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"Our families will applaud the district for keeping true to a promise that all ASD graduates will be prepared for careers, college, and life from prekindergarten and onward."
- Dr. Jharrett Bryantt
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Dr. Jharrett Bryantt, Superintendent
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May 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Families and Staff,
I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2023 graduates as we celebrate their accomplishments and mark the end of the school year.
I want to express my gratitude for your support and resilience throughout this challenging year. Our community has come together to face various difficulties, and I am amazed by the true north spirit of Alaska—the sense of resilience, community, and mutual assistance. Your dedication and commitment have not gone unnoticed. Thank YOU for your continued support of ASD!
In light of the challenges we have faced, we have many wins to be proud of because we took the opportunity to review and reimagine our systems and processes to better serve our students. Several of these wins are directly tied to our board goals to improve student outcomes in math, reading, and career, college, and life readiness. We’ll be implementing a new K-3 ELA reading curriculum next school year and launching a strategic plan for a new college, career, and life readiness transformation initiative. Planning for these initiatives is underway and will begin to be implemented in the coming school year and beyond.
Budget
While I’m grateful to our legislators for recently voting to fund public education, I do want to manage the expectations around what an increase in funding would mean. With the rising cost of healthcare, labor, and maintenance, ASD will operate in a structural deficit even with the funding increase in the proposal currently being reviewed by the governor’s office. In other words, a one-time funding increase for Fiscal Year 2024 does not address the root cause of the issues that will result in a structural deficit in FY25.
Should the Governor approve the operating budget, the Board and Administration will discuss a spending plan for the one-time funds. This may include saving some or all of the money to address the looming deficit in the following year. Looking ahead to FY25, the District will again be in the position of not knowing if there will be any increases in education funding as the Base Student Allocation (BSA) remains largely unchanged since the 2016-17 school year.
Transportation
ASD has been working all year to make critically needed systematic changes in the area of transportation. In partnership with the union, a more competitive compensation package to attract and retain bus drivers was implemented. We’ve also transitioned to new routing system software to identify efficiencies. We believe these longer-term solutions will help to alleviate the likelihood of a repeat staffing shortage scenario.
PLCs and School Start Times
In terms of school start times, the Board has approved a phased change, beginning in August 2023 with Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). PLCs will provide teachers and staff valuable collaboration time each Monday morning for one hour. On PLC Mondays, bus transportation will start one hour late, while school will end at the regular time. Families will still have the option to drop off their students at the regular start time, ensuring a consistent schedule.
Looking ahead to August 2024, all schools will have revamped start times. This decision is supported by focus groups, interviews with medical professionals, town hall meetings, and a survey with nearly 10,000 responses. We understand the impact this will have on the community, and we will provide timely updates to help everyone prepare.
Student Safety and Mental Health
Safety is a top priority in ASD. Student behavior incident data indicate there is an immediate need to expand mental health services as we work with students in this post-pandemic environment. Through a combination of best practices in operating procedures, security upgrades to school buildings, and mental health supports, we will continue to keep safety a major priority. For a full safety and security update, view our May 9 Board meeting presentation.
As we continue to look at ways to support students, the District recognizes that we can adopt better practices in the area of de-escalation. This summer, the District will begin construction of multi-sensory de-escalation rooms in our School Based Behavior Supports (SBBS) Program schools. Next school year, ASD will continue its focus on Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports, or MTSS. This means that on a daily basis, ASD staff work together to support every student academically, behaviorally, and socially, based on ongoing needs.
I’d like to thank the Anchorage community for voting in support of the recent school bond. The vote secures funding for a variety of safety areas, from roofs, to seismic upgrades, to additional security vestibules for our elementary schools. You can expect to continue to see safety vestibules for our elementary schools on future bonds as we work towards standardizing safety measures across all schools.
Academics
This year we adopted a new ELA K-3 curriculum that is in line with the science of reading, foundational skills, and usability. The curriculum that was selected will be in classrooms this fall and is strongly aligned with the Alaska Reads Act. This adoption was made possible due in part to a grant program from the State that funded high quality, closely-vetted curricular materials for districts throughout Alaska.
