treasure is the friends we've made
034along the way, but um I would say kind of what to what um Eric mentioned, you know, resources can be money, but resources can also be time and collaboration. And I think um the resources that we're bringing to bear on some of these problems right now really take that form. So being able to have our teachers in order to increase the um professional development, the PLC's that our ELLL teachers are doing as a um across district, the opportunity to for them to dive into ELLL specific data and improve their practices, the opportunity to collaborate across um departments and see which students are shared and where we can um find the greatest efficiencies for supporting those students is a um is I think a huge a huge lift that has been um decreasing maybe the weight
035on individual departments. >> Thank you. I I'll I'll let somebody else ask and come back around. >> Member Higgins. >> Oh, thank you. Um I like dealing with predictors and and things. I remember but we did one where we had it based upon attendance algebra one uh discipline. There was a number of things that put them at risk and they put a focus on that and made a difference. I'm interested the the graduation high school graduation rate starts with nth grade people who enter nth grade and until 12th and unless they transfer out they're going to show up in that number and they have to graduate within four years. What happens to people who may go and get a GED have to make it complex? What can I tell you? >> Yeah. So those students
036would would not be counted as graduates from ASD. So um if a student transfers out and they enter another diploma track program, they don't count against us. A GED is not a diploma, >> right? >> So they wouldn't be counted as part of our graduation cohort. >> So they would count as a dropout or something like that. So correct, beginning of 12th grade, they decide to take a GED, they they get eliminated from that group. That's interesting. >> And that's that that you know that's a good choice for for a certain number of students. it may be necessary which is part of why our goal is 90% not 100. >> Yeah. Then then the other question is I know you know you only count students that graduate in the fourth year. How are we doing
037on the fifth and sixth? Because I'm worried, you know, that's still a success for those students. The f fourth grade is to compare us to all the school districts and that's fine. And I think that's the goal. But if we have kids that are graduating in the fifth or sixth year, it's a success. Okay? Okay. Because those kids that changes their life. It gives them opportunities they wouldn't have otherwise. How what numbers are we looking at that graduate in the fifth or the sixth year? >> Yes. So, districtwide we're at 87% 5-year graduation rate. >> Okay. Um, and there's a a story underneath that number which I think is really important and I'll turn it over to some of my colleagues. But, uh, a number of the questions posed by board members has really inspired
038some meaningful inquiry uh, data study and conversation over the last couple days. One of which, um, board member Bellamy, you asked about black students. And so, one of the metrics we looked into was the five-year graduation rate. um notable jump for black students from four to five years. Um Robin Harris has some incredible numbers from our alternative credit recovery schools which look low on the data charts, but when you look at the five-year, you know, 25 30% jumps. I I'll I'll turn things over to her so she can share that data. >> Thank you. We have um just several schools that have made great gains. For instance, from 56% in the fourth year to 69% in the fifth year or 50% in the fourth year to 76.9% almost 80% in the fifth year. So we're
039seeing huge jumps and this is specifically the ones I'm speaking about are the ones in our special schools and credit recovery schools and those are like I said our naturally transient schools as well. So, they are ebbing and flowing between some of our um neighborhood high schools and some of our al alternative programs and back again. So, um I think that it's just an incredible note to have that our our schools are really making gains, especially in that fifth year of graduation. >> Yeah, great question. >> Um Jason here. So I can tell you at least in the special education department a lot of our students do have an accommodation of extra time and they you know they they're headwinds with maybe they've got you know some type of sign significant disability complex needs and
040they need some extra time and so I know at least in our department that that that fifth year rate is is always going to be much higher than our our four-year rate. Uh so that's one thing I will share. Um, but I also want to mention long as I I have the mic. Um, I was really troubled with the uh students with disability graduation rate. Like I'm looking at that it's it's 58.9%. >> And that troubles me and I started really looking at this and I've got a really smart talented team. So I went to the team I'm like what is happening here? why we have hardworking teachers. Our schools are putting in every ounce of energy and this number just doesn't seem to represent what we believe. So, as we're digging into the data,
041uh what we're seeing is that um this number does uh capture students on a non-diploma track as well. And I don't know if that is known to the board, but so some of our schools have a lot of uh non-diploma track students, a lot of life skill classrooms, and within the special education data set, it really does impact uh and influence graduation rates for students with disabilities in in a lot of our schools. And then overall, I mean, you could add potentially, you know, 10% or 15% or maybe more to our graduation rate within our data set of students with disabilities. So, I wanted to share that because it's not really clear when you see the data, but it does reflect non-diploma track students. >> Thank you for that. >> Yeah, >> member lessons. >>
042Um, I appreciate the chance to to have clear conversations. Um, one of the trends I thought I identified by looking um at our dashboard and sort of toggling on different buttons and looking a little bit more over time was about our um Asian Pacific Islander students. What's interesting here number one is that in this sheet you've got students who are considered Asian and another bar listing Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander and on the dashboard they're listed as AsianPacific Islander. So, there's some cleaning up maybe at some point that should happen. Um, but what I thought I am seeing is that I'm seeing growth among male students on the dashboard listed as Asian Pacific Islander and an OP the movement in an equal and opposite direction of female students. And that troubled me. Um, and I
043was reminded that a few years ago, and perhaps I don't remember if Dr. Bryant was the superintendent at that time or if it was before your time, but we had a, you know, community members from sort of the Pacific Islander community in front of us and said, "Let us know, tell us, come talk to us if you see something that we need to know about." And to me, if you see male students in a population making great gains and female students um doing the opposite, that is there's something to celebrate and something to really say, hey, we have a problem and perhaps ask more questions why. So I are you did you guys have a chance to look at that subgroup of students and do you see the sort of the pulling apart in that
044way? Yeah, thank you board member lessons. Um that that is a question that we've sort of identified as worthy of further inquiry. Um over the last two days since we received questions from the board, we we've delved into a lot a lot of the content, but not that one specifically. And I I I think you're wondering is an important one. Um, obviously all of our students represented, you know, under these titles are incredibly important to us. Um, and where we see trends of underperformance, they deserve our attention and focus. So, more on that later, >> you know, and I guess a followup, and I didn't share this in advance, but um we've talked about chronic absenteeism in the past, and I'm I'm curious at at what level, maybe the 30,000 foot level at this point,
045you know, to what extent is chronic absenteeism um interfering with graduation rate growth? I mean, is that if you could pin maybe it's not fair to pin things on on on one cause, but I'm assuming that chronic absenteeism is still a problem in the Anchorage School District as it is a problem in districts, thousands of districts across the country. And um is it such a problem that it is prohibiting students from graduating on time at all? >> Thank you for your question. It's an important um wondering [clears throat] I'll get us started and somebody else can also chime in. Um so the beauty of some of the analytics that we use is we we do not u make large decisions based on one data point but chronic absenteeism is absolutely one of the keys that
046we look at um you know from progress fs to attendance uh to student relationships. you know, in PLC's, they're talking about all kinds of sort of formative data in as well as the these key indicators and early warnings that we're that we're using. Um, but there's no doubt we we need students here. Um, the reason I jumped in is I just had multiple conversations with a variety of schools who are reaching out um talking about attendance data at their high school, how to celebrate growth even for kids that um may be still struggling. And um I I worked with another school um I can't remember if it was this fall or last spring um that was working on sending postcards home and nudging parents and and so how do we how do we address that
047in a culturally sensitive way and a in a way that acknowledges um the struggles that our families face but also while maintaining high expectations and hopes for our kids. And so I wanted to start us with that because we do look at those metrics um um but we typically triangulate across multiple when we're identifying those students. I'm not sure if anybody else wanted to chime in there. Yeah, I would just add to that, you know, the internal study we did last year looking at freshmen particularly um and Chris and the team were able to show that freshmen who have a attendance rate of 90% or better graduate at a rate of 97%. There's a there's a strong correlation as we all know uh between showing up and doing well. It's it's probably the most important
048common denominator for achievement academically and otherwise. I'd also like to say that um we have a a employee who is the simol and language and cultural lays on who works with schools to kind of bridge that gap when there's a cultural mismatch when um maybe there's a lack of understanding from parents about the importance of of daily attendance or how to engage with um their students grades and keeping up with those things. Maybe there's a behavior issue that a school is seen as um a trend among a certain demographic um specifically Simoan but Pacific Islander um students. And she has worked closely with um I think at this point most of the the the big high schools to go in. She brings in um community members from those populations to come in and um provide
049an example, make connections, spend time with the kids, increase their sense of belonging, and also provide information directly to students usually about why is this important? What are our are our community's hopes for you as a student? And make that important to them. And I think that's an important connection. She um she's spent a lot of time at um at all of the the high schools that have a high population in those um those groups to form those um those groups and clubs and um and support systems that continue after she leaves as well. >> Um thank you. Um, I'll pause then. >> Member Bellamy. >> Thank you. I can't remember how I sent the question in. Uh but um I mean I can't remember the exact phrasing but if given what we know and
050and I know we don't know it all and we sometimes don't know what we don't know but if we could predict future graduation what kinds of early interventions like with that ninth grader that member uh Higgins spoke about. You know, 9th grade's a fragile time. If kids are going to go off track, it's probably going to be then or it might be by grade 10. And for some, it's going to be that last year. Anyway, given what we know, what would be our recipe for graduation? We know attendance. We know teacher um connectedness uh relationships. uh we know um about building environments where students want to belong. So what what would our recipe be for? I know I didn't I sent in something like this. Okay, don't let it throw you too too bad. But
051I think there are some things we can we can agree on as a district that if we do and we don't if we do X this is going to XYZ whatever this is what's going to increase will continually increase our graduation rate. >> So I'll get us started. We've got some incredible educators up here with a lot of great input. Surely um I would point to our priority action steps. >> Yes. >> Which are in the document and the five we have selected uh which Chris has posted on the presentation slide right now uh are the northstar for us. uh and that is, you know, designing and using an early warning response system so that we know right away when students begin to fall off track in terms of attendance, in terms of passing classes,
052and in terms of GPA, GPA being one of those really important metrics to measure college readiness. Um we have attendance and developing a culture of attendance uh as one of those goals. We have expanding opportunities for CTE wherever possible as one of those goals. And that was selected because it's directly connected to high graduation rates. When students take two or more years of a CTE pathway class, they graduate at rates 95% and above. It's incredible. And then very exciting work now happening uh building stronger bridges and transition support for our eighth to 9th graders. And uh really to answer your question, board member Bellamy, making sure that our students feel well supported in their transition from middle to high school, that they belong, that there's a coherent uh program that makes sense to them, and
053that teachers are responsive and know the student is the most important thing we can do. And the research shows when students start strong in high school, they tend to have a strong trajectory throughout and beyond. >> Absolutely. Thank you, >> member Higgins. >> Thank you. I'm I'm I will of course be in Juno again in January with the lobby and my expense. Uh just for the record, um one of the things I'm tired of doing is asking about additional funding. So we don't do the cuts. I really want to get focused on adequate funding and what we would do as a result if we are more than a couple hundred million behind with school size with other things that would be top to bottom. What would be on our list if we had adequate funding
054for this and for other issues is important and you may not have an answer right now but if you had the funds that were available allowed us to get the additional teachers do other things what would be on that list that we are not doing to achieve higher goals because I'm tired of hearing until you get higher goals we're not going to give you teachers give me a break uh until you get higher goals we're not going to give you any more money that sort of approach but this is directly related by the same token and we're not telling them what we'd be doing additionally if we had the funds. And that's a big sales issue. We used to always ask for more career technology money, but we wouldn't tell them what we're going to
055do. We'll wait till you give it to us. It was not a very good sales approach. Um, and I see this as one here. This is this is a direct issue. Graduation rates, academic outcomes, the like. What are we doing that what we could be doing with additional funds that we are not doing today that we feel that would address this issue and help us look obviously it's going to help before they get to 9th grade that's a big plus but just focus on the graduation rates at this point I would like it doesn't have to be now but at some point a a kind of a good description of what we would do with additional funding it would be good to see that for the entire district before we go to Juno but what
056what are we missing because we don't have adequate funds and how we think that would address outcomes because I want to address that. I'm tired of hearing we don't pay, you know, we don't get enough outcomes if we, you know, the fact that we 200 million behind shouldn't make a difference. We got to focus on how much we need immediately, but we need to focus on what's adequate and why that would be a benefit. So, if you can think about that, you don't need to about it tonight because that's a pretty big question, but I would hope to see something like that. And I appreciate it. Thank you >> member lessons. >> Thanks. Um I wanted to again extend my gratitude for tonight's conversation. Um I did share kind of another technical question which was
057towards the end of what I sent. Um we have you know actual graduation data for individual schools. We also um we have the the ontrack for graduation metric. And I noticed that there was not a clear um link between our data for 12th graders who were on track for graduation and actual 12th grade graduation. And I wonder does something need to be recalibrated? Are we missing something? Does the administration have any thoughts about that sort of very specific technical question? Yeah, thank you for that question. Board member lessons, what a great question in terms of inspiring lots of inquiry and conversation over the last, you know, 48 hours. Um, I'm going to get us started and and Jason has some really important input on this. Um, so I think the the first thing to communicate
058is that in terms of administration's interim goal, our focus on is on grades 9 through 11, not seniors. And the reason for that, of course, is that grades 9 through 11 are a leading indicator um giving us insight as to where schools or student groups need support so that they're ready to graduate their senior year. I think that is a a very important initial statement. Um secondly, it's important to note that when you take the aggregate district-wide numbers, not school specific, but the total, the graduation rate and the senior ontrack rate are about a percent to 2% um apart. So it's much more predictable when you're looking at the aggret not school specific. As for the school specific data, um there are a number of factors at play which would explain why you have differences
059in some cases pretty significant differences between what is on track and what the graduation rate is. Um the most important of which involves special education. So I'm going to turn things over to Jason who can explain more. Yes. And some of that uh through the chair uh Kelly lessons. Um some of this really is going back to our students who are on a non-diploma track who are captured in this data set. I can tell you from a a special education department perspective, we we put a lot of value on the on track report. I can tell you, we sit down with our assistant directors and our team and we we run the report and we I don't know if it's evidence-based, but we we we get student names. And when you have a student's name,
060we know we reach out to specific schools, we reach out to the counselors, we it it just really really helps. And so from my perspective, the on track um it's it's a great tool. Um, it's a lead indicator. It's an early warning system that really does help us figure out names of kids who we need to have an extra phone call and a little bit of extra outreach. And so that's um really from our perspective why that's a on track. It's it's a good indicator and just helps us target our support. And I'm just going to put a just a finer point on that. So what Jason and the team have discovered is that you have a number of students in that cohort of non-diploma track highly concentrated at some of our high schools who
061may have the requisite number of credits, thus showing to be on track, but but they're not graduates, if that makes sense. And in some cases they represent 20 to 25% of the graduating cohort of special education students. Significant. Um and we ran numbers preliminary and that that seems to be the most important factor that um would help us understand why there's the discrepancy. Seeing no other questions from the board, that completes school monitoring for tonight. Thank you very much for the conversation and the work that made the conversation possible. Thank you team Dr. Bryant. [cough] We'll move on to C2 uh guardrail one lottery applicationbased programs. Dr. Bryant. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So we skipped a goal monitoring a few weeks ago, so that's why we're doubling up today. And this presentation focuses on
062the board's guardrail. So this is slightly different from the bo the g the board goal monitoring that focuses on what students know and are able to do and pivot more to other actions that we can do to facilitate better outcomes for kids. This guardrail focuses on ensuring that um under representation in lottery and applicationbased programs are not unress. So with me is our senior director of choice programs, Miss Robin Harris and myself. and we're happy to answer questions from the board on this topic. Um, it's very timely given we recently had a conversation with collocation opportunities with the Oceans Charter School is one example of a way that we can continue to open possibilities for our students in these programs. Um, Miss Harris, is there anything you'd like to share? >> Thank you, Dr. Bryant.
