001e e e I'm going to call this session work session to order at 4:01 [Music] p.m. in in what feels like an empty room um after a while uh we do have several members that are out for uh family or medical reasons um did you say member of bam me was online um and U superintendent is traveling and is here online and member Donley is not feeling well uh and I doubt will be here for the work session perhaps for the business section uh and our student representative is not here yet but everyone else is in attendance so with that uh call to order and a roll call that brings us to section B our discussion on repurposing and I'm thinking someone from the administration will step in and talk to us for a while
002thanks Mr President I hope you can hear me all right can you hear me Mr President yes we can there might be a little Echo from that oh okay I I'll try to work on that um after I key gy up so uh first off thank you for the opportunity to participate remotely today as I complete my my course workor um today's work session will focus on the repurposing plan uh we have the short of it is that we have many more incredible programs in these buildings in ASD than we have vacant facilities and I do recognize when you superintendent uh when you turn or you did something where suddenly your voice became very muffled so at the beginning it was clear oh something changed okay my apologies let me take off how about now
003Mr President that sounds good okay my apologies uh so the the short of it is that you know I recognize that ASD has many more incredible programs and least buildings than we have vacant fa facil so um tonight the board has a big decision to weigh and I I wanted the opportunity to answer board member questions and help you think through the pros and cons of the administrative recommendation and also other options that you might be deliberating tonight so Jim Anderson has a few slides on the relevant data then from there we can answer any questions you might have so I'll hand it off to Mr Anderson and the team okay thank you Dr Bryant um so uh Caron and I'll will be going through some of these slides it's meant to be discussion format
004um if if that's what the board would like to do tonight just to make sure we can respond to questions and we all know that later tonight on action item um will be a decision Vision um you know it's it's clear to everybody in the room that when we get to these slides that all four schools that that people are looking at going into two schools they're all Great Schools um but we only have two locations to put them in and and so obviously tough tough call tonight I did want to just do a a quick rehash of uh the leases that that people are paying we do have the ACT program which we'll talk about in a little while as well that lease expires at the end of June and we know we need
005to find room for that um and and we'll get a little bit more deeper into that um families lease they're working a one-year extension or multi-year extension now and that negotiation is starting uh Ric aula at the end of the school year their lease expires they're currently not working on an extension until after the decision is made and I think everyone understands how difficult it is to get the best bargain you can when you you uh reduce the amount of time you're negotiating and of course everything we do here is public um and and so you know all of those things impact when you're trying to do negotiations so I did want to see you'll see on these slides I did put the fund balance that each of the charter schools has on the next
006two charts um none of the charter schools with the exception of Alaskan native charter school has a kitchen um facility or a cafeteria um library or gem um rochs I guess got some but but not what they would like and I'll hand this over to Kirsten to talk about pros and cons we've seen um from an Administration perspective and a course from discussions with board members sure so when you look at both Ry and ancc yes um specifically starting with Ry um in terms of facilities like Jim said there's there's no lunchroom for Ry uh library or gym which really limits their ability to maneuver in that building and have larger Gathering space um and and their lease does uh expire at the end of this year so by moving to lakehood some advantages um
007for Ry would be to um get out from under that lease which helps them with some Financial stability but but it also um helps them um maintain just um a really healthy viable school program by having those Extra Spaces and when you look atccs they do have some access to those facilities currently at Abbot Loop um they um are are also um really serving students that live mostly in the east side of town um and so when you there are advantages to both schools to moving to lakehood from a newer facility standpoint um and and just wanteded to kind of point out those those change or those advantages disadvantages for those schools moving to to lakehood so I I certainly appreciate that every decision a board member makes is is not a business related decision
008I just wanted to explain why we recommended rasula over anccs and it really was they by far the larger school um that school can hold 500 kids rasula is already at 500 it really did go down to the lease expiring with a very short period of time to renew the lease um knowing that this decision had been pushed into March we're about 11 weeks from the end of school um when we make these decisions tonight so it it really was not um a preference of Ric aula over anccs it purely was time money and and a and really looking at it from a business perspective but I certainly appreciate that's not the only perspective all right so looking um towards Highland and stream um and looking at proposals into Nuna Valley as a location just
009from a a curriculum and instruction standpoint um Highland um has Room to Grow if they're able to move to nunaka they um would they they are one of our charter schools that needs assistance with financial stability in a big way um they currently don't have outsid space um a lunchroom a true library or gym so there are some real limitations to the spaces that they work with um in their current location Nuna would provide those those spaces for instruction um and um one of the big um I would say advantages to creating a space for Highland at nunaka Valley would be really taking care of our act program um by moving them into to the Highland space that they're currently in um and we'll talk a little bit more specifically about the ACT program um