I can’t wait to share more about what’s planned for our community with our College, Career, Life Ready (CCL) transformation! Education plays a vital role in preparing students to become engaged, productive members of our culturally rich community. Our community envisions students empowered by real-world and work-based learning experiences with access to educational opportunities within and beyond the walls of school buildings.
The District is currently in the planning stages with community partners for a new CCL endeavor that will use academy models. The academies will be built from the ground up with the goal of enabling graduates to gain and retain employment through career-focused classes embedded in their education. Through CCL work, ASD will be about creating structures across the system so all kids have a pathway to success. A true partnership between the District and the Anchorage community will take place through the CCL transformation and you’ll see some of these changes being implemented as soon as next school year.
In closing, I am humbled and honored to be your superintendent. I intend to make ASD the national example of what is possible for a large, multicultural school system. We will boast high levels of academic achievement and social-emotional well-being for ALL students. We will have a strong national reputation for offering an inclusive environment that recognizes and elevates staff for hard work. ASD will be well regarded for operating authentically to its engrained Alaskan values, while being willing to embrace innovative best practices that will ensure a world-class education.
Have a great summer!
Best,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
April 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Community,
Happy April!
As we progress through the fourth quarter, I am committed to keeping the District’s focus on our Board goals and guardrails. If you are not familiar with these goals and guardrails, I encourage you to take a few moments to review them here. Our goals are centered around improving reading and math proficiency and ensuring students graduate with essential life skills to be college, career, and life ready. The guardrails are based on the community’s values and are aligned with the vision and goals. Guardrails are akin to “bumpers” put in place to make sure we are on track to meet our goals.
Some of my current priorities include a seamless move of all 6th graders to middle school in the 2024-25 school year, the implementation of a new K-3 ELA curriculum that is in line with the science of reading, and a proposal to expand our professional learning communities. Districtwide, these are all opportunities to help students thrive and give staff the tools they need to develop professionally and become even stronger educators.
I am also closely tracking conversations in Juneau related to school funding and I am hopeful a positive change will happen. I do want to manage the expectations around what an increase in funding means. With the rising cost of healthcare, labor, and maintenance, ASD will operate in a deficit even with a funding increase. Our best case scenario puts us near the status quo.
On a related note, I’m pleased to share that, next week, I will begin my coursework for a certificate in education finance from the Georgetown University Edunomics Lab. The Edunomics Lab does great work in helping districts and school boards conceptualize and navigate complex budgetary situations in resource-scarce environments. Thank you to the Edunomics Lab for offering me a full scholarship.
As we reach the tail end of our school year and families begin to plan for summer, I’m excited to share ASD will once again offer summer learning opportunities to our students who would benefit the most from extended learning. Read through this newsletter for more information.
Lastly, graduations are around the corner, and I look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our seniors. I want to recognize our families, teachers, principals, and staff for doing whatever it takes to support our seniors through this important milestone.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Sincerely,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
March 2023: New Curriculum Launching
Dear ASD Community,
The longer daylight and sunny skies are a welcome site as we head into spring break. Before you begin some much deserved time off, I’m excited to fill you in on the fantastic progress we are making to meet our academic goals.
During the March 7 Anchorage School Board meeting, the Board voted to approve a new K-3 English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), to be implemented in K-3 classrooms this fall.
The new curriculum is the culmination of a grant the District received through the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) to adopt a heavily vetted, research-based curriculum that supports the science of reading.
This curriculum is an investment in student outcomes. Our current ELA curriculum is set to go out of publishing in the next two years. Moving forward with the adoption of a new curriculum now, while using grant funding, will save the District from doing so in a little over a year at a greater cost and without grant funding.
This grant opportunity is a bold initiative. The State considered professional development, usability, and cultural relevancy as part of the original rubric.
Fifteen school districts across the state, including ASD, worked with DEED to vet seven curricula down to four. Next, through a rigorous review process, an internal committee of 54 educators weighted foundational skills, timing and pacing, comprehension skills, and fluency as the most important components, because they are based on the science of reading, before finalizing their recommendation. The community was also invited to view the materials and provide comments during the review session.
I believe that through the robust vetting and adoption process, the selected curriculum is the best solution to meet our goals. The District is developing a comprehensive CKLA implementation plan, which will include training and materials. More info to come on this soon!