063Um, good evening members. I am Robin Harris. the senior director for choice schools which includes charter and um alternative schools and I just want to celebrate that we have met our goal a year early from 48.9% to 50.5 and we did see a little bit of decline in some of our applications um this year but that decrease represents about 12% of last year's pool um and it's not a collapse in interest but it's a shift in volume So it it speaks volumes as well. So when fewer families are applying um but the applica applicant pool becomes more representative of our district. I believe that signals progress and awareness and access and communication particularly among our communities that have historically been up under reppresented. So, I'm super excited that we have met that goal and we
064just want to sustain it and continue moving forward with the strategies that we've been using and and possibly adding some new strategies to get more applicants within that pool. >> I'm going to jump in with a question. I think the only question I have about this particular um guardrail, I don't see and I might have missed it, Miss Harris. So, I don't see transportation me uh mentioned. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Administration is going to be unveiling its proposed budget here within the next 60 days. Um, will administration be separating out the transportation funding allocated based on students in charter and/or optional programs to help as a lever to break down some of the barriers that we know exist. >> Thank you, Mr. President, that's a great question. It's certainly something that we're willing
065to to discuss, but what we want to make sure that the board is aware of is that if we were to treat charter schools as separate schools that generate their own transportation dollars, that's not necessarily enough transportation to extend access to the entire district. So, there really is an opportunity to consider various models. One would be to allocate enough funding for charter school transportation to have some sort sort of hub and spoke system. So, Mr. Anderson can help me with that. But to be transparent, what I'm much more excited about is the possibility of a collocation, a strategic collocation between a charter school and a neighborhood school. So, one example that we're discussing as a hypothetical would be um one of our charter school applicants. Just as an example would be Oceans. In this model,
066the charter school would be located within a neighborhood school in a vacant area on the campus. But what that does, it further unlocks opportunities that the sport has been asking for for a number of years because should we have a charter school colllocated in a comprehensive building, it opens the door for transportation because then we could say if you live in that neighborhood zone as a charter school student at that particular school, you could and join the the Betty Davis bus that'll go to that building regardless. And similarly, um I've heard other feedback from board members that we want to expand access to student nutrition. We want to expand services and amenities to our charter school families. Um, and that's something that's also possible with the collocation. Now, another example I want to point out
067would be other changes. So, for example, the Abbott Loop facility, the Lake Hood facility, and the UNCA Valley facility are also hosting charter school programs. That's a gamecher when it comes to how we service charter schools within the Anchorage School District because now for the first time those schools for example are able to offer as um a way to attract families an opportunity for free reduced price lunch if those students qualify for those programs. The alternative was when those charter schools were in non-traditional spaces and that wasn't an option because they weren't equipped with the the student nutrition facilities. And similarly, this collocation opportunity that we're exploring could address this for one particular school. So that's on the micro level. To President Jacob's point, there's an opportunity to consider a macro change. Um, my caution
068to the board is that if we move very quickly on that end, there will need to be some sort of investment on the district side because we simply wouldn't generate enough dollars for enough buses to to really meet the the broader picture of what I where I think the board is going, which is to dramatically expand access and opportunities to charter schools because we need to balance the charter school transportation system with the 200 buses that serve our special education students and general comprehensive schools. So, this is a really meaty topic. Um, I'm happy to discuss that further, but again, I'm open to it, but my focus is on starting small with a strategic collocation versus a whole scale hub and spoke going into next fiscal year. >> Thank you for the question, Dr. Bryant.
069Wasn't an easy one to answer. I'll just um state that my interest in addition to everything you stated is to highlighting how poorly our state is funding student transportation. And um I think we need to start saying the quiet part out loud. member Bellaming. >> And that point can go on member member uh Higgin's list of talking points for the legislators. >> Um anyway, I I sent in a few questions. Um have we looked and I'm glad that there is an increase among our underrepresented groups of students to to get into our choice program? Uh transportation is a huge um um barrier. Um but I guess I'm interested in two things. Number one, why what are the reasons? Do we have we look to see why parents aren't taking advantage of? Do we think it's
070transportation? Do we know? So what data have we gotten from families um as to what the barriers are for that preventing them from uh applying even applying let alone going um and then when we look at like our immersion programs uh and and uh other special pro you know alternative schools uh any application based program my question is uh I don't know h how are we Um, how are we doing the outreach? I mean, do we think people know about the programs? I mean, if if you're not in the know, I mean, if you're in the pipeline for immersion, you just, you know, you know that that's for you. You're going to do it year after year. It's more difficult to get into an immersion program in fourth grade or fifth grade. All right. So,
071at what point in that pipeline are we really having conversations with other than people who already exist in those programs? How do we expand the opportunity? I don't have the answer. I mean, I struggle with this, but what are we looking at any systemic changes or programmatic changes that might attract provide this opportunity? We've been speaking a lot about the barriers um for our our communities and I know that um some of our principles are reaching out to the preschools for the kindergarten because that's our biggest group of students that are coming in at any given time, especially in our immersion programs. So, they are reaching out to those preschools to get the flyers and having conversations with those families pre, you know, pre-entering into kindergarten. We also have our fairs, our alternative fairs that
072we have a hold every single year um in February and there are actually three of them. Um there is a choice fair that is at the heritage center and then there's one at the Lusk and then there's one that we hold at baggage every year. And so um all of our social media outlets are blasted with all of that information as well. and our um schools are going to each and every one of those fairs, not just our own, but to those that are outside of ASD, including that heritage fair and into the um Lusac library as well. So, that outreach is happening. Um most I would say 95 to 99% of our our schools are having tours on a regular basis, not just during our lottery time, but during the entire school year. So
073parents and families can take a look before deciding the next year and reaching out to those individuals that that are having have kindergarten students because like I said again that is the largest class that is incoming for most of our schools. Um but there are bigger numbers in some of our other groups as well with my alternative group that has stellar has sixth grade and so does stream has sixth grade as well. So just having that outreach to those other neighborhood schools and I know that they are in those schools talking with those families on a regular basis. Um, and I don't know if you have any other to talk about immersion. >> Oops. There you go. >> Yep. >> Uh, good evening everybody. I'm Brandon Lock, director of world languages and immersion programs. I'll
074just add to what uh, Miss Harris said. Um, the the two events, the one at the LUAC and the one at the Heritage Center are communitydriven events. They're not specific to ASD. So, um, we've got, you know, there are also, uh, private schools that attend, um, but the the one that is at the LUSAC also does a lot of outreach with, um, focusing on preschool. And so, there's a lot of of of students who, um, or families, I should say, who have incoming kindergarteners. And so we strategically make sure that our ASD event occurs after the other two public events so that we can because we are there at at both of those handing out um information about our ASD specific event so that they see all of the options that um have available to
075to them if they weren't you know if they didn't have the the knowledge or the um the background in terms of what ASC does have to offer. >> Okay. So, we haven't done a survey to specifically ask parents about um why they might or might not be interested in our choice schools. >> At this at this time, we have not done that. Um we've thought about an enrollment. Anyone enrolling in ASD, just talk asking those couple of questions that would need to be on the enrollment form with our new um system. Once we get that on board, we're hoping to have um a questionnaire on there as well asking why they've applied to these schools as well, so we can have that data as well because I know that that's important to the board to
076as why they want to get to the correspondent school or to a charter school or something of that nature. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Member Higgins. >> Yeah, I'm going to echo a little bit what the superintendent said. I didn't talk about him talking about that earlier, but putting charter schools, putting optional programs more in some of the title one area schools was something I remember he mentioned his history, his past a little bit with experience and that always appealed to me somewhat. Uh because I know I talked to principles who talk about in low income, they've got a lot of parents who are more fluent going and taking optional programs going elsewhere. I don't know what the numbers are for the number of students entering kindergarten that are behind where they should be for
077starting and how directly related that is to title one schools as well. Um seems logical that it may be because you've got a lot of reasons for it within that. But is there is there once again I hope to see some sort of list of things like this uh that we can do to accomplish things. But I do like the idea of the optional programs in in some of our regular some of our normal other schools, title one schools. Uh cuz those kids have just as much potential as anyone else. Uh but they need the resources. They need the options. They need to be challenged. And some of those kids, I don't think get the challenge the way they are because you're teaching to the majority in a classroom and that slows them down. So
078I just I like that approach an awful lot. Thank you. Not seeing any other questions for the team regarding the guardware report. Thank you so much for making time, Dr. Brian. Appreciate the the the new monitoring method. >> That brings us to section D, public comments. Welcome to the board's first and only opportunity for public comment this evening. The board has set aside a 1-hour time slot at the beginning of the meeting for public comment. We should be able to accommodate all testifiers. During public comment, board members will not answer questions or engage in discussion with members of the public. This is the public's time to speak and the board's time to listen. The board welcomes the public to observe and contribute to our meetings through their comments. However, our meetings must be structured and
079civil. We utilize Robert's rules of order, a set of rules that has been used since the late 1800s. Example provisions of the Robert's rules of order include do not attack a member speaker's motives. No profanity or foul language. Please refrain from disturbing the meeting. No cheering, applause, outbursts or waving of signs or posters. If you have handouts you wish to share with the board, please give them to Miss Sullivan who's seated to my left. Uh there is more information and details at the handout that can be found at the door when you enter our boardroom. As always, we'll begin with our student testifiers and their parents. Our first two speakers tonight are Conrad Spalain and Katherine Smith. Welcome, Conrad. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> I am Conrad, a first grade
080at RIA. Our school should be part of the CIP we are running out of time that are your plans for us. Reil is ASD. I am RIA. I am a stands for respect, integrity, leadership, kindness, and excellence. Donate. Merry Christmas. >> Merry Christmas. Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Miss Smith. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Good evening, Katherine Smith. I'm a parent of a first grader at Rilka. To quote another parent in the room, at RIka, our kids are seen, valued, and connected. Parents are involved. Our success shows it. Help our kids. Our leadership is looking for the ASB to provide a real direction for our program. What is your PR plan for Rilka? Time is is of the essence. Again, ASD administration has provided two short-term immediate needs options for
081modifications at the Abbott Loop facility to be safe and functional for the next 12 to 24 months. RIA students are ASD students. ASD is a landlord and the building is your responsibility for repairs and maintenance. Immediate facility needs encompass objectives that address safety within the building along with accommodating continued growth. One of the options provided by the ASD administration in this afternoon's work session should be included in the CIP bond package. You need to think about Raila's future. Our leadership still needs to understand the cost for exploring our short-term and our longerterm facility options at the Abbott Loop facility or other facilities as they become available during a right sizing process. As a parent, I'm asking you the board to make decisions. We need a list of required repairs and associated costs for the Abbott
082Loop building to be presented to Rilk's leadership in order to make fiscally responsible and educated decisions. As a governing body, I expect our APC to use the information to understand all of cost considerations for repairs and maintenance of the Abbott Loop facility for our current enrollment needs along with our anticipated enrollment projections over the next two years. Abbott Loop currently does not meet our program's needs with projected continued growth for more than 500 plus students. Our enrollment is increasing, not declining, contrary to many other ASD schools. As a reminder, memorandum 128 does not satisfy the priority given to the ROA ROA. Thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Annabelle Slinker and Sylvie Wlands. Welcome, Annabelle. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Thank you for the opportunity to speak again
083this for this event. I'm Anna Slinker and I'm a freshman at West High School. I represent Girl Scout Troop 436 in our bioglitter initiative. Two weeks ago, we shared why our troop believes plastic glitter is a problem worth addressing. I'm We are here again today to reinforce the message and share the continued support we've seen. This effort began with the idea from my fellow Girl Scout Sylvia Wayland who recognized how big a problem as something small as glitter can be. Our troop rally behind her rally behind her and it has grown into an initi into the initiative we are presenting today. Over the past several months, we've been studying plastic litter, which is a microplastic. While it may look harmless, microfastics like glitter have been found in stomachs of wildlife in Alaskan waters, lakes, beaches,
084and even tap water. It is also in classrooms, especially where younger students may use the most glitter. This these tiny plastics don't just harm the environment, they can carry chemicals that can impact human health, especially children. Our initiative focuses on replacing plastic clear with biodegradable alternatives and encourage and encouraging simple sustainable choices. We also developed resources that explain this issue including an educational website. We spoken with teachers and 100% of those who responded to our survey said that they would replace plastic litter with safer options. We also presented to the student advisory board and student support this initiative as well. Tonight we ask you to support Metorium 102. By voting yes, the Anchorage School District can lead Alaska in protecting our water, our wildlife, and students and our future. Plastic is tiny, but removing it