010later but um the the other thing that's good for both schools is it is close to their current location they're both East Side schools newa is also an East Side school if we switch to stream um one of the big advantages for stream moving to nunaka Valley is having greater access to outside spaces and um closeness to Russian Jack as a part um part of their Philosophy for the middle school program at stream is a lot of experiential learning um they are outside a lot um and do a lot of their learning outside of a a traditional classroom so the Nuna Valley space really does fit the model for stream in terms of not having to take a bus everywhere or get parents to drive they're able to walk outside their door and access those
011outside spaces um it really does provide growth potential for them as well um which is their goal as a charter um and um and I think I mentioned it once before but it is still close to their current location so from a transportation perspective parents would not have a a far drive to a new location at naaka Valley so again we we were asked to make a recommendation we did look at both stream and Highland at this facility and again the recommendation um it was really tough we we knew that all the Green Space was perfect for stream um we knew that both schools could grow from their current enrollment to 300 um it really came down to uh the Administration has been watching Highlands fund balance get scary low for multiple years and and
012we looked at this as um really an an opportunity for them to do something similar to what anccs did if you looked at the first chart um their fund balance grew significantly when we moved them into East High School and then into the Abbot Loop facility because they put money back every year into the rent account um and it kind of held there and it was done intentionally and we worked it with them when we pulled them out of e out of their building during covid and moved them to East because at that time there is a lot of public discussion about building a building over at Apu or getting a different facility and they wanted they wanted a brand new building and so that account was created um where they were always allowed to
013keep some unallocated but they really did grow their fund balance up because they weren't paying um lease and so it it did look like purely again from a business perspective that it gave Highland um a better chance at surviving the next several years not knowing what education funding in the state is going to look like so um looking ahead looking at our next talking point around um the ACT program and just for some context I think most board members are aware but if there's public tuning in the ACT program serves uh students with disability a disabilities ages 18 to 21 um and and it is a step between um High School graduation and that that adult transition and so there's a lot of skills that are taught in that program that include Independent Living skills
014how to maintain a job lots of job skills they connect them with job skills they practice those skills they also learn how to use public transportation um there's a variety of skills that they learn through the ACT program that help them um get a leg up essentially into adulthood um during that age range of 18 to 21 so um when we're looking at needs for um the ACT program um we do have many different sites that act program is situated in now um we would like like to um look at consolidating that into a viable facility that um we can help support the program as a whole as opposed to having it in multiple locations so cost efficiency is a big is a big deal for us um when we're looking at act program in
015terms of not paying for a lease um and housing them here um in the space that Highland is currently situated in um the other the other part of moving them to the Highland spaces that there's existing infrastructure there we would not have to do major res renovations to accommodate the program it's pretty much set up for students and so there would be some minor things that we would have to do but it would not be a complete overhaul with construction um one thing that is really um nice about our East Side location here in the Ed center with Highland right next door to us is that we have lots of Transportation accessibility and for a program like act this is a really important feature um because a big part of the ACT program is utilizing
016that public transportation system um and not all parts of Anchorage are easily accessible that way through public transportation um we also um look at continuity of services so moving to an an existing ASD facility assures um just stability for students and staff they know where to expect that program they can come visit that program it's not changing year toe that has that stable um building that people can can count on um and instead of leases or other um Extra Spaces that we find to tuck those programs in that often we have to move when when other things come in so um the other thing is that it's it's a flexible space so um we can we can use layout of Highland to just adapt to the needs that we have um within the ACT program
017and this would cause minimal disruption to other schools as a part of the transition as well okay just add a couple comments um knowing that that we we didn't know how the vote would turn out we did look at the stream facility and um sent a couple questions back to whan one was would they allow us to pick up that lease that um is currently um owned by stream and use it for the ACT program the second one was long-term what is whan's plan for that building um because we certainly didn't want to pick up one remaining year move the whole act program into a facility with no um idea of whether that facility would continue to exist or would continue to be available to us as a long-term programmatic move um the individual in
018Alaska that is was allowed and and man has some oversight of the lease with stream um unfortunately doesn't have the decision-making authority to to respond to that he has sent that back to Texas where the head corporate headquarters is um and we are pending information so it isn't that we didn't look at both options it's that we we don't have an official response um are there are there buses near Wayland yes can we put kitchens in any facility yeah our our maintenance Department's amazing of course we can um but would we put kitchens in a facility that we may not be able to occupy for more than a year probably not and I just don't know the answer and I and I apologize that's what we needed to know to really be able to talk
019um act program into that facility and I know there's a couple board members behind the scenes that certainly um were interested and as soon as we have that information I'll make that available so looking at our next talking point um when when we originally did the right sizing work and Baxter was on a potential closure list um nunaka Valley students were slated through that process to go to either Chester Valley or Russian Jack um and in in the process of right sizing with Baxter coming off of that list um we wanted to reconsider Baxter as a potential location for new NAA so we did some background work um we so both uh Chief academic officer San gusterson and myself and senior director br aan visited uh the schools we talked to staff um about their