We are also making exciting strides in our academic strategies for our secondary students. This week I’ve been spending time in Nashville, along with other Anchorage senior executives, to better understand and see first-hand the successful college, career, and life readiness movement in Nashville. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with counterparts and start laying the foundation to support ASD’s broader effort to make our District a core part of the Municipality of Anchorage’s workforce development strategy. These efforts will lead to more ASD students with certifications and degrees by high school graduation day, so they can enter into high-wage, high-demand jobs in Anchorage. I want to recognize our community leaders who took the time out of their very busy schedules to come to Nashville to support our schools and work through our workforce challenges as a city. I’ll have more to share on these exciting efforts soon too!
Remember, when we return from spring break we will return to regular school hours. Thank you to our staff, families, students, and community members who pulled together to help make up for instructional time lost during the December snow days.
Other items on the horizon once we return will be continued discussion around possible changes to school start times and more information on the 2023 School Bond.
Sincerely,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
February 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Community,
There are many great things happening across the District and much to celebrate this month. It’s why I wanted February’s edition of ASD Connect to start off featuring some of those stories.
One incredible story is a powerful one-on-one interview with Andrea Davis-Antoine, the daughter of Dr. Etheldra Davis, the first Black principal at ASD, in honor of Black History Month. This edition also highlights Career and Technical Education (CTE) Awareness Month, School Board Appreciation Month, National School Counseling Week, and School Resource Officer (SRO) Appreciation Day. Each of these provide crucial support to students, teachers, and families, with a common theme of helping students reach their full potential.
All month we'll be sharing stories highlighting these amazing people making a difference in our schools and community.
I feel energized and ready to double down on academic goals. In the coming months you’ll hear more on the District’s plan to shift all sixth graders to middle school. I’m working with my team to think through ways of providing time and additional support to our teachers, who are critical players in ensuring a successful transition. Teacher collaboration time looks different at each level. At the high school level we offer teacher collaboration time with a late start. At the middle school level we offer teacher collaboration time with a middle school model. I want to think through ways for elementary teachers to have opportunities to collaborate with their peers. In my view, that would be part of the strategy to meet our reading and math goals.
Later this month I’m looking forward to presenting a balanced budget to the School Board. It was truly a team effort over the past six months to get to this point. The School Board must approve the FY24 budget by February 21st. That also means FY25 planning is right around the corner. It remains to be seen what will happen in Juneau, but in the absence of some sort of structural reform, such as a Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase, our deficit will grow from what it was this past year. Even if the legislature provided generous one-time funds it would be difficult to restore services that have been cut over the years, as the bulk of the District’s expenditures are recurring costs- our people. As I begin my own advocacy work for ASD, I hear over and over again from some that this session is about school districts “asking for more money.” I want to be clear- the districts around the state are not asking for more money. We are asking that systematic flat funding, which are cuts, are finally addressed after seven years, in the wake of chronically declining academic performance across the state.
I love living in our great 49th state, but frankly it’s time to ascend from being ranked 49th on so many academic outcomes and start becoming the leader in the country for educating students. Cuts to education aren’t working, and this is a window of opportunity to make it right. In partnership with State leaders we can set Alaska up for success by doubling down on a commitment to ensure that our schools are great.
We have a busy and exciting month ahead. Be sure to reference the Snow Days Makeup plan hot topics page for information on the instructional days that have been added back to the school calendar in February. With snow-pocalypse behind us- let us forge ahead in achieving academic success for all students.
Sincerely,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
January 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Community,
It’s great to be back after a wonderful holiday season that was filled with recharging and reflection. Last semester we faced a number of unprecedented challenges in the areas of budget and buses; even mother nature threw a wrench into our plans last month, dumping a record amount of snow that resulted in six weather closures in December and a total of seven weather closure days in the first semester.
Our approved school calendar allows for two weather closure days. In recent Board meetings I’ve outlined a plan to make up in-class instruction time. This proposal will receive final approval from DEED and the School Board this month.
Additionally, the District is now prepared to implement distance learning should future weather events occur this semester.