085is a big step forward. Thank you for your time and helping us turn one of Girl Scouts into lasting community impact. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Sylvia. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hello, my name is Sylvia Wayland and I'm a freshman at Polaris. I am a member of Girl Scout Troop 436 and we are here to talk to you about glitter and the ever growing problem of microlastics in our schools and communities. Microplastics are officially defined as any plastic smaller than 5 mm in size, about the diameter of a pencil. Microplastics have negative impacts on the environment and our health. Did you know that according to a 2019 study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund, humans consume about 5 g of plastic per week? That's the equivalent of
086eating a credit card or plastic bag weekly. The bioglitter initiative has three layers. The first is that we are trying to get to the purchase and distribution of plastic glitter banned from the Anchorage School District. That's the surface layer. The second layer is it's about the second layer is we're trying to ban it because it's a microplastic and implementing the policy at the school district at the district level to reduce the use of glitter and pico friendly alternatives uh helps to educate people on the harms and risks that microplastics can cause. The third level is that this project is about showing that anyone can make a difference, even seven ninth graders from Alaska. Through this experience, I have learned about the power of working together as a team and standing up as students and as
087a community for what we believe in. We have come a long way from me trying to do this alone with in sixth grade with an informal petition signed by 20 friends and teachers. Now look where we are and what we've accomplished. The only thing standing between us and our goals being achieved is a yes vote from each of you tonight. Thank you for so much for your support. We are honored to be here >> and thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Althia Parish and McKenzie Elliot. Welcome. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Hello, my name is Althia Parish and I am a west um a student at West Anchorage High School and a member of Girl Scout Troop 436. We are here to introduce a way to take
088microplastics out of Anchorage School District and make it a safer place for everyone. In order to spread awareness about the microplastics issue in our community, our troop hosted a Girl Scout event called the Glitter Gala and Governance. This workshop having over 100 Girl Scouts consisted of fun-filled activities from a photo booth to glitter face paint toformational station concerning microplastics in Alaska. Here, these kids were given the opportunity to learn about how they can make a real change in their communities, even if what they're doing is small. They were given a chance to write letters to the school board about the bioglitter initiative and share how their voice can make a difference. So from Parker B, we have she said that the biogra biodegradable glitter um is a good idea because normal glitter doesn't break down
089and it may end up injuring any animals who may come across it and potentially eat it. Uh Kadia said that keeping our planet alive, keep our planet alive so that we can be alive. Um Amara said that plastic litter pollutes our waters and hurts our fish. Um Evelyn also said that please help keep the pure Alaskan water stay pure. And then Summer said, "No more plastic litter and save our marine animals." Um, this shows how kids can do anything, no matter how big or small, and keep and still have an impact on the community and find a way for their voices to be heard. We've also gotten a letter from Kevin Hall, who is president of the an annual res uh resonance fair. He is already making a difference in Anchorage by declaring that they
090will work to remove plastic glitter at the next 2026 summer uh Renaissance fair and encourages their 400 plus actors and over 100 vendors to do the same and instead use more eco-friendly alternatives like bioglitter. Vanage school district could help as well by voting yes on the resolution to introduce alternatives to plastic glitter such as biodegradable glitter. This is why we hope you will vote yes to plastic biograde initiative. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome McKenzie. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Hello, my name is Mackenzie Elliot. I'm a member of Troop 436 and a freshman at South High School. At this time, I would like to invite all of the Girl Scouts and their families to stand and show their support of the bioglitter initiative aimed
091at banning plastic litter in all ASD schools. Each of these Girl Scouts will be earning a democracy badge today for their contribution to our initiative. We hope that the Anchorage School Board recognizes the support and passes a ban on the plastic litter. Thank you. >> And thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Charlotte Nelson and Emily Brewbaker. >> Welcome Charlotte. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Thank you. Hello. My name is Charlotte Nelson and I am a freshman at South Anchorage High School and I am representing Girl Scout Troop 436 and our project, the Bioglare Initiative. As part of the Bioglare Initiative, we want to implement biodegradable glitter in art classrooms across the district. We want ASD to be a leader in sustainability and our teachers agree. During
092the October 23rd art teachers inservice meeting, we introduced the bioglare initiative and our mission to replace plastic glitter in classrooms with biodegradable glitter. At this meeting, we handed out a survey concerning glitter use in their classrooms. Of the teachers who responded, 100% of them stated that they would support our efforts of banning plastic glitter in ASD. Additionally, 100% of teachers who took our survey agreed that they would swap plastic glitter in their classrooms with um environmentally safe materials. Because of the positive response, we have prov provided over 30 biodegradable glitter kits to elementary art school teachers for no cost. These kits include a variety of bioglitter as well as lesson plans, materials, and videos for them to implement in their classrooms. As you can see, we have already gained support from our teachers for our
093resolution. We hope you consider supporting our efforts as well. Passing this resolution would be a momentous step forward. Please consider supporting our resolution and vote yes on the bioglare initiative. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Emily. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hello, my name is Emily Brewbaker and I'm a freshman at West Anchorage High School. I'm also a member of troop 436 and I'm representing the bioglitter initiative. While our troop has already provided numerous teachers with free biodegradable art kits, as Charlotte has said, we are also planning to distribute even more eco-friendly glitter to art teachers and teachers in ASD. Um, if the resolution is passed, we will be sending out a survey to teachers and using the data collected, we will provide those teachers with biodegradable
094glitter. Many teachers have asked us what they should do with the plastic glitter that they already have in their classrooms. We are planning on accepting donations of plastic glitter from teachers and will be using it to create a resin and glitter sculpture highlighting the harmful effects of microplastics. We are hoping that the sculpture will be made during an intensive at Polaris K12 school. In addition to providing free bioglitter, Troop 436 would be giving free copies of the book I wrote called All That Glitters is Not Gold to libraries in the Anchorage School District. This book is written for young children ages 5 to 8 and teaches them from a young age about microlastics and what they can use instead. We hope that children and young adults like ourselves are inspired by your momentous steps towards
095a healthier and environmentally sound Alaska by voting yes on the bioglitter initiative. Thank you >> and thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Ethan Miranda. >> Welcome Ethan. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Ethan Miranda and I'm an 11th grader at South Anchorage High School. I am also a member of the civic leadership program, also known as CLP. One of the things I love about CL is how the program teaches us to be respectful and civil members of society. I love how the program teaches us that if there is an injustice in our community, then we have a civil responsibility to do something about it. There are multiple injustices in our school community right now. But this evening, I would like to bring
096to attention an inequality that goes on in the program I am currently in. This year, the district allowed for the CLP graduating class of 2028 and later to receive a weighted GPA on their transcript. However, the district neglected to give the class of 2027, my class, a weighted GPA. My peers and I have interpreted this as a gross injustice and we aim to correct it. To us, this seems that the district doesn't care about us. To us, it seems that the district thought that these kids will graduate in a year or so. So, what's the point in changing their GPA right now? Even though we will graduate in a few years, a weighted GPA would mean so much to us. By granting us a greater GPA, we receive better chances at making it into our
097dream colleges. It would act as a motivator us motivator for us to keep working hard and it would help our grades compete with kids who are taking AP classes instead of CL. Future CLP classes have already been granted a weighted GPA. So why is it so wrong to to give us that privilege? Ultimately, I see inequality in giving CLP classes except my class a weighted GPA. I think that we work really hard and I believe that we deserve a weighted GPA because uh or please show us that we are not ignored. Please show us, please do the equitable thing and resolve this issue because when you resolve it, it will bring fairness to our program. And I know that it will make a lot of juniors this year very happy. Thank you. >> Thank you
098for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Cole Wy Flint and Heather Wilson. Welcome, you have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Hello board members. Uh my name is Cole Flint and I am a student at South Anchorage High School and also a member of the CLP program. Uh for the past three years I have struggled and succeeded in the CLP program. I have put in numerous late night studying sessions, put in a lot of hard work and I am not a straight A student. I have struggled in a lot of classes but in CLP I have succeeded. I decided to challenge and push myself with more difficult classes. CLP shines where it's volunteer hours. Sorry. Every year students have to do CL uh volunteer hours 80 hours in order to finish the program.
099Many of my peers have helped struggling younger students as well as helped others elders. The discrepancy lies in your ruling. giving a weighted GPA to the class of 2028 in the CLP program, but not the class of 2027. The weighted GPA is a way of showing that all of our peers and I have worked very hard. I strongly I strongly believe that the class of 2027 should receive a weighted GPA. Thank you >> and thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Miss Wilson. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> My name is Heather Wilson. I'm the parent of a junior at South High School. This is my kid, Cole. Um, the program was started about three years ago and just for background for the audience, it was designed as an alternative curriculum that
100shifted away from traditional AP classes and focus more on critical thinking and civic engagement. Students in the CLP program can take a UAA dual enrollment college English and history classes at South High School beginning their sophomore year. And they also complete a capstone community service project with a minimum of 80 volunteer hours um ending with a public presentation of their work. In April 2024, the school board approved the administrative regulation 5121, which awarded weighted grades for all of college coursework, effectively acknowledging the rigor of these classes. However, this regulation was only extended to the freshman cohort who would start high school in fall 2024, thus excluding students who are currently taking dual credit classes but were not freshmen in 2024. As the regulation is currently written, not all actively enrolled students doing the approved coursework
101for weighted grades will receive weighted credit. Concerns have been raised that extending the timeline for [clears throat] implementing the policy to current students would bring unfair changes to mid-career students. But I argue that many of these students are making changes mid-career anyways when they take opt to take more or less AP classes. I view these early students as some of the pioneers of our school district. They enrolled in a new dual college high school credit program with a goal of receiving college level education and community experience while still in high school. And these early cohorts did so at the expense of receiving weighted grades in the traditional AP and IB classes they could have taken. I applaud the district's awarding of weighted grades to dual enrollment classes. But I believe it has a duty to
102extend this award to all students in these classes that are currently enrolled beginning in fall 2025. The best solution would be to make a small revision to the current regulation language to say that all dual credit classes will be weighted beginning in fall 2025. This would both implement the change consistent with the intended timeline and make the change available not just to the class of 2028, but more equitably to all students currently taking dual enroll. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our last two student testifiers are Kylie Ketchkowski and Logan Champlas. Welcome, Kylie. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hello again, ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is Kylie Chicowski and I'm a junior at South Anchorage High School in the civic leadership program. Based on your closing statements,
103I heard at the last meeting I understood there were some concerns that me and my peers are overachieving students that are simply chasing a higher GPA. I want to be perfectly clear that what we're looking for is fairness and equality. Throughout high school, my classmates and I have taken college level courses that started after April of 2024 when the weighted grade administrative regulation AR5121 was put into place. And these classes require significant time, effort, and responsibility. We have taken the exact same courses, followed the same curriculum, and met the same expectations as the class of 2028 and further on. However, there's one major difference. Their grades are weighted. Ours are not. This policy has created an inequity that directly impacts our class. Even though we completed identical college level coursework, our GPA do not reflect
104the rigor of what we have done. This is not about taking opportunities away from these classes. Their achievements are well-earned. But fairness means that the same work should be recognized in the same way. GPA matters for college admissions, scholarships, and class rank. However, I want to be perfectly clear. A higher class rank is not what I'm seeking. When students who compete who complete the same courses are evaluated differently based solely on their graduating class, it places one group at a disadvantage through no fault of their own. Equity means consistency. It means acknowledging effort equally. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider this policy and assure that students who have done the same work are treated the same because fairness and education should not depend on what year you graduate. It should depend on the work
105you do. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome. Welcome Logan. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Logan. I am 15 years old and I am a freshman at Highland Academy Charter School. Today I want to talk about why teachers deserve to be paid more. I've taught kids before. And I want to be honest, it's hard. Very hard. Teaching isn't explaining lessons. It's keeping kids focused, staying patient, and making sure no one feels left out. It's repeating things over and over without getting frustrated. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. And that was only for a short time. Now, imagine doing that every single day. Teachers don't just teach subjects. They teach confidence. They teach kindness. They teach kids how to
106believe in themselves. They they notice when a student is struggling. They stay after school to help. They spend their own money on supplies. They show up even when they're tired, stressed, or dealing with problems in their own lives. And yet, our teachers are still underpaid. That doesn't make sense. Teachers teachers help shape who we become. Every future doctor, leader, and worker starts in the classroom with a teacher who cared to try enough. If teaching kids was difficult for me and I only did it for a short amount of time, then then teachers who do this as their career deserve way more respect and support. They deserve fair pay, not just thank yous, because shaping lives isn't easy, and the people who do it every day deserve more. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony.