020opinion of new NAA Valley as a whole coming to Baxter as an option um and overwhelmingly both at Nuna Valley and at Baxter staff are enthusiastic about that option keeping the newa students together and joining another facility at Baxter there is room for the entire population of nunaka to U be housed at Baxter additionally we surveyed families from Nuna Valley about that move and change um and over 80% of our our staff and families that responded to that student student or survey sorry are positive um in terms of that move and making that change and so we really feel that um we that the recommendation to move Nuna to Baxter is a really positive one from the community additionally um there is an East Side community council meeting where this was brought up and and
021there are community members that are very positive about this move as well remember was thank you this is maybe not directly um it's part of this conversation but one of the questions that I was noodling on and I just wanted to throw out there um I know that through the conversations remember Jacobs and I had with the administration when the board um in the amendment that was approved should a $1,000 BSA increase be approved uh by the legislature approximately $4 million would go to Charter Schools because it would be through the formula and we would be passing their share and so the question that I had and this is something I would throw at maybeor CFO um I did give my heads up so it's not not out of um left field entirely is what
022does a $1,000 BSA increase due for each of these charter schools because I know that it would lift all boats and it would lift these boats in specific ways sure I'm gonna let Andy go first yeah thank you and thanks for the heads up for the question so with a th000 BSA increase anccs would get about 466,000 Highland about 343,000 RKA about 653,000 and and stream would be about 306,000 and that's just based on what their projected enrollments for next year are thank you very much okay next has a question sorry um just uh I've got other questions but I can wait till the end but just a quick followup then someone who's not intimately familiar with um any of the program budgets that of the four schools that are involved in this proposal um
023will any of the charter programs have a structural deficit to contend with after the legislature passes HB 69 with $1,000 BSA increase um currently all the charter schools have balanced budgets for next year without the th000 BSA increase some of them are dipping into their savings to pay for it but um there shouldn't be an issue with solvency in any of the schools even at their current rates they've they' figured it out $1,000 I don't know how they' spend it but I'm would be welcome could I follow up Mr chair just to put a put a pin in it then um would any Charter program be required to dip into savings with the additional Revenue that they would receive from HB 669 if it included a $1,000 BSA increase I don't know that I can
024answer that because I don't just like I don't know what our board is going to do I don't know what their boards would do as far as allocating additional staff and whether or not they would spend down their savings as well as spending the new money I I'd like to add that there's a Comm substituted in Juno now that'll hit for House Bill 69 and it'll be on the floor tomorrow and it does not mention inflation proofing the BSA so it's a onetime thousand BSA um if the charter schools like the rest of the district were to actually use 100% of all available funds and increased positions as much as they could possibly do that following year there would be yet again a massive um structural deficit because the BSA wouldn't have been inflation proofed
025so it's a great question but not knowing what the apcs will prioritize and how much they may save it would be difficult to know what the long-term impacts of not inflation proofing um the additional money they would get this year would have anymore than when we come back with a revised budget if we literally even could could spend all of it and hire everybody um the following year we would already we would be back to a 3% deficit again unless they inflation proof so lots I I would certainly advise Charter Schools not to spend it all tomorrow and and to wait and see how this session plays out Mr chair Just One Last followup comment yes yeah thank you appreciate appreciate the answer um and I assumed it might be something close to that I
026I hope that we're moving away away from as a state um assuming that periods of 5 to 10 years of legislative e inefficacy of addressing the foundation formula will occur um and and instead we we position ourselves as assuming that um we will continue to address the foundation formula in the same way that we increase our department of corrections Budget on an annual basis but um I understand for some reason that's considered optimistic it just shouldn't be thanks so I did bring up I think it was January could have been February they kind of Blended together um I brought up for a discussion um that I think it's time for us to put a wh Design and Renovation in the CIP I didn't really get a lot of feedback um but we saw what happened
027when one school had um an sbbs program this year and the whole community and the school came out um not wanting a very small number of children to potentially interrupt their their daily cycle um it's going to be very difficult to find a new home for wayy we still have Charter Schools we can't find new homes for um and and I am curious does the board at least acknowledge that that's a good direction to go because I I think we we need to do better for those kids at wayy if you haven't been there um please get holder Kristen Robin anybody and go visit those those kids I think deserve better and I think it's time to um formally move forward to to try to figure out how to get their educational experience improved over
028what we currently can do so I don't know if there's comments or if the board supports that direction um member Higgins yeah I I that's an interesting issue as far as way Abit Loop and the like you know um uh botl hits me more extreme than any other the schools with leaks everywhere and the Heats and everything else and their the amount of money they need is massive I we can add things all we want to it but until the most critical schools the ones that are just in my opinion not safe are in line with I think wh was safe I mean the structure is there physically and all that there things they want to do and there's a lot of space for the number of kids so it's not short that way and
