- Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP School District
- Overview
Why now?
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The Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP School District (ASD) is initiating the Rightsizing ASD initiative due to pressing needs and changing community dynamics.
ASD’s infrastructure is aging; many buildings are over 30 years old and in need of critical upgrades and maintenance. As our buildings age, our population is decreasing. Demographic shifts in Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP include a decrease in working-age adults and fewer students enrolled in ASD over the past decade.
However, more families are opting for different modalities of learning, resulting in enrollment in ASD choice programs having grown over time. Most of ASD’s charter schools are housed in leased buildings with high rent payments or in buildings that are unsuitable in size or design to fully accommodate their growing enrollment.
Our underutilized campuses present a major barrier that could be sustainably addressed with an intentional school consolidation plan. ASD is seeking community input to thoughtfully reimagine, redesign, and rightsize ASD to offer a world-class education tailored to future realities, conditions, and resources.
Education service
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ASD’s students require more specialized services, beyond the education classroom, than in the past.
Schools with low enrollment are challenged with providing the same level of service that can be supported at larger schools. Small schools see the following impacts across a district as large as Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP.
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Specialty teachers (art, music, PE, and special education) and Specialists (speech, counseling, literacy coaches, occupational & physical therapists, speech language pathologists, etc.) spend significant amounts of time traveling to multiple schools, lowering the amount of time they can spend with students.
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Combination classes in elementary schools have become more common. For instance, there may be only one 1st grade class and one 2nd grade class that are both small, so they are merged in order to make up a whole class. These combined classes make it more difficult for teachers to spend individual time with each student.
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At middle and high schools, small enrollments end up reducing course offerings, the amount of times desired classes can be taught in a single day, and access to sports and extracurricular activities.
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Schools with 3 or more sections per grade (3 first grade classes, 3 second grade classes, etc.) generally have more resources for students.
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Schools with less than 2 sections per grade will routinely see many or most of the challenges discussed in the preceding bullets.
In addition, correspondence school enrollment has more than doubled in the last decade.
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Aging facilities
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The Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP School District operates and maintains 91 facilities; 84 schools and 7 operational facilities. The average age of district facilities is 37 years. There are 33 facilities over 50 years old, including 16 facilities that are 60 years or older.
The State provided the bulk of the funding for school district facilities, by providing 60% - 70% reimbursement for school bonds, until 2015. Since January 2015, the State has not provided any bond debt reimbursement to the school districts. Deferred maintenance within the District’s facilities has increased during the past 10 years. In 2013, the District’s deferred maintenance was just under $170 million. In 2023, the deferred maintenance was just over $1 billion.
Declining population
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The Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP working-age population has declined more than 17,000 residents (8.5% decline) in the last decade, and ASD student enrollment has declined approximately 6,450 students (13% decline). Birth rates among Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP residents since 2018 have continued to decrease among child-bearing adults and we have seen that this trend is common across the nation.
The outward migration of residents in the Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP community is consistent in many boroughs across Alaska. According to the State, Alaska has lost more movers than it has gained every year since 2013. Twenty-one of Alaska’s 30 boroughs and census areas lost population over the year. Complete estimates for the state, boroughs/census areas, cities and census-designated places are available .
Additional Information
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Board Presentations
- October 15, 2024
- October 1, 2024
- August 20, 2024
- August 8, 2024
- June 4, 2024
- May 2024
- April 23, 2024
- April 24, 2024
- October 15, 2024
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Community Feedback
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Superintendent Update
October 18, 2024
Dear ASD Families, Staff, and Community Members,
I want to update you on the next steps of our Rightsizing initiative, a process that has been ongoing since April. During this time, we’ve gathered valuable insights through multiple Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP work sessions and community surveys, all with the aim of reimagining our schools to better serve our students and staff.
During the October 15 Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP work session, the Board reviewed and approved the use of a rubric that will guide the next phase of Rightsizing. This rubric, shaped by community feedback gathered through recent surveys, will help ASD determine which schools may need to be repurposed, closed, or have boundaries adjusted. We are committed to a process that is transparent and informed by community values. District administrators will use this rubric to guide a detailed analysis of our buildings to create a list of candidate schools for the Rightsizing plan.
Though the process of identifying school buildings for consolidation or repurposing is incredibly emotional for the community, the decision to move forward is driven by a sense of urgency to improve levels of academic service for all students. The intent of rightsizing our facilities footprint is to improve academic offerings across the District, despite declining enrollment and stagnant levels of recurring revenue from the State.
Next steps and timeline
On the evening of November 1, ASD plans to release an initial list of recommended schools for closing, combining, or repurposing. Afterward, from November 12-18, we will host a series of Community Conversations where you can learn more, ask questions, and offer feedback. We will also engage the Superintendent Advisory Committees during a special Multicultural Education Concerns Advisory Committee (MECAC) meeting for additional dialogue and feedback.
For our valued employees, I want to assure you that we will prioritize your preferences for school placement if you are affected by rightsizing. Following Board approval of a Rightsizing plan, our Talent Management team will work closely with staff to assist with plans to ensure a smooth transition to your new campus.
Please mark your calendars for the , where we’ll delve into the proposed list and our decision-making process. Thank you for your continued support and involvement as we work together to reimagine our District for a better future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jharrett Bryantt
Superintendent, Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP School District -
Previous updates
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Timeline
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April 2024
- Rightsizing conversation begins
May - October 2024- Community outreach
- Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP guidance
- Thorough District analysis
November 1, 2024- Recommended list released to public
November 4, 2024- Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP work session on recommendation and decision-making process
November 12-18, 2024- Community Conversations
December 3, 2024- Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP discusses recommendation as non-action item
December 17, 2024- Î÷Ê©Ö±²¥APP votes on Rightsizing recommendation
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