This Q&A is part of a broader candidate survey by the Anchorage Daily News. View the full survey here.
Kelly Lessens | School Board Seat: B | Age: 41 | Occupation: Anchorage School Board member | kelly4anchoragekids.com
What’s the single most important issue facing the Anchorage School District? How would you address it if elected?
We need to restore trust in the district’s leadership, but we cannot do that if we fail to address ASD’s looming fiscal cliff. State funding does not keep up with inflation. That means school funding is effectively cut every year. This school year, instead of increasing classroom sizes, ASD is using about $25 million in federal relief funds to offset the effective decrease. During the 2022-2023 school year, ASD will use $56.5 million in temporary relief funds just to maintain its status quo metrics. If the district did not have those temporary funds, the ASD’s ratio of 30 high schoolers per one teacher would balloon to 40 high schoolers per teacher. We need to keep identifying efficiencies within our budget — and I have. But if there is no movement from Juneau (and soon) to adjust the school funding formula, ASD will have a $67 million shortfall for the 2024-2025 school year. Anchorage needs board members that understand the magnitude of the problem and who will go to bat for Anchorage schools.
Rate how the Anchorage School District has handled the pandemic, and why.
Many students are struggling due to pandemic-related challenges, both academically and behaviorally, but voters need to elect board members who are laser-focused on addressing the challenges we know are here now. When I joined the Board in May 2021, I understood that parents wanted consistency and in-person learning more than pretty much anything else, both for their students and for themselves. I am proud that ASD offered that consistency this year; unlike schools and entire districts in other parts of the country, ASD did not revert to online learning. But I don’t want to dismiss the extraordinary challenges this year has presented. Our teachers — and the parents who have stepped in as substitute teachers — are absolute heroes.
Many students are struggling due to pandemic-related challenges, both academically and behaviorally. What are some strategies the school district should prioritize to help students recover from that period?
Academically, ASD should continue to prioritize investments in summer school and small group tutoring, like reading interventionists. I would have liked to have seen class sizes capped at 15 students for 2nd and 3rd graders in the 2022-2023 school year, at minimum, especially at the schools that are being assessed as “below benchmark” in reading proficiency, so as to allow teachers to have adequate time to meet students’ needs and better work towards the accelerated growth that we hope to see. ASD’s understanding of adequate classroom staffing sizes (15 for K-3) has never been implemented in our schools. Holistically, we should probably rethink…everything. The board’s commitment to mental health supports is important, but we also need to think about school start times, additional recess, the role of counselors, additional preschool options to build long-term capacity, and long-term investments in healthy buildings, i.e. through ventilation improvements.
Is the Anchorage School District doing a good job of retaining quality teachers?
The recently settled AEA contract should be a first step toward improved teacher retention. Moving forward, the board and administration will need to continue to improve communication and seek buy-in and feedback. However, one of the key reasons that ASD — like the others across Alaska — struggles to retain and recruit educators is because too many current, new, and would-be teachers lack access to a defined benefit system. Surveys of teachers and administrators identify retirement benefits as the single MOST important issue for improving teacher retention and recruitment. A competitive, state-level focus on teacher recruitment and retention is a must if our state has any meaningful intention to improve student outcomes. The board also needs to focus on increasing the number of teachers of color, who have strong bearing on the academic performance, graduation rates and college attendance among students of color. Our workforce should look like our community.
If I could change one thing in the Anchorage School District, it would be _____. Explain.
Special education. Particularly the recruitment and retention of SPED teachers. When I’ve spoken to families of students with special needs, many are overwhelmed with what they perceive as ongoing needs to advocate for their student(s). They have shared that they would benefit from expanded opportunities for liaisons and support groups, as well as additional blended preschool options. These things all require sizable numbers of dedicated, trained experts. SPED teachers also have concrete needs. SPED has the highest rate of vacancies and turnover in ASD, as many SPED teachers often leave the field entirely after only three to five years due to burnout. Thirty five percent of ASD’s current vacancies are in SPED. We need to address this challenge through enhanced commitments to recruitment, as well as to more mentorship opportunities, additional prep time to adequately design interventions, consistent, planned and coordinated cycles of prof. development, and up-to-date, research-based curricular materials.
