Elementary teacher Christa Metzger was in her classroom at Anchorage’s Trailside Elementary School the week before school started. She was wrestling with a hand pump, trying to blow up a stingray floaty. Finally inflated, she held it up.
“Look how cool the eyes look,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s how real stingray eyes look.”
She planned to hang it in a corner, as part of the classroom’s ocean theme. There was a lot to do, like unpack boxes, shelve books and figure out how to arrange the desks. Also on the list: find out what grade she’s teaching.
She said she thought it would be fourth grade. She was pretty sure. But depending on student numbers, it could be a combined third and fourth, like last year. It probably wouldn’t be second grade, like the year before that.
Metzger has been at Trailside Elementary in Abbott Loop for most of the decade she’s been teaching. But she got moved to different schools twice, when the Anchorage School District needed her elsewhere.
It can be tough on her when that happens. She said she learns a lot and there’s a lot of personal growth, but it’s also really stressful.
“My husband likes to say, ‘Please God, not another learning experience,’” she said. “Because everywhere you go, there's an adjustment period and all that stuff. But I've loved the kids everywhere I've gone.”
While it’s not ideal, it’s not uncommon for teachers to get moved around up until the last minute, whether that’s within a school or between schools, said Kersten Johnson-Struempler, the district’s deputy chief of schools. That’s because the number of students enrolled in each school, and in the district as a whole, fluctuates a lot. There are a bunch of reasons for that. Kids can lottery into schools outside their neighborhood. Some kids enroll late. Also, there’s a bit of an exodus from Anchorage public schools — young families are moving out of state and more families are looking for alternatives, like charter schools or homeschool.
Johnson-Struempler said this fall, the shuffle is even more complicated.
“This year in particular it's been a little bit rocky, unfortunately, because of the uncertainty around budget, both at the state and federal level,” she said.
Over the summer, after a flurry of lawsuits — including from ASD — the federal government released billions of dollars in education funding to states. Less than two weeks ago, Alaska legislators successfully overrode the governor’s veto of state funding for public schools.
Now the district has the money to hire nearly two dozen more teachers. And while that’s great, Johnson-Struempler said, it’s actually incredibly difficult to find teachers to hire right as school is starting.
But all the uncertainty did not seem to damper first-day activities.
At Trailside Elementary on Wednesday, the night before school starts, kids gathered to find out which teachers they’ll have. The playground featured an ice cream sundae bar, with long lines despite the rain.
Metzger was inside, introducing herself to her future students — 4th graders, just like she guessed, but had only recently found out for sure.
Some of her students she already knew. She taught them last year, in her combined third and fourth class. Evan Vaughan is one of them. He said Mrs. Metzger was nice — really nice. One time, when she ran into him in the neighborhood and found out he’d forgotten his bike helmet at school, she went to the school to get it for him so he could bike home safely. And, he said, he learned a lot too — like the difference between potential and kinetic energy.
“We slid different washers across a table and based on how big they were, the faster they went, or something,” he said.
Besties Bridget McCoy and Lena Baughman said they also already had Mrs. Metzger, in both second and third grade. They loved having her two years in a row.
“It was fun!” they said, in perfect unison.
But this year, they didn't get Mrs. Metzger again. That’s not an accident. Metzger said she asked the principal to make sure kids like Lena and Bridget got assigned to a different teacher, so they can experience different ways of learning.
That’s okay with Lena.
“Mrs. Fritzel’s a really good teacher,” she said. “I’ve heard good things about her.”
The next morning at 7:45 a.m., kids were arriving at Trailside Elementary for the first day of school. They streamed toward the front doors, loaded down with lunches and school supplies, hair freshly combed, wearing brand new backpacks. Mrs. Metzger was there, waiting for her fourth graders — helping them find the right line, complimenting their hair, remembering their names.
She said she’s excited to connect with her students. Her goal, as always, is to help them love learning.
“This is just this year,” she said. “We want them to love learning all their lives. It's a lifelong pursuit.”