107That completes our student testifier list for tonight. Thank you for all of the young people who joined us. Our first two community speakers to be heard are Erica Arnold and Christa Sandhuffner. >> Welcome, Miss Arnold. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Good evening. Um, as you know, our scores as a state and nation are not what we'd like to see as a community. So, let me see if I could explain why in under two minutes. A major downfall was handed down to us in 2002 as the awful No Child Left Behind was introduced with endless cycles of testing producing students that were only proficient at filling in bubbles. Next, in 2010, Common Core steam rolls in and it's not developmentally appropriate. Nothing's being taught to mastery. And before we are forced
108to move on, oh, and and before we are forced to move on, got to love a pacing guide. Our attendance guidelines hold no one accountable for the lack of kids in their seats when the bell rings. Class sizes are out of control. How on earth can one adult meet the meet the needs of 28 kids? And we don't follow brain science. Eight-year-olds need movement every 20 minutes, but we test them more than we teach them. Our state tests require hours of sitting. Play is the curriculum for young kids. It builds resilience and problem solving and executive function. But we took that out to standardized test each of our kindergarteners eight times a year. Here's some ideas that we should implement immediately. Every executive, decision maker, and board member should have to sub in a classroom
109a few times every year. No admin, coaching, or PLT positions should be filled until all classroom positions are filled with a certificated educator. Your millions of dollars spent on new curriculum means nothing if your class sizes are too large. So, let's get back to the basics. Lower class sizes. Priorities should be placed on early childhood development and not how well they perform on a standardized test. Um, follow through with closing or consolidating identified schools and redistrict areas to consolidate our very limited resources. Teaching right now feels like holding back a title wave with my bare hands. I deserve support, not scu scrutiny, and most of all, a fair and equitable contract. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Miss Henhoffner. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> My name is
110Christa Sandhoffner, sixth grade ELA teacher at the Central Middle School of Science. Uh 24th year teaching, tier 2 teaching a 1.2. Again, I hold a K through 8 teaching license in Alaska, master's degree. My 12th year in sixth grade, fifth year teaching the district adopted ELA program springboard, which I actually teach with aid fidelity. I have taken multiple classes through ASD, specifically on Springboard. I have gone through a three-day training to be qualified to support other teachers with the curriculum. I'm here to tell you that as of now, I have magically become unqualified to teach exactly what I have been for the past 12 years until I pass another practice test since I am now in a different building. I have failed once, $160 each time. My results were all in the average range, yet
111not good enough. Don't worry, I will eventually pass because now I pay $60 a month for study.com, which is the official test prep and research partner practice. This means our study materials and practice questions are specifically aligned with the actual exam content and standards. I am teaching myself to the test. For example, what reference materials are most commonly used to locate quickfax? The answer is almanac, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. When is the last time you pulled out your encyclopedia? Based on research, which of the following instructional strategies is most likely to improve the language acquisition of English language learners? Bilingual instruction or immersion in Englishonly instruction? The answer is bilingual instruction. ASD's philosophy, immersion in English only instruction. Like two years ago when I was refused help getting the springboard curriculum for a monilingual that wanted
112it in both English and Spanish. I translated it myself. During a class discussion, a student interrupts another student. As a teacher, what would be the most appropriate response? You stop the discussion and reiterate the guidelines for respectful conversation. Have you been in the classroom lately? I strongly suggest when you send out letters to my families, you also let all the families who have students being taught by a sub this year. No, with zero certifications or teaching training program know, we regularly re-evaluate what is best for our students, but when is the last time you re-evaluated what is best for your teachers? [clears throat] >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are David Hardy and William Baxter. Welcome, Mr. Herurie. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Uh, my name is
113Mr. Hardy. I hold three graduate degrees including education administration and MBA from Westminster and I've worked in challenging school districts nationwide. I was also recognized as a top performing executive in a Fortune50 company. I'm here because ASD's current approaches no longer address today's challenges. Historically, a school district could rely on enrollment simply by existence. Families had few alternatives. that no longer exists. Education is now a highly competitive environment. Declining enrollment shows ASD is not adapted to shifting market pressures from competitors like homeschools and AI. Financial consequences are in inevitable for districts that fail to act in a timely manner. has seen uh nationwide leadership sets direction and decides where uh whether we simply react to crisis uh or take action to grow enrollment. This district requires leadership that treats education as a public trust and
114a competitive business aggressively enhancing quality, boosting employee morale and developing community funded programming to win families back to ASD. I urge the board to critically assess the leadership strategy steering this the district. The board cannot control oil prices or state decisions, but you do control the district's leadership uh strategy. You must evaluate the current strategies in place and ask, are parents and students satisfied or are they looking elsewhere? To get different outcomes, we must choose a different direction. Our students deserve proactive solutions, not just crisis management. Let's prepare ASD now for future market demands by making strong leadership choices today. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Mr. Baxter. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hi, William. I'm William Paxter and uh I read a a book a long
115time ago called magic magic thinking big and you know I I think big because I and uh and my what I do is I is uh is big too and uh the people that do these uh stickers I buy from like the FFA uh uh store or the 4H store, they're thinking big too. And uh and uh I thought I was the only one who wear stickers and patches and all. I see these uh girl scout girls wearing them too. But you know there's there's a a lot of lot of you know I read this book about uh another book about a guy like a it's a motivational book where she would uh put uh stuff on like this and it's a conversational piece and and and also when I go and place like uh
116like the municipal uh uh league conference this last year I mean this last week and uh I walk through there and uh and People look at me and they start talking and people look at me and start talking and then there's a power in it and uh thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Thomas Fairchild and Corey A. Okay. Uh Thomas Fairchild and Katie Bishoff. Welcome, Mr. Fairchild. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Uh, thank you, chair, and you can just call me Thomas. My students call me Mr. Fairchild. Uh, hello board. Um, I'm Thomas Fairchild. Uh, I'm a recent Washington transplant. Uh, got here back in March. Still working on my Alaska sense of humor, but I think I'm getting close. For example, uh, you
117know, I became a teacher for the high pay. Thank you. I'll be here all week. Uh, so, um, you know, when I got to Anchorage, I thought this place is like better than Seattle in like pretty much every single way, right? Like the houses are cheaper, the food is better, the people are like tons better, right? Like you can actually have a freaking conversation with people in line, right? How about that? Uh, I mentioned I got here in March, right? Then I got in the schools. Um, so I mean I was making more as a long-term sub than I am here as a as a first year teacher. Despite the fact that I was a long-term sub for two and a half years, I'm still being paid as a a year zero teacher. Um, [laughter]
118you know, I I have six or seven endorsements. Okay. Okay. There's two smiles here. Okay. So, at least two of you spend time with middle schoolers. That's good to see. Yeah. The words of the year are 67 and rage bait. And if you don't spend any time in schools, uh you might know what I'm talking about, but you don't know. You don't know. You have no idea. You know, in Washington, they're having having a really hard time because their budget is dropping, which means families move away because the housing prices are so high, right? Budgets drop, families move away, and they don't have any money to hire new teachers. So, they have people from the district now that are going in uh because they're cutting district staff. So, how about this? Before we get to
119that point and start cutting district staff, someone before mentioned, why don't we have district staff come in and fill some of those vacancies? Spend a week or two in the classroom. I invite you, any community member, come into my classroom anytime. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Miss Bishoff. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Thank you. I'm Katie Bishoff. I am a first grade teacher at Ravenwood Elementary and I'm a product of the ASD. I've been teaching uh here since 2013, but I spent kindergarten through 12th grade in the Anchorage School District. Some of you knew me during that time. Um, but I'm not here tonight as an educator. I'm actually here tonight as a parent for this little one and my other at home who's going to be kindergarten
120next year. And I'm really worried for them. Um, our resignations this year are in the hundreds just like the last few years. As far as I understand, we've got 140 openings. Um, and our solution to budget concern seems to be to continue increasing class sizes. I want my kids to have qualified educators in a class size that allows them to get that quality education. They deserve that and so does every other kid in our community. Um, what educators deserve is compensation that keeps up with inflation. Uh, that makes us competitive with alternative districts around us because there's lots of rumors going around about how much more we could make if we drove an extra half hour to the valley. I don't want to do that, but I can understand why some people are talking about
121it. Um, and also compensation that keeps up with our increasing health insurance premiums because we have families too and we're trying to provide for them. Um, I this is my second June baby that I was unlucky enough to have because that means you take unpaid leave if you want to spend more than six weeks with them. And the reality is that having a baby isn't just about recovering from a medical procedure, but it's about building a community member who's going to be part of our schools someday. And so I invested that time in them, but that meant that I took a pay cut. Um, and when you come back, you get some pay cut as well for the rest of the year. It's super fun. But as I said, I believe in investing in them
122and I will do everything in my power to do that and I hope that you will as well. My encouraging the administrators in your presence who are part of the bargaining team that's working through arbitration with us right now and may soon impose a last best offer. Encourage them to make sure that we're offered compensation that's going to allow us to raise our families have strong classroom support. >> And thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Deiani Chapman and Eric Peterson. Aaron Peterson. Diani Chapman and Aaron Peterson. Welcome. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Great. Thank you so much. My name is Danni Chapman. I'm the state director of Alaska Environment Research and Policy Center and I'm here to encourage you to vote yes in the bioglitter initiative
123and remove plastic glitter from Anchorage schools. Uh in the summer of 2023, I worked with a Crant fellow to test 39 water sources in South Central Alaska for microplastics and we found them in 100% of samples, including Anchorage tap water. This isn't surprising. Plastic pollution has been found on the top of Mount Everest and at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It's in our drinking water, our food, and our ecosystems. Plastic accumulates other toxic chemicals that are out in our environment, including things like DDT and PCBs. Plastics can also include chemicals that are linked to cancer, fertility problems, developmental issues, and other health concerns both in people and in wildlife. Other studies that indicate that salmon that are exposed to microplastics move slower and become less adept at avoiding predators. Other animals that mistake microplastics
124for food can clog their digestive systems, preventing them from eating actual food. New research has even linked greater concentrations of microplastics in human brains to early onset degenerative diseases like dementia. Bottom line, plastic pollution, including microplastic pollution, is bad for our environment, bad for people, and bad for our kids. There are a lot of steps that we need to take to protect our health and the environment from plastic. and removing plastic litter from our schools is one of them. I've been working with the Girl Scout Troop 436 on their campaign and it's been exciting to see how robust the public support is from the community. Once people learn about the issue, teachers are on board, kids are on board, parents are on board. Please vote yes on the bioglitter initiative and help us become a
125healthier and more sustainable community. >> Thank you for your testimony. Welcome. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. Hello, my name is Aaron Peterson, but don't worry, I'm still angry. Oh, I'd like to talk about systems. All systems have a breaking point in the profession of teaching in Alaska is at its critical mass. You don't need to understand how teaching works. You just need to understand balance. Okay, let's start with a normal workday, which is of course teaching. Now, of course, to compensate, we have our salary for this core function. Okay, we also have our retirement and health benefits. And then something that many teachers attribute to being the reason for teaching itself is positive interactions. So here's our blue stack. Okay. As the years have progressed, there have been a number of
126additions and subtractions. Let's talk about grading. Grading has never been compensated as part of the normal workday. If it did, we worked four days of teaching and one day of grading every week week. Okay. Then we have working lunch, extra help, and makeup work. Now, other things emerge. We have new curriculums, new preps, and if you're a new teacher, the average is about three of these. Now, we'd have new behavior. Okay? And then we have parent emails. Okay? Then the logist logistics, excuse me, increase pressure. Okay, we have new technology. Uh teachers must learn to manage them and their students with them. Then sub shortages come up. Suddenly teachers can't new prep or email or grade. Class sizes increase and cost of living. From class sizes, we get more behaviors, more emails, and more. behaviors.
127Hey, on top of all that, we get to tell you about all of that and how angry are that you don't understand the system. Thank you for your testimony. Our next two speakers are Drew Hustenfelt and Lee Butterfield. Welcome, Mr. Huskville. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Hello. If Miss Sullivan was to look at the signup sheets for testimony, she would be able to tell you that I have signed up to testify at every meeting until teachers in your district have a competitive contract. Now, one could claim that this is a silly idea in that there is just not enough one man could say to this board without being repetitive, childish, or impedent. I agree and would like to submit my testimony two weeks ago as evidence. I was frustrated and
128I wanted you to be frustrated. I felt disrespected and unheard as though my time and energy were of no value to the very people who govern the institution I choose to serve as my profession and calling. I'm sorry I lashed out, wasted your time, and made a silly scene during what are far from silly conversations. You see, I teach my students the importance of owning up to one's mistakes, and I abore ever being seen as a hypocrite in character. Thus, my respectful apology and attempt at making amends to a board that has to decide how to navigate a collapsing system. I have found a healthier and more productive way to channel my rage when considering my larger class sizes, added demands, smaller paychecks, and the general feeling of being disrespected by the people who declare
129my grade importance when it serves their own purposes. I will be working from from now on only to contract. No more grading outside of school. No more open doors during lunch. I will no longer spend my energy and time developing the relationships that you just touted that you depend on to collect the data that drives decisions forced on the classroom. The best part of this healthy relationship or transition is that I don't need anyone's permission but my own. Which until this year has been the hardest permission to get. I am done. I will fill the space, say the words, click the buttons, and pencil pencil whip whatever pile of paperwork you pass my way. But I will no longer give you my professional services for free. And I encourage my brothers and sisters behind me
130to do the same. We will then see how long this system lasts without our effort outside of our contract. Thank you. >> And thank you for your testimony. Welcome, Mr. Butterfield. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> My name is Lee Butterfield. In about a month, I will vote yes to strike. Over the last 6 months, we have been meeting with teachers who claim they are scared to speak this in this forum about their experiences and their needs as your front line. That's right. The very people you depend on to be the foundational structure of your system fear speaking to you. It is for that reason that Mr. Huskin has offered to act as a conduit to share testimony with you on behalf of his colleagues across the district. You see, it
131is not you they are afraid of. They're afraid of the people to your right and the power those people have over the people who can utilize logistic levers separate from the evaluation systems to make teachers lives miserable. It seems ridiculous to think that the system would utilize a culture of fear to silence your core workforce. But please listen to the following two sentences which can be found within the inside ASD article sent to employees last Friday titled AEA contract bargaining status. The story reads, quote, "Without additional legislative support, ASD will have to cut staff and programs to balance the budget for next year. These cuts will likely have a disproportionate impact on non-tenured educators hired within the last few years." End quote. I know the fear of getting pink slipped. These lines are not for
132the purpose of educating teachers on the reality of our district, but for the purpose of scaring young teachers into keeping their heads down, their mouths shut, and their backs breaking instead of voting to stand up for themselves and their profession. Not only is this statement clunky and unsuttle, it's also obtusely misleading. Based on the amounts of retirements, resignation trends, and long-term subclassrooms, even with the cuts you will have to make, it is highly unlikely anyone who wants to stay will lose the opportunity to do so. The question you must ask yourself after considering the fear-mongering disguised as information above is whether anyone would want to stay and serve a system that so easily utilizes official channels to send poorly veiled threats. This foul rhetorical swing is delivered via official email and housed on taxf funded
133server space. Please ask your administration to do better. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Our last speaker tonight is Ira Manoki. >> Welcome. You have two minutes. Please begin when you're ready. >> Thank you. Uh my name is Emry Manokei. I have a background in science, engineering and project management and uh I've been working on ways to apply that to uh innovate uh education systems in general and in this context I'm talking about the public school system. Um my proposal to the school board is to uh develop a program that would use um observational and experimental sciences to um figure out ways that we can greatly improve the overall standard of education in the district as well as uh with greater efficiency. um that meaning that there's um there's ways to make the uh
134the education process more efficient, but also um I am a proponent to uh greatly increasing the amount of funding put towards education because I think it's uh something that needs a lot more invest u investment than has been put into it in the last several decades. And um in general when I talked about raising the standard, uh the discussion with the school board and uh the school district earlier was more about how do we keep uh how well are we meeting the standards that we have. But what I'm talking about is that because of um the situation with the the future that requires uh more highly educated people to have professional um careers. Uh it it demands a a higher overall standard and using um uh science as a tool to figure out ways that
135we can provide this for the um for the community I think is a good step in the right direction. Thank you >> and thank you for your testimony. That completes public testimony for this evening. We'll move on to item E, our consent agenda. Is there a board member who wishes to pull an item from our consent agenda before it's adopted? Hearing and seeing none, is there a motion to approve our consent agenda as presented? >> Mr. Chair, I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> A motion made by member Bellamy to approve the consent agenda as listed, seconded by member Hollowman. Seeing no discussion, Miss Sullivan, a voice vote, please. Member Wilson. Member Higgins. >> Member Hollow. >> Yes. >> Member Lessons. >> Yes. >> Member Don. >> Yes. >> Member
136Bellamy. >> Yes. >> President Jacobs. >> Yes. Our consent agenda is adopted by a vote of five to zero. We'll move to action items. Uh first is F1 ASD memorandum number 102 SCB resolution 2025-02 eliminate plastic glitter as an intentional microlastic. Member Belly, do you have a motion? >> I do. Uh I move to approve ASD memorandum number 102. Uh the S student advisory board resolution number 2025-2 to eliminate plastic glitter as an intentional micro plastic. >> Second made by member Bellamy, seconded by member Hollowman. Uh is there discussion starting with you? Member Bellamy. Any opening remarks? >> No. >> Okay. I just want to thank um all of the what the troop members for showing up. Your testimony was amazing. Uh I even learned a little bit. Thank you for your book. It's amazing.
137You guys did you covered every base with proper decorum. Uh you went through the process and I thank you for that. So I will be supporting the resolution. Thank you. >> Thank you member Belly. Member Alman remarks. >> Uh yes, I wanted to say to the board this came through the governance committee with a a motion to bring it to the whole board. Um it is a resolution which basically expresses the intent of the board. uh if it were to pass tonight, then governance would work with administration to determine if administrative regulation would be the right way to implement it or if we needed an actual board policy. Um but one way or another, I would express the intent of the board that this be a rule that governs the Anchorage School District going forward.
138>> Thank you, Member Holman. We'll go to member Lesus. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this. Um, I wanted to share that I appreciate both the substance of the memorandum as well as the process, how we got here and we did go through governance, but so much has happened um, long before we got to that point. And so I wanted to just take a moment um, to to reflect on that. So I think aside from the effort to improve ASD's sustainability, um what has impressed me most was this process and how the students behind this resolution meaningfully engaged with at least four major stakeholders uh and their unique processes uh from an inception to where we are today. The ASD administration, ASD educators, those art teachers, um the ASD student advisory board
139and the the board itself. Um, and I think throughout this time, it's really struck me that the students behind this resolution have been able to answer questions, testify, uh, deal with surprises and setbacks, and really appear to have anticipated every possible concern. um the fact that these students preemptively took the time back in October to spend a day with ASD art teachers uh during a professional development day to assess their support for this initiative. um and how in order to do that actually built upon work which had already been done to write, illustrate, publish and donate an Alaska themed children's book about uh microplastics in our waterways to dozens of these schools and to create sample lesson plans as well as biodegradable glitter kits uh for the teachers in advance of the the PD day.