In 2023 our leadership team will face exciting decisions to provide greater opportunities for students. Some of these upcoming discussions could be around a Districtwide shift of sixth grade to middle school, a shift of school start times, and reimagining our approach to curriculum and instruction.
ASD is eligible for approximately 3.8 million dollars in grant funds from the State of Alaska to support the cost of implementing a new English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum. The State has curated a list of four vetted options for ELA curriculum. Within the coming weeks, groups of ASD teachers and staff will closely review and compare the curricula to inform the Administration as they provide a recommendation to the Board on next steps.
With a proposed closure of their campus, the Abbott Loop community is at the forefront of my mind. Should the Board move forward with the recommendation to close the school, District leadership is committed to implementing a plan that ensures students, families, and staff receive robust support and resources throughout the spring and beyond as they transition to their new campuses.
As we start the second semester strong, I’m energized to do what is necessary to meet our ambitious goals and to put ASD in a strong position for the years to come.
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
December 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Community,
Unexpectedly, we’ve had a short first week of December due to a record snowfall. I understand the difficulty and strain any weather closure puts on our students, staff, and families. Keeping our students and staff safe is my top priority in situations like this. I will not put them at risk and that is why I closed school for a third day in a row. As a result, my team has started researching options for how we will address making up the days missed and how it will impact the remainder of the 2022-2023 school calendar.
In other news, we enter the last month of the first semester on a positive note, with a return to full bus service for all eligible students. I’d like to thank the community for your patience and willingness to step in to get students to school this semester.
The District will continue working through long-term strategies to uncover route efficiencies and find innovative ways to keep our bus drivers engaged with ASD throughout the summer months to avoid the attrition we saw this year.
The second group I would like to thank would be the ASD community for your robust feedback over the past month regarding our FY24 budget planning. The School Board, Administration, and I are listening, and we have some difficult choices ahead. I am thankful for the input that will help guide us in the right direction.
Lastly, I’d like to thank the legislators and assembly members who attended our annual Legislative Luncheon this month at King Tech High School.
The pathway to achieving the Anchorage School Board’s goals requires close collaboration and partnership with the Alaska State Legislature. Our 2023 priorities are our three B’s: Base Student Allocation, Bussing (transportation funding), and Bond Debt Reimbursement.
Our elected officials play a major role in shaping education across the state, and without some sort of change I anticipate more difficult conversations will occur every year across Alaska.
Learn more about the 2023 Legislative Update here. I encourage you to tell your locally elected officials about public education and how to fully fund it.
I am thankful for this community, your passion for your schools, and desire for all students to achieve academic success. I wish you a wonderful holiday season and winter break.
Best,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
November 2023: Message to ASD Families
Dear ASD Families,
Happy November and happy winter! Despite the dip into single digit temps, it has already been a fast moving and productive month.
November is Alaska Native, Native American Heritage Month. This month we bring awareness to and celebrate Alaska's First Peoples. Follow us on social media for photos of District celebrations all November long.
Collectively, we are working through several difficult challenges and making progress, specifically in the area of budget, bussing, and bonds.
Discussion continues around FY24 budget solutions. For context, 92% of the District's budget goes towards the activities located in a school building, to include direct instruction and special programs for students, and yet the district is faced with a budget reduction of approximately 13%. Without changes to school funding and greater student enrollment, the path to right sizing will be incredibly challenging for our community.
The District has faced insufficient funding from the State since 2017. When you don’t increase education funding, you are cutting education funding. Nonetheless, we are required by State statute to pass a balanced budget. While we continue to explore efficiencies that will have a minimal impact on the student experience, we must also continue to gather community input to inform our best path forward to address this grave reality.
I would like to thank the community members who came out to the Birchwood ABC and Northwood town halls. Due process is critical to gather community feedback and help inform the school board in decision making. Please read through this newsletter for information on upcoming in-person and changes to the virtual town halls.
I’m excited to share some great news in the area of transportation. The board approved the agreement between the District and the bus driver and bus attendant bargaining unit, which will result in a significant pay increase for our bus drivers and attendants. I consider this a huge milestone as we work towards long term solutions to our bus driver shortage. We cannot afford to not get our students to school. We must pay bus drivers and attendants what they need to thrive in the roles that we desperately need them in. By offering a competitive wage to our drivers, I am optimistic we can extend the promise of consistent transportation.
