I WILL CONTINUE TO PRIORITIZE

  • Student wellbeing, learning, and life-readiness

  • Retaining, attracting, and training highly effective teachers

  • Engagement with parents and families

  • Oversight and financial stewardship

STUDENT WELLBEING, LEARNING, AND LIFE-READINESS

Every student in our diverse district deserves to graduate with the skills and knowledge that will allow them to navigate adulthood, seek employment, participate in civic life, pursue their dreams, and support a family if they so choose. How the district supports them governs students’ day-to-day realities and can shape their long-term outcomes.

I support:

  • Improving student reading and math proficiency, as well as their graduation rates, by providing accountability and oversight;

  • Decreasing class sizes so that teachers are more able to focus on students’ progress;

  • Supporting students that fell behind because of the pandemic and continue to need additional, targeted resources to catch-up;

  • Expanding pre-K opportunities and finding new ways to support Anchorage-area families in the crucial “Birth-Age 5” chapter of life, when children’s neural networks are formed and school readiness begins;

  • Ensuring that all students have access to social-emotional learning opportunities and adequate mental health supports;

  • Adopting curricular materials that are up-to-date, evidence-based, accessible, and support student engagement;

  • Increasing the representation of underserved students in advanced coursework and programs of choice;

  • Improving mentorship opportunities and strengthening career readiness; 

  • Continuing to support our charter, alternative and open-optional programs, but improving transportation to those sites to increase families’ access to ASD’s options;

  • Improving educator retention

RETAINING, ATTRACTING, AND TRAINING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

The District’s partnerships with its principals, teachers, and support staff are fundamental to student success. Amidst a national teacher shortage, it is more important than ever for Anchorage School Board members to support the district’s educators and support staff.

In this role, I will work to:

  • Ensure that educators’ salaries, work conditions, access to health care, and retirement needs are met and that teachers have adequate time to prepare, engage in ongoing professional development, and to collaborate;

  • Promote mentorship and “grow your own” opportunities for paraprofessionals to join the ranks of certificated teachers;

  • Advocate for our Legislature to improve the pipeline of highly trained educators within the state of Alaska.

ENGAGING WITH PARENTS AND FAMILIES

Students whose parents and families are involved in their education are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school. To that end, I continue to believe that ASD can do more to strengthen family partnerships by:

  • Improving the ways the district solicits feedback from parent and family stakeholders;

  • Ensuring that all families feel comfortable communicating with their schools, regardless of background, language, or socioeconomic circumstance.

OVERSIGHT AND FISCAL STEWARDSHIP

The seven-member Anchorage School Board crafts policies for its schools and students, appoints and empowers the superintendent to manage the district, serves as a board of personnel appeals, and supervises the district’s fiscal affairs.

This means that, in addition to setting and being publicly accountable for the district’s academic goals, the Anchorage School Board oversees a budget that supports two billion dollars of physical assets, roughly six thousand employees, and more than 43,000 students. The Board is also responsible for approving a balanced budget and a six-year Capital Improvement Plan each year, preparing Bond packages, and approving large contracts.

These responsibilities require thoughtful and measured decision-making and an acute awareness of ASD’s current and future needs. Over the next three years, I will not only carry out these basic functions, but will also look to the future by

  • Working with legislators to update the State’s Foundation Formula, including the District Cost Factor and Base Student Allocation, to accurately reflect the costs of educating students in ASD;

  • Preparing for the need to redraw some or all of ASD’s school boundary lines;

  • Strategically addressing ASD’s multimillion dollar backlog of deferred maintenance needs.