029Renovations but it's not like the facility itself is unstable or uh where you know the the roofing is so bad and the temperature varies you know 20 30 degrees with one wall um so I'm not sure how adding things like at this point in time until we get to the most what what are the most critical schools and rather than saying well this is one for discussion so let's throw it out there I just I just don't see how anything Compares right now to that High School uh but I have gone through a lot of schools and seen a lot of problems okay and and problems that should be fixed I think the billion dollar deficit in regards to the the maintaining the buildings it's I think I billion and a half is probably closer
030uh and we're trying to add things to it this isn't something was unsafe or it's not something where Improvement couldn't be there no question at all about it but I'm just I'm a little bit curious about throwing in new things at this point until we get to the schools that are are just falling apart and and to be clear I think the first step would be a design and not go straight into doing anything but to get a design to figure out what the options are to do a good assessment of the building to see what can wait what what would be um preferred to do earlier um it wouldn't be uh you can't fix wh in in one year two years 3 years um it would be multiple Summers of a little bitt each
031summer but we don't have a plan at all we have nothing and and so really when I when I say the CIP I think what in in my vision is really um an assessment and and design options to come back to the board and say okay this is what the building has um we'd like to put something on bond for design and assessment but not the actual work until we can come back with options and then and then look at those outer years so it certainly wouldn't happen very quickly um but we haven't looked at that we haven't given that building the same kind of look that we've given many other facilities in the district and that's that that's really why I I just want to position ourselves to be able to move forward and
032I and I think putting the design in and the build building assessment is is a good start did you have a followup yeah I just my word of caution is when I first got on School Board in 2008 it was we're going to pick the school most in need and rebuild it and take that type of approach and do everything and the board pushed away from that and and I think they did the right thing and saying wait a minute we have principles out there saying don't worry about this because it just adds to our total so we get a new school we got so many of those things going on it was Unreal and right now trying to say what's everything we can do to it isn't saying what's the problem before we get
033to a design or what's perfect I just I I I don't mind putting money some into reviews like that but that's money in reviews that could be used to fix something we already know about and so I have a lot of reservations about trying to go and say let's find out the perfect school just fix the roof okay fix the heating or do the things that we already know about before we get up here and say until we study the host School we're not going to do anything that's where my concern is at member Jacobs yeah thank you Mr chair um to the the question to Administration regarding um as to if you know board member support including wayy and the CIP um I generally do and I think we need to find a solution
034and if that is the option that's most palatable to to um the experts who draft our CIP annually um I would support it um I am Less in I'm I'm not in support of um including an Abbot Loop renovation or or um a rebuild in future cips um I was looking at the long-term enrollment dashboard that we have in the district and I know we we hear um almost daily at this point that our district has lost enrollment um over the last 10 years um I looked at our dashboard I think a couple weeks ago just out of curiosity to examine the the trends and we we have one that's publicly available and it it I still almost want to double check the math but it seems like according to the dashboard that we've lost
035um roughly 100 students um or so within the last three years and I think 500 students or so K12 um since October of 21 just few months after um I joined this board and while that isn't um a huge sum prior boards um seemed reticent to address facility right sizing and we know that due to a a Confluence of factors it's something we need to continue to look at and so in that um environment I I think it's um unwise to take a building that this board has previously chose to uh Implement and approve a long-term plan to um dispose of from our portfolio and return to the m municipality and take that off the table and add that back into our portfolio uh to be utilized for another program and so um I think
036we need to continue having the the conversation about right sizing and my hope is that we can partner with local and state leaders to reverse um our more than decade long nout migration Trend and bring um families up from the lower 48 and retain young professionals to ensure that we need to in future years add second floors to elementary schools around the municipality um but right now I I can't support um reversing a course of action this board has approved multiple times on Abit Loop but um a way Design and Renovation does seem reasonable thanks member won thanks I wanted to share my support for adding a whe um design renovation in the ne next year's CIP um I really appreciated the time that the principal gave me six eight weeks ago and walking me
037through the facility I was there on a day where there was a plumbing situation um the bathrooms were closed because of the plumbing situation I believe it houses actually three different programs on the site there are students like in relos it is a complex space that serves not just way students right but one of the the words of the teach one of the teachers there was these are all of our students they are students who are coming into and out of whe on an as needed basis to get the support and Direction and and you know um the wraparound services and this the facility there there's no the principal does not have views of the front of the school which is something that we're doing in many of our schools um it it is aging
038it's showing its age and I think that safety concern for students for staff um arise when you allow a facility uh age and condition to um continue to degrade as for public the report about the Sleep School details pretty well anyway so you have my support member Bell yes thank you Mr chair I I wanted to just follow up with members um lons and Jacobs way is kind of the best kept secret we don't talk about it they don't complain the kids are in a unique uh they have unique needs and for us to not put them in uh the the CIP I think would be especially right now that a member lessons pretty much covered the building and and it's uh uh state of disrepair yes they do a lot of great things over