There are currently 199 active routes out of 228. We continue to gain momentum in hiring and are reinstating more and more permanent routes each week. See a full update in this month's newsletter.
During the Nov. 1 meeting the School Board unanimously approved a bond proposal for the spring of 2023. The amount is approximately $38 million and will focus only on the most pressing needs: roof replacements and improvements, security improvements, deferred requirements and building life extension, and safety improvements.
November will be a busy month as we make progress towards future planning to best serve students. I’d like to close by acknowledging Veterans’ Day is Nov. 11. If you are a veteran, are currently serving, or have family members who serve, I’d like to take this moment to thank you for your bravery and sacrifice for our country.
Best,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
October 2023: Message to ASD Families
Good afternoon, ASD staff and families.
As we’ve been sharing with you, we are facing a grave $68M budget shortfall. My teams have researched several options for the school board to consider as we get closer to passing a balanced budget in February, as required by state statute. Survey results show a strong feeling to reduce excess building capacities by merging schools and programs. The community supports school closures over classroom size increase and program elimination.
Before I go further, I would like to thank staff, students, and families for providing honest and constructive feedback on how we can move forward. Your continued input is critical and valuable. Thank you!
While our research is ongoing, today is our first of many conversations on recommendations with the school board. Our focus is how to improve the classroom experience for our students despite our bleak budgetary reality.
During today’s work session with the board, we will focus on proposed campus closures and consolidations. This is an incredibly emotional and painful topic to hear, particularly after the immense strain put on our community due to the pandemic. Before I share our recommendations, it’s important that you hear directly from me about how we got here.
The first reality is that our enrollment has been in a state of decline for years, serving far fewer students than it did 10 years ago. Let me put this in perspective from the kindergarten lens. Five years ago, we educated over 3,700 kindergartners. Today, we educate nearly 20% fewer. This type of trend will impact our enrollment for decades. Another sobering stat that directly impacts our kindergarten enrollment is Anchorage saw 4500 newborns in 2016. Fast forward to now, like enrollment, it’s another 20% decline and growing. It means, in the long term, our student enrollment numbers will continue its steep and steady decline.
When student enrollment declines, that has a direct impact on funding from the State of Alaska (SOA), and the student experience. Because a number of our buildings are under capacity, it becomes incredibly challenging to offer the electives and services that a family would expect from their neighborhood school, particularly as the level of need for specialized services continues to grow. Closing a school is not anything I take lightly–schools are the heartbeat of our communities. But I believe that by right-sizing our schools, there is a path to improve the quality of education for our students.
The second reality is that our District has been given insufficient and unstable funding from the SOA for years, and it is hurting our schools. Even if our enrollment had not declined, a dollar does not stretch as far in 2022 as it did in 2017. Think about it like this. How much more expensive is a tank of gas today? What about the cost of housing? What about a gallon of milk? And yet, for more than five years, the SOA has only committed to investing an extra $30 per student. Think about the rising cost of bus fuel, roof repairs, and maintenance today.
The bottom line is when our state government doesn’t increase education funding, it’s cutting education funding. An influx of federal COVID-19 relief dollars provided a false sense of security. The reality is our schools are being underfunded and it was never addressed by our state government.
And that’s how we got to this point.
Campus closures and consolidations are one small piece of the grim path forward—additional difficult decisions are on the horizon going into December, so that a balanced budget is passed by February.
The campuses being recommended for closure are:
- Abbott Loop Elementary
- Birchwood Elementary
- Klatt Elementary
- Nunaka Valley Elementary
- Northwood Elementary
- Wonder Park Elementary
A final school closure decision won’t be finalized by the school board until December.
Between now and then, we’ll continue to provide numerous opportunities to hear directly from you. Examples include more surveys and town halls starting next month. I encourage you to join the discussion and be part of the solutions. We have a ton of information on our FY24 Budget Solutions webpage including a new FAQ page to help answer your questions. Speaking of questions, ask your legislators and the current candidates to share their views on education funding. What are their priorities? Collectively, we can advocate for sensible reform that will ensure an adequate education for our students.
