There have been several classroom closures since Anchorage students began phasing back to in-person learning two weeks ago.
Eight classrooms are currently closed due to a combination of positive COVID-19 cases and staff shortages, administrators said at a school board meeting this week. Two others were closed, but have since reopened.
But positive COVID-19 cases represent less than 1% of the student and staff population, said Ashley Lally, the district’s director of security and emergency preparedness. The district tracks reported COVID cases for all staff and students including those learning in-person and virtually, Lally said.
“A majority of what we’re tracking is those kids in school who have symptoms or staff who have symptoms,” said Lally. “But over 90% of those are either coming back negative, or they don’t follow up with us, so they stay out of school for 10 days.”
There are 8,000 elementary students currently learning in-person, administrators said. That number is expected to jump next week when the majority of students grades 3-6 will be able to return to class.
There are about 18,000 elementary students enrolled in the Anchorage School District, according to administrators.
District Superintendent Deena Bishop shared recent data on middle and high school student grades. Bishop said this fall, the number of failing grades increased by 3% while the number of ‘A’ grades decreased by 1% compared to last fall.
While Bishop said the figures aren’t statistically significant, Deputy Superintendent Mark Stock said in an interview the district still has a “grave concern” about the learning loss grades can’t capture.
Instead of emphasizing grades, Stock said teachers are focused on bridging students’ learning gaps with additional resources. The current preliminary budget includes $4 million for a large summer school program.
“This remediation is going to take time,” Stock said. “Like, years. You can’t miss a year of school and make it up in a year. It’s going to take everything from summer school to before-and-after school tutoring to teachers rearranging and reducing their content and doing things differently.”
Data shows Alaska Native and American Indian secondary students continue to receive the most failing marks. Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students saw the biggest increase in the number of failing grades over the last year.
Looking forward, the district presented a preliminary budget avoiding significant employee layoffs due to an infusion of federal COVID-19 relief funds. Some teacher positions will still be cut due to lowered enrollment.
Administrators said the district is expecting about 75% of students who left in 2020 to return in 2021, and plans to conduct more enrollment surveys in the coming months.
