Anchorage Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt is starting his second year leading the state’s largest school district, which has over 43,000 students. Thursday is students’ first day of school.
“The rubber hits the road on the first day of school,” Bryantt said at an interview Monday at Trailside Elementary School. “So we want it to get off to a positive start. And all signs indicate that it’s going to be a positive start with no surprises.”
The district begins the year with one less school than it had last year. The school board voted to close Abbott Loop Elementary due to low enrollment and budget concerns.
Bryantt said the district is facing an $80 million budget deficit this winter without additional funding from the state.
“The dark reality is that this likely will not be the last school closure in ASD,” Bryantt said. “Because I’m committed to passing a balanced budget in January, I’m going to have to have very difficult conversations with the community that involve potentially raising class sizes, staff reductions (and) unveiling a long range school consolidation plan over the next several years.”
One of the major changes for families and staff this year is later start times on Mondays. All students will start class an hour late, but still get out of school at the regular time.
Bryantt said the district-wide change provides dedicated time for teachers to receive professional development. He said parents do have flexibility to drop students off at the normal time.
“That’s just one of several things that we have going on to ensure that we’re fully committed to achieving our board goals, and that means investing in our people and their ability to hone their craft,” he said.
Bryantt noted that his first year leading ASD was marked by more than one crisis. A bus driver shortage left two-thirds of the district without bus service for most of the first semester and heavy winter snowfall canceled seven days of classes. Bryantt said the district is better prepared to offer distance education in the event of a major weather event this year.
“We have deployed instructional materials to students in the event that there is some sort of weather event,” he said. “So I anticipate we’ll have fewer snow days but it does mean that students will have some assignments to do on snow days to just make sure that there’s continuity of learning.”
Over the summer, six elementary schools were upgraded with secure vestibules at the entry as a result of the bond package that Anchorage voters passed in the spring. Bryantt said the district also plans to standardize their protocols for visitors across the city.
“We need to create a stronger culture of safety in our schools,” he said. “Safety is not just adding a secure safety vestibule, it’s ensuring that families and students and staff need to know that if you see something, it’s your responsibility to say something.”
High school students start at 7:30 a.m., followed by middle school at 8:15 a.m. and elementary school at 9 a.m. Kindergarten and Pre-K students will start class on Aug. 24. Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District students began class on Aug. 15.
Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.
