APC Update: Urgent Action Items

February 1, 2025

Waqaa ANCCS Families,

The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School (ANCCS) Academic Policy Committee (APC) is happy to share the following update!

The Anchorage School District (ASD) board recently voted to close two schools in the district: Lake Hood Elementary and Nunaka Valley Elementary. The district plans on repurposing these school facilities for ASD charter schools. Under our current contract with ASD, ANCCS can only stay at our current location of 8427 Lake Otis Parkway until the 2027-2028 school year. That does not leave much time for our school community to find a permanent home.

In light of this, the APC had a building subcommittee meeting on Monday, January 27, where we invited the public and members of the ASD board to discuss our options. Nunaka Valley Elementary is smaller than our current location and can house a max capacity of 306 students. Our current student count is 341, so moving to Nunaka Valley Elementary would mean losing current enrolled families and that was not an option for the APC board. Lake Hood Elementary is at least 20,000 sq ft larger than our current building. It also has newer renovations, an ideal route for drop-off and pick-up, and could be a permanent home solution for ANCCS.

A special meeting was then scheduled for Wednesday, January 29th to vote on a letter of resolution to the ASD board and administration. The letter clearly outlines what the ANCCS APC board wants for our school:

ANCCS’s APC resolves to relocate to Lake Hood Elementary School, as part of the “Rightsizing Initiative”.
That ANCCS be considered for future ASD school closures.
8427 Lake Otis Pkwy be considered for extension and remedial repairs.

We may not have another opportunity like Lake Hood Elementary in three years when our contract for 8427 Lake Otis Pkwy expires as future school closures cannot be predicted. The ANCCS APC board needs to focus on options that are available now and sustainable. We cannot risk our school’s future on speculation and the hope of another school closure in the near future.

The ASD board has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 4th at 6:00 pm in the ASD Educational Building, located at 5530 East Northern Lights. Our school needs to rally and testify to the ASD board so we can secure ANCCS’ future success. Other ASD charter schools have had large numbers of parents and supporters showing up and testifying at ASD board meetings. Lake Hood Elementary is likely to be awarded to one of these schools instead of ANCCS if our ANCCS community does not show up to share our needs and voice our interest.

The APC will be hosting an organizing session on Monday, February 3rd at 5:30 pm in the ANCCS Library and on zoom. We encourage anyone interested in giving testimony to attend this work session for talking points, training, and support. It is vital that we come across to the district and board as unified and on the same page if we want success.

There are three ways to testify at the February 4 ASD board meeting: attend in person, call in to provide your testimony on the phone, or provide written testimony. Please sign up to testify in any of these ways by completing ASD’s testimony request form. For more information on how to testify, please visit https://www.asdk12.org/Page/1443.

We appreciate your trust when it comes to the learning and development of your child while adhering to our cultural values. I cannot stress enough how important your participation and ideas are to the success of our students and school.

About the ANCCS APC: The ANCCS APC is the primary governing body designated to hold the principal accountable for budgets, testing scores, and curriculum with an underlying focus on meeting our Alaska Native Cultural Values objective. For more information about the ANCCS APC, please visit our website at https://www.asdk12.org/anccs.

Join the ANCCS APC: Any interested parent or community member is welcomed to inquire about how to join the APC through the election process and attend all meetings – we give plenty of notice prior to any meeting and we would value your involvement.

Quyana!

Manny Acuna

ANCCS APC President