140That just really impressed me. Um, and yet we're going to go back even further that these students had materials on hand to offer educators to help earn their buyin was a product of efforts um, which really need to be commended because they took place on a national level. And I just want to make sure people are aware of that. Um, in August, if I have my facts correct, Troop 436 was one of a hundred teams from around the country to be awarded the Carnegie Young Leaders for Civic Preparedness Fellowship, which came with $7,500 in funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. And shortly thereafter, um, one of our students, uh, Mr. Threwer as an individual was selected as one of eight youth delegates nationwide to receive another $5,000 in seed funding from the Aspen
141Institute uh center for rising generations uh which she used for the book which the troop was able to build upon. Um, and I was also impressed as our board representative to the student advisory board to the students navigation of that process. Um, which involved a student led petition and navigation of particular SAB procedures um, as well as just a very, um, high degree of comfort answering students questions uh, from around the community. So, um, anyways, I I appreciate the substance and I really admire the process. So, thanks to each of you for your leadership, your tenacity, and um I'm excited for what is uh ahead for each of you as individuals and as a force. >> Member Higgins. >> Yeah, I I totally support this. I um would would say to all the students that
142have testified whenever I visited different schools, Harvard, Brown, uh um Yale, I've attended, one of the things they talk about for admissions is they'll look for students that have been engaged in their community about improving their community. Start putting your resume together. Uh this is very valuable and it's appropriate. I wonder why going to the assembly and making it something uh municipalwide may not be a good bad approach either, but I like the approach doing it here. I was on a school board when we expanded the recycling program within the schools and tried to figure out how to do that and we got it done. Uh and if there's other things out there we can be doing, I like that we've talked about doing things from energy efficiency coming out and doing an audit. what
143can we do to improve that because that's important for well you know for everybody in the future uh that we do that. So um I I really appreciate the number and the students and the uh intent of trying to make it a better place for everybody and um I am totally supportive but thank you for speaking out. It's great. >> Okay. Uh member Halman, your mic's still on. Do you have additional comments? I did want to comment personally as well uh not as governance chair that I really do appreciate you bringing this forward. Uh microplastics is something I've paid attention to for quite some time. Uh my partner and I have a place that we go to in Maui repeatedly and on walks up and down the beach. It used to be you would pick
144up big pieces of trash, but more and more I'm finding little blue specks. Um, you can just see them because they're oddly colored or oddly shaped. They're not quite microlastics yet. They're just on their way to being microplastics. And I can pick those up and quite often I I fill up a small bag or a cup. But these things are too small to pick up. Once they're scattered, they will become part of the environment. There is no way to clean them up. And so stopping it at the source is I I think really uh thoughtful and uh an excellent thing for us to do. Also impressed that we're just one group they're going to we're sort of an easy hit on this I think and and everyone should take every easy pace hit they can
145find in life but you're obviously going beyond that to try to impact more people try to impact students in the school by reading your book. I think that that was an outstanding idea. So all the way around very impressed by your activism and thank you for bringing this to us. This is this is something we can fix without spending a lot of money and without expending a lot of resources. We can just change our behavior a little bit. We can still have glitter just the right kind of glitter. So yes, I support this as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Member Donald, do you have comments? No. Perfect. Um I'll close then u discussion with um echoing appreciation for the process. Um I hope at least one of your troop considers holding a class or
146anformational session for your peers on on how to engage in grassroots activism. Um your process was incredibly impressive and professional, something I haven't seen in my four to five years on the board. And so kudos. Um, no one's going to No one up here is going to argue against glitter, but you made it impossible for us to do so even if we tried. With that said, Miss Sullivan, the voice vote, please. >> Member Hullman. >> Yes. >> Member Higgins. >> Yes. >> Member Wilson. >> Yes. >> Member Lessons. >> Yes. >> Member Donley? >> Yes. Member Bellamy. >> Yes. President Jacobs. >> Yes. >> A memorandum number 102 is adopted by a vote of 7 to zero. Thank you and congratulations. We'll move on to our second action item today. ASD memorandum number 059, six-year
147capital improvement, CIP project tables. Member Bell, do you have a motion? >> I do. I move to uh approve the attached I'm sorry I move to approve memorandum number 059 which is our six-year capital improvement plan and project tables. >> Second >> motion made by member Bellamy, seconded by member Hullman. Uh is there discussion or amendments? Member Higgins, do you have discuss pull my right piece of paper out with me? One second. I apologize. But I do want to make a motion. >> Member Higgins, have you given your amendment? >> Give me you can be submitted. I don't D you got it through in front of you, but um I wanted to get the actual thing in front of me real quick so I can make reference to it. That's the wrong one. Okay. Well,
148um I'm I'm going to move to remove demolition of Abbott Loop Elementary and all of the uh language associated with that mot with that part of the motion. It's I think issue three. Um, and I'll pull it up real quick. It's a long write up. >> Member Higgins, would you be Member Donley has a motion right now to the same effect. Can we use that? No, >> we can use that motion. Okay. >> Member Donley, do you object to us moving your language? >> Um, Mr. President, I would move u the amendment to memo number 59, six-year capital plan that I I submitted um to the clerk. Okay, I'll read that for our record. Um, it states you would delete the entire paragraph. Demolition of Abbott Loop Elementary at L table one, capital improvement plan
14926-31, year 3, 2028, delete section 6, uh, demolition Abbott Loop Elementary School at 2.5 million to 1.25 million. We'll give Miss just a moment to get that loaded in the system and we'll ask for discussion on the amendment. U member Higgins as the mover or the co- mover of this why don't you skip to your points. >> Thank you. Um th this is a situation where a lot of things can go on in the next few years and the issue is whether we want to retain scheduling of removing Abbott Loop um and not have a plan for what will Cushula uh will be and if we're going to invest any money at all to maintain the building and having it demolition seems to be in a total contrast. We've got a lot of stresses associated
150with the insecurity of World Coula of having a place that they can use uh for a period of time. We don't know whether or not we would approve a school to be removed. And the only schools that would be downsized and I I don't like using right sizing if we're not if we're just removing it a neighborhood school, but to do that to be large enough is is in my opinion very low. And um I I feel like we we can always add something back, but if we're going to provide the support that Wilkers is asking for, and they've done it very clearly. I've met with them as well. Um then moving this out at this point in time is seems to be the appropriate thing. If we've got to invest something to maintain the
151building, uh it's not um overwhelming. Um and it affects the 500 kids. It affects the parents. It affects all the staff uh and the security of the of the operation. So, um for a relatively low cost and they were going to have options presented to us in January, removing this at this time sends a clear message that unless things change will supportive of giving them security in some facility and we can deal with the options associated with it next month um January February time frame. But I really think this is a a very important move to give them give the parents, give the staff, give the all the children uh some level of security at this point in time. And they're in a facility that unlike a couple years ago, it's a lot safer. Um,
152and it does have the ability to meet their demands. We've heard that a number of times. It may not be everything they would like and if they go to 700 kids, it isn't going to meet it. Um but it it is something that's it just to me it's the right thing to do for those 500 students and all of those impacted. So um we can deal with what we will do in regards to it but we've already got an extension from well we anticipate an extension from the state I mean from the city as well with the municipal code issue. So the timing of this would be off for the capital plans anyway for the capital improvement program and there were so many things in place that could change in the meantime. So I just
153I'm looking to try to give them some level of security and I really urge the board to think about all those students that are impacted and and request their support. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, member Bellamy, >> I just wanted to say uh thanks for the motion. Um, based on our discussion, very long discussion during our work session, I I absolutely support the motion. Thank you, >> Member Hullman. >> Um, yes. Basically, we've realized that possibly we have continuing value in the Abbott Loop building. Um, I was on the board when we voted to close it as a neighborhood school with the intent of handing the building back to the city to avoid the capital improvement cost. And uh this is this is one of the difficult things I think as we face a budget
154crunch, but we also face the potential for a lot of value from that building. uh as we consider bringing in charter programs under our own roofs uh as opposed to having them uh have to find their their own way in different places. I do think we as a board need to reconsider long-term goals. Is it a goal that we're going to find a way to house all of our successful charter programs? And we have a number of successful charter programs. We've never really addressed it as a board. Um, but in the right sizing process, we clearly have a lot of demand on the spaces that even as we consolidate some of our neighborhood schools in order to make them function in a more efficient manner, uh, there are ASD students standing in line to come
155in and occupy those spaces. Um, I do think it's something we also need to make clear to the public what we're doing, why we're doing it. I'm sure there'll be some negative blowback. Uh, there are people that um are frustrated with all that extra space that we've got in buildings. I will say I've had the opportunity the last few days to visit a number of elementary schools uh as part of being a member of Rotary. We uh have distributed dictionaries to every third grade student in the district and walking into schools, seeing the classrooms, um seeing how they're being used, uh as has been mentioned by member Higgins a number of times, they may do a calculation based on square footage. The reality is our schools are making great use of the space they have.
156And when they have a little more space, they can actually do something creative. uh even as they are under a budget crunch and of course the ideal thing if we can get the funding we really need we'd love to put teachers with smaller numbers of students in those classrooms. So the the whole idea of what our correct size should be I think is up in the air right at the moment while we kind of reconsider what we're doing with our charters as well as as what we aspire to do with our neighborhood schools. um taking Abbott with building off of the uh CIP for demolition u I think just makes what we're doing more coherent makes our logic more clear as we decide how to address these other issues. So I support the amendment. Thank
157you. >> Thank you member Hullman. I'm going to jump in the queue to say that I oppose this amendment. Um administration provided testimony to the board earlier that there is no need to make a decision on this item now. Um the fire marshall intends to grant an additional year waiver uh for the um code [clears throat] exception for the fire suppression system in this building. The any changes to the CIP would have no bearing on the modest investment we'll have to make to Above Elementary to continue using it for one to two years. Um the board has shown a commitment to seriously considering right- sizing buildings and we have repeatedly seriously examined the concept of in lie of closing buildings providing a space for our charter and optional programs to save money in lease payments.
158Um the challenge is that the board has yet to get over the hump in voting for a block of buildings to rightsize and reduce our overall footprint. Um there has been discussion already about consideration of closures as part of our budget process. We should wait to see how that unfolds. There isn't a need to make this decision right now. will have no bearing on the um the final outcome of a permanent home for real as removing this item does not address the the millions tens of millions of dollars in capital um investment that would be required. Um it is a reasonable and prudent thing to take things one step at a time and send a very clear message that we need to address our capital footprint, identify how we're going to balance our budget and
159at that point decide what capital investment would be appropriate. Um until such time, I think that leaving the capital improvement plan intact which can always be amended at a future date is not only reasonable um it would provide less uncertainty for Roku in lie of adjusting things multiple times as our budget situation um and the board's thinking on future right sizing conversations unfold. So, [sighs] I would urge a no vote and note that the conversation is going to continue and that u the the question for rule control won't be answered tonight and unfortunately until the board has budget and right sizing conversations in the future um there won't be a quick answer to that conversation but I do understand why members want to address it especially after we failed to u provide them an opportunity
160just recently. Thank you. We'll go to member Wilson. >> Thank you. I I also um agree with much what with much of what you just said. I think it's premature to remove um this off our CIP and I I really think because the CIP is not set in stone and we will have the opportunity for additional conversations and we have a lot of really hard decisions coming up um with our budget discussions. Um, I just I really think it's premature to remove uh this off the CIP at this time. That doesn't mean I wouldn't support removing it off later. >> Uh, member Higgins. >> Uh, yeah. I just first of all when I when we use right sizing and not downsizing one of the things that we talked about and I appreciate the superintendent when
161he first raised right sizing was the fact we got so many kids needing uh child care early early preschool and we've got space in schools to achieve that uh if we do that we've got the mayor's office wanting to meet uh with the board to discuss that as well. So somewhere along this line, right sizing and downsizing seems to be overlapping at I think there are two different meanings here. Um removing neighborhood schools for those parents and the kids. We've heard loud and clear from the different communities how they feel about that. And if we have an option to provide that to the to the students and maintain neighborhood schools and fully utilize the schools in a positive, productive way that's going to help the environment, that's great. We just heard from the military of
162expanding, more people coming, more kids coming. Um, we've got all kinds of issues out there. We don't know what's going to come, but if we're going to invest to maintain this building, if we're going to send the message out there to them, I do think taking this off right now makes a lot of sense. We can add things back. Things are always unknown. But Wil has asked for it. I think that was appropriate. I think we're trying to do something good for all these kids and for the parents and for all the staff to get some stabilization that if we don't have another plan, we've got something in place and we're not leaving them out like they were a couple years ago with with a lease they couldn't maintain anyway and and they may have
163trouble finding a facility and then we're going to run out of time for for fixing the school and taking care of them. So, I I just I just think this is the right thing for all those students and for all those everyone involved. And I do think that this should be right sizing, not downsizing, trying to find some place that we can say we closed when we can utilize that space to help so many families and the economy as well. And I think that's what right sizing should be. I remember the superintendent when he first used right sizing made reference to that. We've heard from um uh heard that it's eight, you know, the the 8,000 kids that need the space. Um so we are overloaded and we've got an administration with the mayor's office
164wanting to work with us on it too. I would just like to move forward and give them some level of support for what we're trying to do for them. >> Member Donley, your first turn for comments. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So this the six-year plan is before us as the main motion and there's a state statute that requires this board to have a six-year capital plan and to update it uh once a year. So this is the process where we're charged by state law to update our six-year plan. Um the proposal as the main motion before us um that this amendment would change uh contains a proposal to demolish Abat Loop Elementary and additional funding to do that. Um and a funding amount to do that. Um I think we've heard from the comments
165here and last meeting that a majority of the board doesn't want to do that at this time. And um this afternoon we had extensive u presentation during our work session regarding the potential cost that'll be necessary to preserve Abbott Loop. Um as we all know that has an issue with a code issue. There was huge project progress made. I really appreciate the negotiations that went on and all the people that participated in those to get an extension of the um of the time that's been allowed by the fire marshall to uh uh continue the operation of this school. Um and a key to that is to have a plan presented uh for the correction of the code violations that are are currently there. Just to re reiterate for the public, there's no question of safety
166here. It's not a question of safety for the the kids or the people in the building. It's a question of preservation of the building. And that's what the a new sprinkler system would would be needed for under the code, not for safety. Building is safe. Um, and so a lot of the data that uh was presented this afternoon was was still in incomplete as to the potential actual costs of some of these steps. Some of the um things that were listed as immediately necessary for or they would recommend as immediately necessary for Rico to stay in the school for the near future. Uh we're rather small in the big picture of capital expenditures. One of the amounts was $311,000, which is really a bargain to let these folks stay in this school for a few