039at wayy in terms of covering up the putting you know nice shiny uh displays up in the hallways but the kids deserve much better than that and I I so I would just I would just um um I'd like more conversation um but it seems the most reasonable thing to me is for way to be added to our CIP um I don't if we and and when it comes to um abot loop I mean we've already closed abat loop we made an exception when we put I mean we can't just keep making exceptions for a building that we've already closed so either we find a in the the Alaskan native Charter or new building um by the time they have to come out of the one that they're in uh but I but but putting
040more money into that building I think I think that's I I don't I can't support that but for wayy we need to talk more about wayy we need to make sure that we are uh giving them giving that those teachers and though that population of our students giving them our best as well even when we don't hear their voices so thank you please continue okay the the last comment I think we've talked both way and Abbot Loop and naturally nothing in a work session is a decision it just gives me a general feel on the direction forward and actual decisions naturally are are made at a future date um but the the I did want to point out and I had a a very long discussion with with uh member I didn't mean to say
041it was a very long discussion because it was with member Higgins but it did last over an hour um and um you know he he brought up multiple things that that have been brought up and we've talked about it in the past um the administration is going to put a significant amount of effort in looking at what are all those repurpose things you know this year when when you focus on school closures it's all consuming like all consuming um you have board members coming back saying I don't think those 12 kids will fit at this school because I walked in it and I heard that from a teacher or 20 or 30 and so really it consumes the staff on nothing but closure and it and and we really weren't able to put the effort
042into look at um all the different repurpose options because there's only so many hours in a week and really our our Focus was um a femon focus to try to close you know multiple schools and and the end of the day we we Clos too um you know you look at other districts around the state and and uh you know they've been through this process multiple times I think Fairbanks um has gone through three different ways to do it the first time was five months of community discussions the second time they just threw it out in the budget and said hey here's our budget we're closing this school um and they picked a high school on Ison and then this year they said okay we're going to have two Town Halls next week here's the
043three schools and the week after we're going to vote on it um so they've certainly made evolutionary changes in the way that they rightsize their District I think Anchorage is being the largest city um you know we we're we're definitely more public more prolonged um but ultimately it it doesn't mean we close more it just means we we had more public input and and um over a much longer period but but we do need to this summer and I will put a lot of effort into where can we put other Charter Schools um and can you can you Lo collocate um multiple different programs in one building and um you know I suspect early next fall um hopefully we will have some good recommendations to make that that maybe you don't have to close the
044school if you can fill every single classroom in the school with a legitimate need um and we'll have to work with Deed on how deed tracks school capacity and utilization rates and all those things because the formula that was written 20 30 40 years ago here's your square feet divided by the number of students enrolled in K5 that formula really doesn't work and um so I did I did appreciate did I say the very long phone call um but it it was great actually we we we uh we had a good conversation and and we do need to look at all those other areas um so you know I'm looking forward to the the next five months or so as we try to figure out really what do we do with a building that has
045space to do something amazing that we're just not doing um so that's the end of this brief unless there's any additional questions for action tonight will be a decision tough call um four schools vying for two schools and and I I appreciate how difficult uh that vote's going to be member Higgins yeah I'll confirm that it was a very civil kind of it was a fun conversation actually because we were both open about talking about different perspectives of it and I think we dropped our gods and just shared what was going on uh and I appreciate that there's a lot of aspects of this thing though you know you're right you're a business focused and I'm student focused and when I look atccs and I look at and say they got 300 something kids but
046they got 100 kids on a waiting list and they don't have another facility to go to and it's the only title one school and with the only Alaskan native charter school in the state uh that's a concern to me as to how they're going to benefit they've been through a lot when they were at East High School and that was a lot on the other hand I understand will cula's issues and the financial aspects of it I will say they're going from a larger school they're proposing to go to a smaller one when I look at the chart here and I was looking at the sizes uh they're at what 60 let me find it again real quick um 68,500 Square F feet according to this uh document uh which was which one is it
047just to share this is the six- year Capital Improvement plan and so I was looking at that 68,000 and I'm looking at um the um uh Lake H is [Music] 61,500 I mean they get they they do a lot they the the participation and the support with the parents is just spectacular it really is I know that um uh and I don't disagree about that but if you move them in to lak hood the neighborhood kids are not going to be able to join that in third grade when they come in there because you it's a sequ you know it's a growth of an emerging program laskan charic more open about that so there's a little bit of an impact in the local community there's an impact in regards to growth sides that's a available
048there for anccs and I just there the it's the part that we're looking at the students who's going to get it and then I did it looked at a comparison that was done by Mike bonson and it looked at the growth in third grade and while Alaskan native Charter Schools is down as far as what level they're at they're at the top when they look at the growth of that year and I said TR I want to share with everybody here and I'm still working with Mike on that one so I just it it's just there's no plan right now for nccs if we're not going to rebuild or put in a lot of money into Abbot Loop and that's something the administration up until recent has been opposed to um then we don't have
