Anchorage School District to hold community town halls at schools recommended for closure

The Anchorage School District will host six town halls in November, one at each school that administrators recently recommended for closure.

The meetings will take place in person and will also be streamed live.

An additional virtual town hall is planned but not yet scheduled.

• Birchwood ABC Elementary School: Nov. 3, 6-7 p.m.

• Northwood Elementary School: Nov. 4, 6-7 p.m. (previously scheduled for Nov. 2)

• Nunaka Valley Elementary School: Nov. 14, 6-7 p.m.

• Klatt Elementary School: Nov. 16, 6-7 p.m.

• Abbott Loop Elementary School: Nov. 21, 6-7 p.m.

• Wonder Park Elementary School: Nov. 22, 6-7 p.m.

The school board has until December to decide on the closure recommendations, which are based on work by a consultant the district hired this year. The closures are among several painful and challenging choices the school district faces as it tries to deal with a $68 million budget deficit.

The consultant, Shannon Bingham, of the firm Western Demographics, said when he announced the closure recommendations that he had modified previous school closure proposals based on feedback from parents.

“This is a process of discovery,” Bingham said. “So as we go along, we learn something from everybody.”

At that meeting, Bingham said that the district would also hold a faculty meeting at each of the schools before the town halls.