167more years. Um, and to adopt a six-year plan at this time that incorporates the demolition of this school, uh, before having all the evidence before us and information about the potential costs, which we anticipate will be coming over the next few weeks, uh, from the administration, I think would not be a wise choice. Um, the six-year plan should have meeting and yes, it can be modified throughout the year, but the same time to vote on it tonight with the demolition in there would send, I think, a contrary message to what the majority of the board has expressed they'd like to do at this time. So, I do think it's an appropriate first step to remove this language from the six-year plan to let the folks, the parents and students at Rico know that we're not
168supporting a plan to tear down the school at this time and which is is very important for them to know what uh that there's there's something being worked on to accomplish what needs to be done to allow them to have a home, a more permanent home for their for their program. Um, so I do think this is an appropriate first step. It simply makes the six-year plan neutral on this subject. Um, and when we get the additional information from the administration, which had been promised in during our work session, we'll be able to make uh decisions at that time over what dollar amount the board may wish to invest uh in the near future into preserving um Abbott Loop in a way that can continue to serve as Rico's uh school. Thank you. >> Thank
169you. I'll jump in for a second turn at the apple here. Um I I think want to make sure we're not conflating two different things. The the modest investment that was discussed during our work session today to keep Roku a reasonable learning environment for um or the the former rabbit loop facility a reasonable learning environment for Roshaw families while a permanent location is identified um is eminently reasonable and uh retaining the current version of the capital improvement plan does not preclude us from making that investment. What it does do is uh put pressure on this board to take seriously the effort to address our footprint and put resources where we heard during public testimony tonight um away from buildings and to people and to classroom expenses and to our educators. Um we have lost thousands
170of students and we have not adjusted our building portfolio to account for that. Um I understand why addressing right sizing is so challenging. It's an emotional topic and the facts are that two of the members who are voting on this capital improvement plan tonight will not be with us when we have to address this topic. And so it's for that reason I would ask that we we not make the challenge even harder uh for the next set of board members who have to address right sizing who have to seriously look at reducing our footprint to provide a rul a home for rulers and other potential programs in need of a capital um a building uh to save them on capital costs without um additional roadblocks. Um, as a board we have we have repeatedly demonstrated
171our willingness to consider proposals that consolidate our student population which has shrunk and provide that space for alternative uses to include things like child care to include things like our charter programs. um retaining this capital improvement plan is in line with that and it can be modified later if a if a future board chooses years from now not to pursue um right sizing because our population has dramatically increased which there is no sign of at this point because unfortunately the action that would have to occur for that population reversal um must start in Juno and at least in the next 12 months there is almost no chance of that happening. Um, I think it's prudent to align our capital portfolio with our reality for our student population, especially given our fiscal situation. And I imagine
172that the conversation will come up very shortly when it when we talk about budget. Um this is a reasonable amendment to reject and the capital improvement plan as written to have a plan in place to um look at removing the appetit facility from our portfolio because we will continue having the right sizing conversation is eminently reasonable and so I would again urge a no vote on this amendment. Member Hollowman. Um, just real quickly, as everyone knows, we can always change this, but we're pursuing looking at the cost of fixing this building for short-term or long-term use. But we would be voting tonight to say that we want a bond to tear it down. And so that that inongruity is what I think the amendment seeks to eliminate. Um, we're not saying at all that we're
173going to keep this building forever, um, or that we're going to keep it in the face of huge costs, but simply as we ask staff to investigate what it would mean, we're not asserting that we want to seek funds to demolish it. So, that's my logic in in saying we should pull this off. Um, we can put it back on in January if we decide to, but for the moment, while we're asking people to look at fixing it, it seems like a prudent thing to do. >> Thank you, member Helman. Just to respond to your point of information, um, I don't think the request, um, the importance of the request to dramatically upgrade the facility at Abbott Loop is universally held as something that is worth staff's time. Um, I think there are board members
174who um would prefer to continue the right sizing conversation, but for those who do feel that way, I agree that's a reasonable request. We'll go to member lessons than member Bellamy. >> I wanted to say I really appreciate the thoughtful responses here. I've just been listening, which is not always what I do, but I appreciate the chance to listen to your thoughtfulness. Um it's remarkable that you know the CIP is is a live document. So much of actually what we do we try to make plans but life happens and we have to adapt but the CIP itself is dynamic. It can be revisited at any time. We simply have to have that plan. So thank you for the review of statute. Um, I think G today's new information about the likely receipt of a waiver
175extension through 2030 um was wellreceived uh here at my desk. Um I really appreciated that. It it suggests to me that we have a path to support Rilka's need for short slashmedium term stability um with that extended waiver and with uh the conversation we had and I think I counted four v four votes at least for sort of the plan B the shortterm um funding for operations you know at next next next year at Abbott Loop with a couple of reos with um the adjustments to the boiler system and uh something else I'm sure I'm forgetting. Um I know that I spoke two weeks ago in support of essentially this amendment, but I feel as though the new information at this time makes me comfortable with leaving the CIP as it stands. and picking up
176with the CIP in the spring uh if if needed um to align it with any uh budget solutions that might arise. So, for the moment, I'm going to respectfully say I appreciate the amendment, but I am not going to support it at this time. Um, but I appreciate the the maker of this particular amendment and the wouldbe amendment as well. Thank you. >> Thank you, member lessons. Member Bellamy. >> Thank you. Um, I am going to support the the amendment. I cannot imagine and and I'm doing it for I I I don't disagree with anything that's been said. We can wait, but we're not the family and the kids in that building. How many times are we going to just not do right by Rookua? H this for me is a good a show of
177good faith that we are serious and we we are going to move forth inch by inch. If we can't do it, then we can't do it. But I believe that we should provide some stability and continuity to that program and um all to make them wait till spring is just I just think it's uh not necessary and I could be wrong. Uh but I will be voting for the amendment. I don't see any other speakers, so I'll take one last chance to articulate my uh point, which is that um approving this amendment does absolutely nothing to provide certainty for Rook. I'm going to say that one more time. Approving this amendment does nothing to provide long-term certainty to Roachul. Um Abbott Loop has tens of millions of dollars of capital needs. No one at this
178dis will have any idea if a bond will get approved uh to address those in the short or long-term future. And by the time a bond has those items, in all likelihood, a future board um of some of which the folks here tonight will not be on um may have reduced our footprint and made available facilities that might be better suited to Roku's uh academic purpose. Leaving this capital improvement plan intact does absolutely nothing besides puts us back to square one, which is we uh putting the board in the driver's seat of addressing right sizing and getting serious with aligning our capital footprint with the number of students we have available and hopefully prioritizing our limited resources to people and not buildings. Um I understand why board members would choose to um support this amendment.
179It certainly is a another feel-good moment. Um, but at some point we truly need to get serious with aligning our our capital infrastructure with our enrollment realities. Go to member Higgins, the member Donley. >> You know, there's a lot of messages being sent here. And to say that no message is being sent, I disagree with that. when we wrote it to say that we're going to prioritize Wilhula if a school opens they assumed that you know a lot of them did that hopefully we were gonna um uh move Lake Otis ele you know title one 20 years plus title one school and empty it so that they could have that place to go because they wanted that place and and so there is a message here that right sizing would have to be for this
180purposes and that's downsizing I think is better but downsizing is that it has to be a school big enough and that somehow or another we're going to be looking for that and I'm not going to be looking for eliminating a neighborhood school in order to create an opening unless it made sense to do it. Right now we've got tremendous needs. Our class sizes are so big and all these class sizes they exceed anything that should be anything close. I mean not wilshield but but um uh the studies we've done with this on right sizing we're you know twice as much as what a lot of our classrooms should be between Kif K to fifth grade 15 third grade should be 1 to 15 and we're way up there and above that 25 so we've got
181a lot of needs we've got we don't know what's going to happen long term and we have space needed for other things I don't want to send a mixed message and the idea that we'll still they should still hold out that we're going to select a school big enough for them and empty it for them isn't isn't a good message. What we're getting is that they need a longer period of time. If something opens, they want to consider it. Of course, they would. But this is this is important for those kids. And I don't agree with you that this is not sending a message. It is sending a message for those kids, for the for the parents, for the staff, and for that program trying to exist. They need something out there with stability and
182I think this does it and I appreciate the comments that uh member Bellamy made comments in regards to it and and others. I just think this is an opportunity to to realize there was value to that school what we're doing and I hope that we can go forward with it and the idea it doesn't send a message I strongly disagree. >> As is right member Higgins, member Bellamy then member Donley. >> No further comment. >> Thank you. Member Donley. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I think the six-year plan has meaning and to vote for a six-year plan that has the demolition of of the former Abbott Loop building in it at a time when we don't have an alternative for Rico yet. Um, would be a serious mistake for a six-year plan to to
183propose that. And it's important that we we have at least a neutrality on that issue until we get the data back from the administration about the potential costs and the options that are available to this board um to act to extend the life of of the of the building. Um they during the work session they explained that there might be available funds that it not be contingent on the bond proposition being approved. um that it might be able to facilitate for a very reasonable amount of money some very significant uh improvements to hold and extend the the life of this building significantly and buy us as a board more time to deal with the long range problem um and to come up with a more of a long range plan uh which doesn't exist right
184now for the the hundreds of children and students there at Rico right now. So um I do think it has meaning. The options that were presented to us at the work session this afternoon are not contingent all of them on uh bond pop proposition passing. So that we would be able to develop a solution very quickly in the next couple months um to give assurity uh to the students and parents at Rico that they won't be out in the cold. So I I do think this is a very reasonable appropriate step at this time and it does have meaning. >> Seeing no other discussion, Miss Sullivan, the voice vote, please Bellamy. >> Yes. Member Higgins. Oh >> yes. Member Wilson. >> No. >> Member Lessons. >> No. >> Member Donley? >> Yes. >> Member Halman?
185>> Yes. >> Representative Jacobs? >> No. >> By a vote of 4 to three, amendment number one to our capital improvement plan has been adopted. Going back to the underlying motion, the CIP as amended. Member Bell, do you have comments on the underlying motion? >> I'm just wondering uh Oh, I do on on So, we're now voting. Are we voting or just commenting? Oh, no. I don't have any comments. >> Seeing no comments on the CIP member lessons. >> Thank you. Um, whatever I didn't speak to a few moments ago, I guess I'm going to make up for in just just right now. So, I spoke in during our work session about some thoughts um on item on year four uh 2029 table with respect to Chuyak High School. Um just there are people with
186longer memories than I have uh here in the ASD, but um voters, Anchorage voters passed a $29 million school bond package in 2003 that included funding for a new Eagle River High School. Um bond passage was eligible for up to 60% state reimbursement. Uh that has gone away, has now recently uh partially come back. um that enabled Eagle River High School to open in 2005, which according to this older ADN article that I found and I'm leaning on here, um really solved overcrowding in which more than 2,000 students had been on the Chuyak uh campus uh with a lot of relocatables and split lunch periods. According to the really big chart that we received um earlier this a few weeks ago about where our students are enrolled and we're transferring in and out. It seems
187that about 2,000 students currently live in the areas for Chooiak and Eagle River high schools, but about 35% of our of students zone for Chooiak transfer out and about 31% of students zone for Eagle River transfer out. And it looks like about um 220 transfers out are enrolled in our correspondent schools. And uh of an additional sort of cohort of 11th and 12th graders. Another 85 from the Chooak and Eagle River area go to um Alaska Middle College and another 33 totech. So there's like the district as a whole, there's a lot of dynamism um in the Chooak and Eagle River areas. But I think what's really telling to me right now, and I guess I I want to keep raising the red flag, is that um the last I checked, which was right after
188Thanksgiving, um Eagle River High School had about 721 students, which was smaller enrollment level than 15 other ASD schools, including all other seven comprehensive high schools and six of the middle schools. Um the building was initially built to house 974 students um but was designed to have this addition built on if needed. Um meanwhile we've only got about 821 students give or take whatever today's enrollment level is at Chooiak which has a capacity in our CIP to support more than 1600 students. So its facility is is really quite underutilized. And we've talked recently in the child care initiative about possibly locating um a number I think six or so um preschool facility uh classrooms in that building to help with the utilization. But currently um Chooak is our second smallest high school and has a
189lower enrollment level than six of our high schools and three of the middle schools. So like that context is why I've reflected at a prior meeting and this afternoon that it's really time for the us as a body uh and the community to start having conversations about our secondary footprint and the realities of our FY27 budget constraints um really make me wonder about the level of service that those smaller comprehensive high schools are going to be able to offer next year and I I don't know for how long moving forward. Um if you look in our budget book you can see the pages for um sort of operational expenses of and I think I spoke to this two weeks ago of the district's $18.4 million budgeted for energy this year. The Chooiak building is slated
190to use just over a million dollars. That's like one out of every $18 um for the district is going to support less than 2% of ASD students. Um on a per pupil basis, the budget for heating high school is more than $1,500. Um which is $949 more per pupil than what it costs per people to heat West High School. So just the per people costs of operating that facility are really high. Um, I think that we need to talk about the additional um non-classroom FTE that these two schools require are required to operate. Um, and I spoke to this last time. So, this gets me to the CIP, right? This is why we're here tonight. So, I'm legitimately trying to figure out the best path forward for all of our students at all of our
191schools. And so I've really wrestled with multiple possible amendments for for the CIP tonight. On one hand, I think that there could be utility in amending the CIP by pivoting that year 4 item from a Chugiaak High School master plan to an Eagle River master plan. Um it could allow the administration time to develop a strategic plan to address address the plan for the region. We also just heard Colonel Hansen here tonight talk about um his expectation that Jay Bear is going to be expanding over the foreseeable future. I don't know to what extent. Um but this is all very complicated. So my concern is that we have not had a chance to have a conversation about this. Um, I also entertained the idea of just deleting the Chooak High School item entirely from the
192memo as a path forward, but we've had no discussion about that. Um, so I guess I'm stuck feeling as though I, you know, where I was 15 minutes ago because the CIP is elastic and because I think we could return to this conversation in a few months after the budget passage, I'm actually not going to offer any amendments at this time. But I wanted to at least have the opportunity, a platform to share my fundamental concerns about the level of service that we're able to offer students in our secondary schools under our budget realities. And we don't otherwise have the opportunity to have that discussion. So again, I won't be offering any amendments right now because the CIP is elastic, but I appreciate you uh listening to the concerns that I wanted to raise. >>
193Member Bell, >> thank you. I just have a I I know things at secondary can be a lot very tricky. Um, for instance, I don't know for those 500 or however many kids are in middle college, I don't know how many of them are coming from Eagle River or Chugak. I don't think that their enrollment is captured there. It's captured with the middle college. I don't know how do we capture that enrollment. Yeah. So, we we we need a lot more information to have the conversation. Um, I appreciate you bringing it up and we do need to have that conversation. Uh but we we offer our students so many uh options or choices that I I think that 721 for Eager River High School is low especially not it's it's probably what it is for
194that point in time but I think if we look at where students are going and middle college is a big one out there um it's not going to be 900 but it'll be closer to 900. So, I would want to um I appreciate the conversation. I look forward to it and I am so thankful you're not bringing up a a a thing tonight, Miss Lessons. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Seeing no other comments, Miss >> No other comments. >> Yeah. Miss Sullivan, the voice, please. >> Member Donley. >> Yes. >> Member Higgins. >> Yes. >> Member Wilson. >> Yes. Member Hollowan, >> yes. >> Member Bellamy, >> yes. >> Member Lessons, >> yes. >> President Jacobs, >> no. >> Our CF is adopted by a vote of six to one. We'll move on