049any option for them and if we get $1,000 from the from the state with the BSA and they're talking about progression we told them we would reconsider dropping schools even then if they had done it by February with the ones we had already selected so we're kind of giving mixed messages here we can't be sure all we're going to drop schools what's going to happen with the funding with the state you know this is a i' I'd rather play the roulette wheel at least I got one out of you know 35 or whatever it is chances to win but but I'm just I'm looking at it from the kids standpoint and I just haven't heard that from the administration as to the results or the benefit what kids are going to be benefit the most
050there 100 out there waiting to try to get in with nccs on the waiting list we knew that we know that there may be more there may be different when it's moved in a different area and they've done pretty good on Transportation with coring to make it change that location and they kept the students so I guess I'm I'm just I just want to talk about what students are going to benefit the most um I think that that there's going to be additional funding I believe from the state I don't know if it's going to be a thousand or not but it's going to be additional funding that school will culer was built for them 10 years ago I was on the board they came in they wanted our support to be able to be
051able to sign a contract for a longer period of time than what they normally could do and the board agreed to support that we did we put out put it out there to make it happen so that school was built for them for that thing are there are problems yeah put some dirt back in the backyard I don't know what the issues are how to fix those but those things are fixable type issues so I just I'm just trying to figure out from the kid standpoint you can take 68,500 to 61,500 and you're going to take less less space for a school that wasn't built for them because it's designed differently with less space I just don't see where I'm I'm just the analysis is which kids benefit so I can answer some of those
052questions we walked through like we did with all of the schools on the list where we had notionally picked some charter schools that might occupy um so we walked through Ric aula or with Ric aula we walked through lakehood um I don't know about how there space how much useful space how much wasted space space um I do know that that they were pretty excited that there's more classrooms in lakehood than what they have there's a bigger playground there's um they have a gymnasium but no cafeteria they have no library or at least not a very big library and this is a much bigger library and when they walked through they were talking about how much more um constructive space there was that supported education but but I'm the wrong person to answer in detail
053I walked through with them I don't know their school the way they know their school um I think that would have to be a discussion with them as to what types of wasted or or maybe just not very useful space they have in the current facility but um you know we walked through other schools that ended up not closing with other charter schools and you know we actively did have a plan we couldn't talk about it was only on P but we don't make decisions um the board does and um you know the purely again from a business and and we we actually um had a great conversation about disagreeing agreeably or however you said that it it worked um the reality is I I think Alaskan native charter school has until at least 2028
054whereas rosula has a lease running out in less than six months and so when I look at that I I I get it all your points are valid um at at the end of tonight I'm going to shake two principal's hands and and congratulate them whoever they are on getting a great facility for their school and then two of them we're going to have meetings this week um about them not and and trying to figure out the way ahead so I think that's where we're at member jins yeah thank you I'm going to PIV at to East Anchorage and um when there was the safeer to school working group in collaborative group with the Anchorage assembly what I think I remember was that um the situation for student transportation at Denny Benson is pretty unique
055because it um it crosses any student who wants to walk to school is across a major transportation Corridor I'm trying to understand if students who are currently zoned for nunaka um walking to Baxter Elementary how do they face the same challenges Crossing Northern Lights it seems to be both can be dangerous roads and it's a concern I have about redrawing those boundaries to include students who maybe have have to walk across that um transportation Corridor every day sure um so yeah so the the answer is that we would likely bust most of the Nuna students um so they wouldn't have to cross that major thoroughfare um and you know obviously families will make choices if if they want to walk we can't we can't help those choices that we would provide busing for a majority
056of the Nuna students um so they wouldn't be Crossing Northern Lights as as a thorough Fair Mr chair can I follow up um so I I I track that I just know you know when I was going to my elementary school um now decades ago um I I went back to that building a side from the school day I walked to go to hang out with my friends at the park I went to go play basketball those students are going to want to go to Baxter and cross Northern Lights and and they're going to walk and that that's just extracurricular outset of the normal school day um I think it's fair to assume that there will be some students who want to walk um in this new zoning area and I guess I just want
057an assurance that Administration considered this um because we don't control the traffic patterns on Northern Lights and to the best of my knowledge this would be a unique um school zone that crosses a major transportation Corridor I don't know of another one but I wouldn't be the person to know that and so what's sort I I also understand that we were trying to be responsive to the community so I'm not faulting the process I understand why we why we ended up where we ended up I'm just trying to make sure I understand how we weigh the safety aspect with a desire to keep a community together you know it's similar to all the kids going to backer now and and kids walk back and forth across and especially after hours kids who live on the