Best,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
September 2023: Message to ASD Families
ASD Community,
This edition of ASD Connect is devoted mostly to our rotating bus routes plan. I am pleased to share that we are still on track to be fully staffed sometime this fall. It means we could also soon move away from three rotating cohorts to only two. More and more members of our community are applying to be bus drivers. Many tell us it’s because they simply want to help. We can’t thank them enough! We also can’t thank enough the thousands who have signed up as volunteers during this time.
Starting on Monday, September 12th, four more drivers will be added to the routes. We worked out an agreement with our partners at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER). After some additional training with us, members of the 673rd Logistics Readiness Squadron will take over four of the JBER elementary school bus routes. The current JBER bus drivers will then be assigned to new routes on Cohort 2.
While all this is good news, it’s important to know we still need bus driver applicants. Full-time and part-positions are available but the need is greater for full-time positions.
Also starting September 12th is the first of three cohort changes. We switch to Cohort 2 for bus services. Drivers should expect traffic delays in the areas of Bartlett High School, Begich Middle School, Bettye Davis East High School, and Wendler Middle School during the times of 7 a.m.-8:15 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Please avoid any unnecessary travel in these areas during these times and consider carpooling. If you must go through these neighborhoods, remember to drive slowly and be alert for students crossing the streets. You can learn more via our bus transportation FAQ webpage.
You can read more about our rotating bus routes plan, safety tips, and other ASD topics such as the new budget solutions community survey in this edition of ASD Connect.
Thanks for doing your part to help our students to get to and from school safely.
Best,
Jharrett Bryantt, Ed. D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District -
August 2023: Welcome to ASD Families
Hello, Anchorage!
I hope you are enjoying this last stretch of summer break. My name is Dr. Jharrett Bryantt. I am humbled and eager to work alongside you as your new superintendent. I’d like to thank the community for welcoming me to the Anchorage community. You’ve given me great advice on restaurants, challenged me to get outdoors and even pointed me in the direction of where to pick up a pair of Xtratufs. I’m excited to be here for the long haul. I’m slowly but surely setting roots down in Anchorage.
As we prepare for the start of the school year, I am discovering the great diversity and strength of my new school community. The Anchorage School District (ASD) is committed to strong student outcomes, starting with a diverse, well trained staff to support individual needs and ensure students are college, career and life ready.
I’m all about getting the basics down right. I value keeping things simple and aligned to the big goals.
District goals are the “what” we are aspiring to do. As Superintendent, I’m tasked with leading our district to implement the “how” we get there.
It isn’t lost on me that it’s been a challenging couple of years. Before I came into the picture, this community navigated a flurry of unprecedented events in ASD, including a major earthquake and pandemic, both of which put us in survival mode.
This year, we have already faced unforeseen challenges, including the relocation of Ursa Major Elementary School students and staff due to safety concerns in the event of a large seismic event. We’re also facing staffing shortages in our operations department–particularly bus drivers. The district is working quickly to minimize the impact this will have on families and to convey information in a timely manner so you can plan accordingly. If you or anyone you know would like to join our bus driver team, apply here.
The theme for the start of this school year is acclimating to the future. Similarly to when you’re climbing a mountain and the weather conditions change for the worst–sometimes you have to race back down to basecamp just to ensure you have hope of climbing to the peak. Many districts across the nation are right there–at basecamp. And, I believe in ASD we are ready to start the climb again.
I look forward to supporting you as superintendent. Anchorage is a special place, and I am laser focused on getting things done in a way that works for our diverse community.
I want this year to be about embracing something that resembles normalcy and consistency, and my priorities are 1) urgently working to achieve the District’s goals to improve math and reading proficiency and college, career and life readiness 2) retaining our highly skilled staff and systemically building pathways for ASD employees to accelerate and grow and 3) ensuring we’re on a path to financial stability.
We have a big climb ahead of us, but you have my full support and confidence and together we’re going to reach the summit.
Please take some time to look through our Back to School page for all the things your family will need to know to start the school year strong.
Are you ready for the new school year? I am!
Best,
Dr. Jharrett Bryantt Ed.D.
Superintendent
Anchorage School District