195to non-action items tonight. Is there a board member who wishes to discuss a non-action item? Hearing and seeing none, we'll move on to superintendent update. Dr. Brandy Flor is yours. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I'll keep it brief. I know we've had a long night, but really I just want to provide a couple of comments on our upcoming upcoming budget process. And then two, I just want to shout out some incredible students and teachers and principles that I've gotten to visit over the past couple of months. Um, with regards to the budget, um, this is our last meeting of 2025. So, I want to make sure that we touch base on just the dire realities. I did share this two weeks ago with the community. We're going to share it many many times because
196that's going to be the primary focus of our leadership team is balancing this budget um in light of an 80 plus million dollar structural deficit. And as I shared before, it was a very positive historic moment when the the state offered a $700 permanent BSA increase. And ASD and many other districts fought really hard to make that happen. And we're proud of that. But remember, we started that conversation discussing with the legislature the reality that inflation has eroded our purchasing power. It's eroded how far our dollars can go within the Anchorage School District. So, when we asked the legislature for an increase more on the magnitude of $1,800, it wasn't some sort of bargaining tactic. It really was because that's what it would take to make the district whole and allow us the flexibility to
197begin investing and to begin taking ourselves to the next level. We didn't get 1,800. We got $700, which is just less than a percentage higher than what the increase was the year before in one-time funds. So, what that means is that because of the fact that we also decided to spend down our fund balance to make this current operating budget work, we're looking at a $700 per student decrease in funding. And that is largely due to the fund balance that has that will be exhausted by the end of this fiscal year. So, this is a very serious situation and we're going to do our best to advocate as we always do. But I will tell you, as somebody that speaks to legislators and speaks to those in Juno, it is not looking good. And it's
198not because our legislators are not invested in education. It really is because of a failure of many years of the state being able to provide a fiscal plan that's going to allow all of our state agencies, including education, to endure times of scarcity, but we are in a dire time of scarcity. I encourage everyone in the community to please visit our website asdk12.org/fy27. When you do that, the popup will appear on the screen that'll invite you to participate in our balancing act simulation. I know it was very cold and there was a lot going on last Saturday, but I do thank everybody that came to attend our balancing act simulation. It really forces you to look at the realities of our revenue picture again, which looks very dire um compared to to what that amount
199should be. And it also gives you a pretty comprehensive look into where the district spends its money. And most of that money goes towards direct classroom instruction and student support services. As a reference point, about only 5% of our general fund goes towards district administration. The magnitude of $80 million means that you could fire every single administrator and we'd still have 40 plus million dollars to go. And that would include getting rid of the person that processes the payroll and all these other essential functions. So, when we say that we're about to uh enter this very dire budget situation, it's not some sort of bluff, it is not four-dimensional chess, I'm attempting to warn you of the dire reality of where we're headed. But with that said, we're going to do whatever we can to
200make the most of this challenging process. And for me, that means making sure that we align as many of our dollars as possible towards what matters the most, which is our children's experience when they're in their classrooms. That's my north star. um to run a large system with 94 buildings across all over Anchorage, 2,000 square miles. There are additional things we need to spend money on like our deferred maintenance. We know there's a lot going on there. Um to to have bus drivers and all that other stuff. Um but minor star is to do whatever we can to protect our progress, but again, when we talk about a $700 per student reduction, there is no way to protect the classrooms from this impact. And I wish I could. um we're going line by line through
201every administrative line and all of our supporting functions to try to make reductions even in places where we've never considered. So we will have um very deep reductions across every corner of the organization. But that doesn't mean that schools won't also see that reality because frankly that is where the dollars are and where they should be. Um, so with that said, I I just want to be as honest and transparent as possible that this is going to be one of the most challenging and difficult budgets that this school board will be asked to pass in a very long time. And it's certainly one of the most difficult to prepare that I've had to prepare in the past four budget cycles. This is a very serious matter and it's not just ASD, it's statewide. We're in
202this together and we will get to the other side of this. But if we think that status quo is an option, it's not mathematically possible. And I need to be honest about that reality. It will be filled with sacrifices and tradeoffs. But minor stars for our kids. And that's why I didn't want to end our last meeting of the year on just the budget stuff. You know, um, part of the exercise that I put on myself just to switch gears to something a little bit more positive is I'm pushing myself to spend most of my Mondays and Fridays in schools because I want to remind myself about all the progress that I aspire to protect in our system despite all the obstacles ahead of us. Um, and it's been such an amazing experience visiting um,
203many of our buildings. And I could spend hours talking about all the great things that I've been seeing, but you know, just some that come off the top of my head. you know, I go into Benny Benson, for example. Um, I wanted to go there because I wanted to really understand how we can we can better support our alternative schools in spite of these very dire financial constraints. And I just saw some amazing things, things that don't necessarily cost money, but just really strong leadership, great teachers that really show our students what's possible. You know, I got to meet several students that, you know, if you would have asked them a year ago, they would have said, you know, I don't think I'm going to make it to the end. I don't think I'm going
204to graduate. And to see them on their last day as a high school student because they're about to head off to to UAA, it it was really it almost brought me to tears. I'm just so proud of these students. And I only got to talk to three, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of similar stories across the district about students who have been positively impacted by their teachers and their principles. You know, I I uh spent time recently at Begage Middle School because I just wanted to, you know, take a moment just to thank our teachers for all that they do to, you know, spend a dedicated hour every Monday to collaborate with their peers looking at data and student work. And at Bigitch, I got to visit multiple professional learning communities and to
205really see our teachers take complete ownership of their development. It was really inspiring for me. And I know it's not easy. I know that um when I I think about my Monday mornings, I think about my first cup of coffee. And these teachers, you know, they come in with their cups ready to go. Um and they have so many challenges as an educator. It it it's one of the most difficult jobs you can take on, but they do it in stride. And I was just so impressed that they um got so much done. You would you would be shocked at how much a group of incredible teachers can get done for our kids in in just 50 minutes. So, I I really want to applaud them for that. You know, I got to be in
206Service High School just the other day. I I spent like probably two hours at Service for a number of reasons, but um one of the things that stood out to me was when I walked into our culinary program at Service. You know, I've probably been exposed to food from the culinary program many times over the years, but it wasn't until that I actually walked into the kitchen and I got to meet the teacher that leads that program that I really got to understand just many of the pieces that make the Anchorage School District a special place. Um, you know, I hadn't really thought about it until I spoke with this teacher from her perspective. You know, the fact that Service High School's culinary program has won all these national awards and accolades at the state
207level. um it it's not it's not a guarantee. You know, a place like service is competing against all these technical programs and other schools that just specialize in culinary. So, the fact that our service high school students can go and win these national accolades just really speaks to the pride that that teacher has in her program and the the incredible talent of our students who I got to meet. Um that's just one of dozens of examples across the district. Um you know, we may not have money. We definitely don't have a lot of money, but we do have incredible community volunteers. So, I got the opportunity um to visit Mr. Rivers's classroom. He's a community volunteer who um spends 24 afternoons a year um with a couple dozen of our young men. Um they they
208have their class at King Tech, but they're from all over the district, and they learn everything from tying a tie to just how to be a good provider and to be a high integrity person. And you know, just to think that we have many people like Mr. Rivers who volunteer their time to make a difference for our kids means a lot. Again, we don't have a lot of money, but we have great people like J Bear, who is launching that reading program that we heard about earlier today that's going to connect airmen to our young students and really inspire them to to be courageous readers and learners. I think that's really special. Um, I think about the students that were just in front of us earlier today going through a whole governance process to u
209advocate to you all to pass a resolution to to start banning b uh plast microplastic litter. I think that's really special and I applaud those students for their advocacy and you know that just shows me just how special our students are and why we need to fight as hard as we fight to make sure that we can give them as much as we can offer them given our constraints. And I I'll close with just a another anecdote. Um it was really a recent visit that I had to Turnigan Elementary that connected the dots for me when it comes to this difficult dark process of balancing a budget with everything that our teachers and students have to offer and just how much potential that they have and why we should be so proud to have these
210human beings in our system. Um so when I walked into Turnigan Elementary, it was um for a special assignment. I was to be interviewed by one of their fifth graders because uh they're working on their first newspaper um you know at Turnigan. They're the Turnigan Tigers. So the newspaper is aptly called the paw print. So I have a copy of it. I'll show it to you. Um this is a big booklet. We're talking like 15 plus pages complete with crossword puzzles that they put together, riddles, trivia about their teachers, and you know, they interviewed me. I didn't make the front page. page. I'll get to the front page in just a minute. Um, but you know, it just really connected the dots for me about how special our our students are. So, I'm not going
211to read you the whole newspaper, but I thought you'd like to know what are these students writing about? What are the headlines in their student newspaper? You'd be surprised. So, you know, one of the articles, the headline is student council, your v your voice. So, as early as second, third grade, our elementary students have really internalized the value of having their voices heard and having representation to advocate for all sorts of stuff. Really great article. Another article is called Trunk or Treat is a sweet treat for the school and its neighbors. So, they already have the puns embedded as well into their headlines. So, I was really impressed with that. Um, and really great pictures, too. And we even had some investigative reporting from our young journalists. So, there's this one, don't be alarmed, school
212remembers, but the title of it is hot lunch count. Something's not adding up. So, don't worry. Um, there was a misunderstanding about why sometimes the they have to make extra lunches last minute and it has to do with tardies and all sorts of stuff. They found out in the article, but at the end of the day, all of our kids, they they're getting lunch. But it was a really good article that raised a really prominent issue from the perspective of kids. Um, and you know, not to get too dark, but you know, one of the other, um, articles in the newspaper, uh, the headline is, "Shut shuts down popular field trip destination." Because it was not too long ago that the Campbell Creek Science Center was temporarily closed here in town. And I didn't think
213much of it when I saw that news, but it wasn't until I thought about it from the perspective of a fourth grader why that was a big deal to lose their field trip because of a federal government shutdown. And to think that some of our young learners are having to internalize what it even means for a government to shut down. I have mixed feelings about that, but our children are seeing it. And that gets me to um you know, one of the headlines, you know, what did make the front page of the paper? And you know, it's a bittersweet headline. It's a Turnigan welcomes Lake Hood and it's a beautiful two-page story about from the student perspective what it was like to welcome in new classmates from Lake Hood Elementary. They interviewed the principal, they
214interviewed teachers, and they interviewed students. Um they even interviewed one of the um students from Lake Hood. He closed the story and his quote was um let's see, when I got to Turnigan, I saw one of the teachers from Lake Hood, Mr. Mason and I was happy because I knew him. I also made new friends with the people from Turnigan too and now I'm happy. Um, so that that was really sweet and they also talked about the challenges of being a new student in a new building for the first time. Same thing from the teacher perspective. And the reason why I'm sharing all these headlines is because it really connected the dots for me that our children are just so much more perceptive than than we give them credit for. They see a lot. They
215hear a lot. um probably too much. And you know, it really breaks my heart thinking that eventually these discussions about our budget will trickle down even to these students in fourth and fifth grade. And I'm not proud of that. Um and I've been just ruminating for probably weeks now. You know, I I wish that I could just whip out $80 million from thin air to make these problems go away for these children. And obviously, we can't do that. But I've been thinking, what can I do for not just the Turnigan students, but all the students that are going to be overhearing these conversations and feeling a lot of uncertainty. And I think one of the most powerful things that I can do and my team can do is to at least model compassion for these
216students and these teachers as we go through this change. doesn't cost a thing to be compassionate and understanding because we're about to enter a phase of a lot of sacrifice and a lot of change and it's going to hurt because a lot of the things that we took for granted we're going to realize um what we thought was the baseline for ASD will no longer be the baseline. We'll really have to scale back a lot of things that we're really proud of. Um but we can model that we can tackle hard things and we can do so as a community. We can face fear. We can feel uncertainty. And we can know how to leverage the people in our network, in our families, in our schools to get through the next day. So again, like
217I wish we could bring dollars to the table. That's not the situation we're in. But what I can say is that I'm really proud of these students, not just the Turnigan students, but you know, this newspaper is really great. And I also want to specifically thank um Miss Seda of Turnigan Elementary 2. So she's the teacher that came up with the idea of the paw print and you know just to bring her talent and expertise and really going above and beyond. I'm sure a student newspaper is not in her job description but I can tell you not knowing Miss SA very well that she loves her kids deeply and we should be so thankful and proud to have somebody like that in our district. And you know I'm going to try to protect our progress
218as much as we can. Um we're not going to get to where our aspirations are. Um, but what I can say is, you know, I'm proud of you, ASD family, and this is going to be tough for all of us, myself included, but I'm committed to being here with you on the other side of it, and we will get to the other side of it. So, please enjoy your holiday. We have a tough few months ahead of us, but I'm really thankful to be here, and I'm really thankful for all these people that make up the Anchorage School District community. It's a really great place to be despite all the obstacles. We got this. Thank you. That concludes my comments. >> Member Donley, a brief question. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, Mr. Superintendent, earlier tonight,
219we had some student testimony regarding the advanced enhanced grading question. And when we talked about it a little bit at the end of the meeting last a couple weeks ago, there was an explanation that dealt with um once a student was in the system, then there was a reluctance to change how the grades were assessed and but new students coming into the system were being allowed to do that or have that. Could you explain more why it's more difficult or inappropriate to adjust how those grades are are are awarded >> to the president member Donnelly that's a great question I'm happy to answer that not just as a superintendent but as a former high school teacher and former counselor and former manager of counselors and registars this is a really important topic and um to
220be transparent I've seen a district that's not the anchor school district that approached this topic in a very very destructive way and it had to do with modifying the ways that GPA are calculated once students are in high school. I feel very passionate and very confident that we made the right decision in selecting to make this change for students before they entered high school. So the change the administrative regulation changed I forget what year it happened I think 2024 but it was specifically for the rising freshmen that year. So, they hadn't taken any classes that bared high school credit or in very limited cases. And that's really important because it's important for a freshman to have those conversations with their teachers and their counselors to select classes so they can begin building their GPA at
221the same time with their peers. The request from the the wonderful South High School students that are doing a great program is to change the way that their particular dual credit course is weighted. Right now, it's not weighted. Nobody in that cohort of students has a a weighted GPA or a weighted credit for a dual credit class. So they are on the same playing field with every single student that will be applying to college with them at the same time. So when college admissions officers are reviewing applications, they'll be seeing the applications from students in that cohort and none of them will be receiving weighted credit for dual credit because that is not how it was when they were freshmen, right? So they were on the same track. There were no changes. Now if you