058other side of Northern Lights go to backer to use the playground I think a lot of the new NAA Valley kids would continue on weekends and evenings to use their old school playground because we're not going to close it off no matter which school we put in Ina Valley it's still a neighborhood playground it's still a it's still the heart and soul of where people spend portions of their weekends so i' I'd be surprised if someone's a block away from Nuna Valley if they would walk all the way to Baxter just because now they go to school there I think they probably would pick the closest playground and use it but um you know you brought up a good point and and we we need to put in that that time and the effort with
059families and talk to them about Northern Lights um and make sure that months before school opens um that that we've worked through that follow up Mr chair yes y thank you I I appreciate that logically you and I would I would hope that students will go to the nearest school um I can just tell you if I could Channel my inner fourth grader I could tell you that that is a just not reality um for at least some students with that said I I appreciate that Administration is willing to um engage an extra collaborative work with the community to make sure that students are safe um I'm going to Pivot to Transportation um and I I I am not trying to the horse is still alive so I'm not trying to continue to poke it
060an alive horse that's how I'm going to phrase it um but I am interested in hearing um the conversations that administration had with any and all of the four programs regarding the language that the board included in our right sizing memo that we approved 1217 regarding collaborative work to spin up um transportation for the first time in a in a meaningful but albeit um small way for programs what does that look like how have the programs been receiving those conversations what do we think it looks like next year so we have looked at internally can we do a couple Hub and spoke Pilots because we don't know that we're going to have additional bus drivers or not so we're trying to do it as as efficiently as possible we we haven't engaged in what the
061contract looks like if the board says yes because unfortunately um the more I work with a school the more there's the perception that that that decision has been made and it becomes emotional and complicated later um and and sometimes just walking through you know a school with a potential new occupier if if a school closes you know we had to do those on weekends but we didn't want to give the perception knowing that the board wanted to wait until March um we didn't want to give the perception that that we were going forward with a plan for each school and work out the dollar amounts when we you know we we put a lot of schools up on the list this year and we closed two and and we're down now to four schools think
062hoping that they get it and and so how many hundreds of hours more do you spend with those schools getting them to go to their APC with a contract it just when you put the decision when you segregate and completely separate School closure and repurposing um it it delays a lot of things I mean we're 10 weeks from today we're physically going to be delivering about 7500 boxes to somebody and we don't know who and and so there's a lot of details that we've got to work out and you know the hard work starts we've done a lot of the prep we've got a lot of the conceptual stuff down we've got a lot for um you know the two schools are closing and then the gaining schools we've worked a lot but with the
063charter schools you just can't pull the one principal and and start doing all that detailed work when you they have nobody nobody knows what the decision will be Mr Tri one let follow yes yeah thank you um appreciate that Mr Anderson um I think my last question will be and I understand um I don't dispute that answer disagree with an answer I think that's unreasonable um I think my underlying concern and the the inquiry I have is is there any risk that or have you um through conversations you have had um with the programs do you foresee there being any opportunity for a program to say we aren't interested in collaborating we aren't interested in facilitating a a collaborative agreement regarding Transportation um is this something we're going to have to navigate with a program
064that isn't collaborative after we've made a decision tonight I I really don't see it being a problem with the principles that I that that we've specifically talked about it um three of the four schools I think everyone knows I mean uh board meetings this year have probably been followed closer than at any time in the last 10 years by at least half a dozen schools or more um I I don't see any push back I think what they don't know is how do I sign up when I don't know how much it's going to be and I don't know what to tell them um because we we've got to finalize the plan and we're not going to break a school if if all of a sudden you're I mean do you go to Highland and
065say well your share is 176,000 and that is your fund balance um you just can't have those discussions without knowing who's going to move in member Higgins yeah um um the stream and the Highland is the one that bothers me the most okay I feel like I'm going to apologize to one uh both of them I go by and visit and you got the parking lot being used for gym uh it's it this school when I walk in it I keep thinking to myself I remember when that was Payless and it hasn't changed a whole lot it's like a warehouse kind of place it's divided from walls for classes but that's about it uh both those schools do good with differentiated instructions when kids are ready for a higher educational type thing they move them
066up they get make sure they get ch I like that better uh and I see that with some other schools as well and I think they do a good job with that and I appreciate that but what I'm looking at too is saying okay you got stream that has over a 100 people trying to get in you don't know what how that's going to play out you got Highland doesn't and that school is much bigger um you know than what either one of them have I look at Highland Academy and I'm looking at $500,000 for theirs which has uh less than a third of the space that R Cula has and they're paying only they're paying 75% of what will casula pays and I keep thinking myself what are the other options here to find
067someplace else other than subleasing from us and making them pay through the you know pay really rough are there have we looked at any other options for Highland tech other than a windowless Warehouse cut up into offices with no space for that kind of money I'm aware of anything where we worked with Highland to try try to find them a new facility I'm unaware of them looking for a new facility um I I don't think it's been brought up by Highland or the or anybody other than right now obviously we we knew that if we could get Highland in a better educational space they would have a great chance to grow right now they're in a space that doesn't if you go in when they eat lunch and you walk in the door and you