222did meddal in how courses are weighted in the middle of the year, there are a number of ramifications. I know the these students are are just advocating for their particular class, but realistically this is advocating for a change for all dual credit classes in all schools beyond just South High School. And you know, in some ways that might seem like a pretty innocuous change, but and and I know that these students are not seeking, you know, glory with GPA and rankings and that sort of thing, but that's where this goes wrong because there are a lot of students that are planning their schedules, knowing what's weighted, knowing what's not weighted. Same thing with families, too. And once you start manipulating how GPA is calculated in the middle of a student's high school career, it really
223creates inequity within their school, even within their cohort. So right now, the differences between cohorts to make a change in the middle of the school year, actually creates imbalances within the cohort. So it does create confusion for those children that are applying to college at the same time. And that's what we don't want. We don't want to change ranks and GPA and any of that in the middle of the year. It would be very confusing and many would say it would be unfair and many would say that I wish we would have known this because I might have chosen a different class if dual credit were weighted versus not. And again, I get when you isolate it to a very specific class, it seems small and you know, we know that these students are working
224very hard, but what I'm trying to do is ensure that there's some sort of system and fairness at the district level and I do feel very strongly that it would be a huge mistake to start uh calculating GPA in a different manner as late as junior year. I would be very concerned about what that does between students. Now, with that said, I'm sure that families and students have a lot of questions about this. So, I have confirmed that Mr. Beckman has been in communications with South High School. Let's go back to South High School. Let's have a conversation. Administration, the students, and the counselor because we need to be on the same page that this will not negatively impact anybody's college applications or internship applications or any of that. This is really just ASD's process
225for calculating GPA for this cohort. we're going to be okay. Thank you, Member Donnelly, for the question. We will not be changing the way that GPA is calculated, and I want to make sure that the our district administration is at South High School to talk with these students more in depth about why we're going to be all right and where we're not going to change the calculation. >> Member Higgins, >> thank you because this is a discussion I was going to raise anyway. um yeah uh must have been 10 years ago got into a pretty big discussion with this because you've got a lot of students out there not taking some classes because they can't make more than 4.0 0 on that class and they and I talked to valid Victorians saying yeah I wanted
226to take this this computer class but you can only you can't get extra you know higher credit so you don't do it so we put a focus on points and not learning and and so the question became one of how can we address that issue and some of the responses came back I know looking at different districts and all but the idea is that you may have more than one person up there with the top grade okay you got you got 10 students that have 4.0's Who knows? Who cares? Let them all celebrate. But I the idea is that we're not seem to me focused on education learning is more focused on who can manipulate the system with taking 4.1 credit rather than 4.0 and getting a higher score and then taking classes based upon
227that rather than what they want to learn. And and so I I I think what we're hearing from students just raising that issue at 4.0 I know I was going to discuss because I appreciate it. We're hearing from them the issues. I don't know the solution, but I think it's a good question to raise and I hope that we can somehow address that that problem that is it's a long-standing problem within the school district in regards to that type of score. So, thank you. >> Okay, we'll move on to closing member comments. We have a few minutes left. Member Bellamy starting to my right. Merry Christmas everybody. Travel safe. >> Thank you member Bellamy. Member Honer. Um I have had the chance to be in schools a little more than usual and with member Bellamy
228uh we were mock interviewers at Central Middle School for kids competing for jobs in the cafe. Um and this goes a little bit to what the superintendent mentioned. There is a narrative that our system's failing. People look at standardized test scores and use that as the only measure. Uh but when you actually go out and watch and see what's happening, uh you can't help but be impressed. And certainly the students that sat down and interviewed with me were impressive. They knew what jobs they wanted. They knew what qualifications they had. Um these weren't pretend on their part. They had to talk about what they had done um in their brief lives that qualified them to be in different positions and and it's all practice for later on in life, but they are competing for real
229spots in the cafe or the advertising groups that make it happen. Uh I have been in a handful of third grade classes as a Rotary member handing out dictionaries and I I guess part of it was I was just struck by how happy kids were. In fact, one of them walked up to me and said, "Are you happy to be here?" And I said, "Yeah, I I am happy to be here. Are you?" And they go, "Yeah, I like it here." And just that level of enthusiasm proctored by teachers that are watching all of them so carefully. And it at times can be a little chaotic and yet every teacher had a way of commanding all the attention and making everybody quiet within seconds. Um they're really working hard with our kids. Kids are responding.
230Um I again am going to say I I think that we are at a turning point in our funding levels that just make it very difficult to maintain what we've been doing in our schools. Uh, I hope that we can turn our attention to trying to support educators that rather than thinking of programs that we can push down, we turn and ask what's needed and try hard to supply that. We have great ideas here in Anchorage and I think we can incubate them uh much more efficiently and cheaper than than we can bring in ideas from the outside which are nice when we have the funds to do it. I just think we don't. And um I I think we have to be looking at whether or not our workforce feels supported and do what
231it takes to do that or we're going to see huge vacancies that we can't fill. And uh when I when I look to next fall when I won't have to worry about it personally, I see that possibly as one of the biggest threats to maintaining the quality of what we're doing. if we're restricted on money, but even then still can't fund or find people to fill the spots that we have funding for. I I just uh I I look at what it was like when I came into this district and what it's like right now. It is night and day. If you are out shopping, it's the difference between a store that's stocked with all this stuff and if you remember grocery stores during CO when you walk down aisles that were bare uh and
232empty things, we we do not have a line of people that want to work here anymore. If we lose the ones we've got, we are in serious trouble. So I I I think it does take a a sea change in how we look at things and and it's very difficult. I don't envy you or any of the administrative staff at all in trying to address it. But on the positive side, the kids are all right. So thank you. >> Thank you. I'm told member Wilson has no closing comments. Um student representative Madison, any brief closing comments? Oh, great. Um, member Don. >> So, I I just want to send out my support for the staff that's going to face this really challenging uh situation we're in for the budget. I'm really looking forward what your
233recommendations are going to be. Uh, I've been there. I've done that. Um, as co-chair of Senate Finance doing the operating budget, I was there for a for several years where oil went right down to the bottom it's ever been and got down to $8 a barrel one year and and and I kept bringing proposals forward to the Senate Majority Caucus of how to reduce spending that they told me we needed to they wanted to do but they kept voting them down. So I remember one point in a caucus meeting somebody yelled out, "Well, it's really hard to cut the budget if you won't ever vote to cut anything." And so it's I'm not looking forward to this at all. That I would say that the challenge facing the Anchorage School District in its budget right
234now is the most serious budget challenge I've seen in 25 years of elected office. So I appreciate the superintendent's remarks tonight. Um I don't have a clear path forward for how we're going to be able to balance this budget. So, I I just I really appreciate all the help that your staff can give us in making recommendations and it's going to be a very very I I just don't think people fully comprehend just how serious it is right now. Um but um and um I wish I I wish I could say I said here here's this simple thing we can do. Um on the other hand um this community has really been discriminated against and by state government over the last decade. Um the funding that the state provided the Anchorage community has gone down
235by over hund00 million in inequitable ways compared to other communities around the state. And at some point the community, the citizens of Anchorage have got to stand up for themselves and say, "We just want to be treated fairly in this process." And these archaic statutes that are objectively discriminating against our students and our taxpayers need to be modified so they're actually based on accurate data and fairness because right now they're not. And that's really hurting this community and it's hurting our students and families. Um, so with that very depressing thought, I just wish everybody a very merry Christmas. >> Thank you, member listeners. >> Um, I appreciated the superintendent's remarks about the school visits. I think in that spirit, I wanted to share um my joy. The previous weekend, the budget balancing weekend, I Friday
236night, I attended Dance West's performance, which was extraordinary. I hadn't never done so before. Um there were something like 130 or 140 students involved. It was two hours of just joy and movement of all kinds and a coordinated the theme was rise. So it was a very uplifting theme. But um from from students who are being trained in ballet to contemporary art to hiphop to things that I couldn't just I don't have the words to describe but what really was conveyed was the joy on their faces um through movement through movement together and um it was a really neat thing to be a part of that audience. Um then on Saturday I was uh at the Midtown mall and stumbled across the King entrepreneurial students who were um spending the day selling products and um
237I had a great time talking with each of the student vendors. Um came away with a couple of things and that was just wonderful. Later that evening, um, I was at the performing arts center with family and lo and behold, the Chooak Jazz Band showed up. This was at the the ugly the ugly um sweater holiday show and the Chooak Jazz Band was able to collaborate with the visiting artists um and were there doing a great job from sort of the rafters. Um and then I was able to go to the real um Christmas market and I'm not treating the name properly but it was a Christmas market in German and um the stu thank you at the students um and and their parents were just wonderful. I had a chance to talk with a
238lot of budding entrepreneurs and that was just um it was a lot of fun and it was uplifting and and soulfilling in the hing in the same way that member Holland and um and and um Dr. Bryant were able to reflect. Um we will be having a finance committee meeting um on Thursday. It will be focused on budget related conversations um you know I shared a series of questions with Dr. Bryant um just a couple of days ago and I'm very concerned and he was able to provide the bulk of the answers, but I'm very concerned that targeted um targeted solutions being offered right now and articulated overriding Senate Bill 113, which would activate a component of House Bill 57, would generate additional funds to support reading and would support CTE. E. Um, but even
239with those and even with inflation proofing, I think those come nowhere near nowhere near the level of funding that we need to close the gap. And so hopefully we can dig into that a little bit more on Thursday. But I appreciated the prompt answers. Um, and I appreciated the perspective that it's the worst you've seen in in two and a half decades of um, elected office. >> Member HS. >> Thank you. Uh, first of all, I just want to thank the all the speakers tonight. I the the microplastic speakers and the action. And I appreciate members uh Bellamy and involved by Hollowman. Their motion to address this issue. They were very effective. Their speech was fantastic. And u my congratulations and my appreciation because that that's really what what it's all about. Um I also
240appreciate those that testified about the credit scores that the way we're keeping track of 4.0 and how that works. I hope that there's a good dialogue that takes place to address with their concerns and try to figure out what options are there uh to do that and I hope we'll follow up by the administration at some point because I really think there are legitimate issues there and I don't know what we can and cannot do. I think I don't think the administration's done anything wrong. The question that's being raised is is there a better way? And I I think that's a fair question to ask the budget. Um uh well, it's holiday season. I won't say everything I want to say about that. Uh it's not a good way to finish out the season, but
241I will say that um I'm I'm tired of focusing on how much we need. I want to talk about what is adequate funding because we're not even bringing that up as a discussion. and to listen to legislators say, "Well, if you're giving more money, it's the same thing until you get your improvements and you get higher academic scores, then we'll give you more money." The assumption is that somehow we're getting more money to continue doing the same identical thing we do right now. And so, why give them more money? That's not the case. And I really don't have that ammunition to say, look, if we had more money, these are the things on the list. Now, one of them is obviously classroom sizes that's out there, but it'd be nice to go in there with
242that assumpt with that information. I remember about 10 years ago in a legislator's office and he talking about adequate funding and he said a small school was in here and I they said we need adequate funding and he said, "Well, how much is that?" And he said, "I didn't know." He said, "What if I doubled it? Would that do it?" He said, "I don't know." And he said, "It must be okay the way it is." We need to be able to give them the answers on what we want, but also how we're going to use it. That's the sales part of it. And I and I really feel like I need more information as a board member because I don't have all that, but it would be important information to have. I was asked um
243by ADN what the solution is. And um I I kind of, you know, u switched it on. I always like to do that. Um and I said it's it's not the governor and it's not the legislature. um they work for the voters. It's up to the voters to let those legislators know what they want, expect it from them, and hold them accountable. And that includes people that aren't voting. I hold them accountable, too. Uh within that, but they control it. I remember 10 years ago when great schools got out there and they sent emails, they made all kind of phone calls, a lot of them lobbied in Juno and we got a BSA adjustment that was significant and that happened. If we want change, you got to let your elected people know what you want.
244You're my boss. When I heard the kind of responses I had or the um in regards to closing schools, what the issues were, why I went to the schools, I saw what they were talking about. I listened to them and and we responded. The board, you know, had good reasons to go both ways. I don't want to make that into the discussion, but you're the boss. You need to let us know what you want. I heard the the the like I said the microl plastics got quick response tonight and I like that a lot. The 4.0 I think that's something for discussion and I think that's a response showing that we are listening to you board members we are the voice for the public that includes staff that includes pupils students it includes the general
245public um and when you're giving us your views we should take that in consideration. We're always going to put safety number one. We got to put kids up there, you know, results out there. But there are a lot of issues that when we get response from the public that we should be listening to you and we should be responding to you. So I think the same thing true with the legislature. Uh it was probably a dozen years ago when Polaris was going about a dog and I told them just tell them you want it, don't ask. And they got it. I like that approach. But you need to hold them accountable. If you're not writing emails and you're complaining about being cuts with four additional classrooms in a classroom, more students, you're partially the issue
246because you're not telling your elected officials what you want. And if you aren't doing that, then you're getting the results that you should expect. So, I'm just encouraging people to pick up the phone, confront their legislators, find out what they're going to do, hear from them what they think is adequate. I've listened to too many legislators that said, "I didn't support the the defined benefit retirement system because I don't have enough information." They've been on the in the Senate for 10 years. Go find the information. They get enough information to vote no, but they don't have enough information to be able to make a decision. Yes. Their responsibility. We need to tell them what the expectations are, what you want. If you don't want a BSA increase, tell them that. If you want one, you
247need to tell them what you want. And you need to hold them accountable. And you need to do it with I can tell you they get annoyed a lot. So that might give you a motivation. Uh but with phone calls and emails, you make a difference. You make a difference. And I just encourage the public. You need to voice your views out there. Understand that we are going to be raising classroom size. It's awful for kids. We're going to be doing some awful things. We know how short we are, over $80 million, and they are not funding us adequately. If we look at adequate, we're a couple hundred million and uh representative I mean member Donley is correct. We'll underdefund it relative to other areas in the state. So sooner or later we need to
248get to bring it up to the Supreme Court and do something. But it right now it wouldn't work. But I it's time to challenge it. But you need your voice out there. And if you aren't voicing your concerns, if you're me staff and if you're parents and even kids, you can make a difference. But you need to do it a lot. And if you don't stand up and you don't speak up, that's part of the issue. And for everybody, happy holidays. Whether it's Christmas or Hanukkah or anything else, it's a it's it's a great holiday and um just wish you the best. Thanks. >> Entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Moved by Bellamy, second by Halman. Seeing no objection, we are adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Thank you.