068go over to the left that hallway is what maybe 12T wide maybe yeah that's their lunchroom it's maybe 12 feet wide and it's it's really awkward um but you know like a lot of our Charter Schools they they got used to the space they had and they focused on the kids and and we didn't look for other opportunities um I will tell you that that um we look at streamers at the top of the list Alaskan native Ric aula um and Highland when on the list of schools that we recommended closure um and and we recognize that those schools could all benefit and again I I mean I we'll probably be both standing side by side apologizing to somebody because someone's in a space that's not as good as someone else is going to get
069and and you know I I don't know how to fix that when you look at the cost of uh cost of leases across Anchorage there's a lot more open space vacant space than there used to be but they're CH still charging an arm and a leg um for the space that's there so you know depending on on how the vote goes I'm sure I'll be talking to principls who didn't get what they wanted and and trying to see if they need our help to try to find a better place or to figure out something on the way ahead I think though you know Alaskan native Charter Schools got till 28 obviously I can work with the fire marshal if if it goes that way um I mean starting tomorrow Kiren and I are going to
070be linking up probably first with the people that need the most help from us um and then with the people that that we've got 10 weeks to get boxes delivered if we're not committed to really fixing up habit loop I don't suspect we're going to get in indefinite extensions right I mean that's really what it comes down to and we're just wavering and somebody gets hurt because they don't do the fire suppression changes with the new code even though I don't think that's a tremendous risk right now at all but we still they have the obligation to enforce the code because there the codes are there for safety I had not thought about walking to school issue and I um agree that's a legitimate safety c as well but every one of our charter schools
071are not in a institutional constructed school so every one of our Char schools are going to have equal need for that so I don't see that and I do agree and we had quite a discussion about right sizing can be more about closing schools it can be fully utilized in those schools we have Community needs for preschool we have Community we there's no reason why we can't work more with the charter schools on on utilizing these schools Family School partnership I know they want it don't want to be anywhere near a school like they're going to catch something but all of them can have some benefit but if they would locate in three or four different schools it would actually help them uh so I just see that as we we can do better is
072what I'm shooting for member Jacobs yeah um so please correct me if I'm wrong we receive is it $5 million from um annually what what is the the subas cost that we receed from Highland um annually um oh Andy left it he's at the assembly meeting um talking about our budget I think it's five it's less than I think it's less than 500,000 um I had it on that chart and of course I closed my laptop 505 okay um so is the if if the if the the the memorandum is approved as drafted um that opens up an additional poll in our FY 26 budget and is that offset by leases lease cost that we'd be saving with the ACT program what how do we fill that Gap so there's there's a couple ways to
073fill it one is we no longer have would have to pay the leases that we've been paying on the ACT program that are budgeted in and that shift closes that hole um quite a bit um realistically although we wouldn't do it this year um you know there's a very good partner for Highland tech if they're the ones Chosen and you know a a year from now um or a year and 11 weeks from now we could easily be moving Family Partnership over to Highland because a lot of those kids um would benefit from having famili share that facility and I know that wasn't part of the right siiz or repurposing plan but obviously we've looked at multiple different options and then you're saving another $300,000 so ultimately yes you can save more money District money
074non charter school money um within the next couple years by putting Highland tech in there but but that potential to put family there um wasn't brought on the table because it it really was between those two schools um initially but long term I think we can gain even more savings by um collocating family and and it easily fit they don't take a lot of space and it would give another option to to those kids going to Highland that they they currently don't have and they're the most likely of the charter schools to take advantage of those opportunities for credit recovery and everything else follow Mr chair um so I appreciate that I I think just a followup comment to the you know to the question of what we tell um any program that that is
075still awaiting certainty and potentially is interested in utilizing an ASD facility to reduce their overhead costs um you know I think the board has committed to continuing the conversation and we did that on 1217 um and I recognize that that's an ask from staff I'm also grateful that we are committed to consider collocation options as we go forward um I'm excited at how that possibility unfolds and so um tonight is a decision point but I don't think it's a it won't be it can't be an end to the this conversation and so uh this is the first chapter and so up whether um it's tonight or this fall um I anticipate it's not a question of um if we assist these other programs it's a matter of whenn so thank you m Johnson thank you
076um just just a point of clarification uh with member Higgins um the leis agreement at Ry their current building is listed at 39,000 Square F feet 39,000 Square fet um so I'm not sure if there's a typo in the document that you were referencing or or where the error is um but I just wanted to bring that as a point of clarification yeah yeah I'll I'll run that down member Higgins but the least document is 39,500 so we'll run it down all I know is the principal on AP said this is this has got more room and I I believe [Music] them any other questions from board members and I'm not sure who uh or question to the superintendent do we have an agenda for executive session tonight There Are No Agenda items Mr President
077awesome um in that case if anyone has more questions we have time uh if not I would entertain a motion to adjourn the work session is there a [Music] second oh okay I want to go second moved and seconded to adjourn uh this work session is adjourned