OPINION: School closing plan hurts East Anchorage disproportionately

I am writing to support three schools that are in or very near my Assembly district and dear to my heart. In truth, I write in support of all schools. Yes, we have faced years of dwindling support from our state, despite valiant efforts from many of Anchorage’s state senators and representatives, but is it really time to stop betting on our schools and children? If you add on additional busing of students, what are the real savings, if any, of this plan? If closures are in part due to not being able to attract and retain teachers, shouldn’t that instead be the focus?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to co-locate some of special programs, looking for a home with schools with lower enrollments? As special programs were established in Anchorage, they acted like a siphon on our neighborhood schools. Parents clearly enjoy the greater freedom of education these programs allow. Let’s get these programs back in our neighborhood schools, helping with the numbers but also giving more options for low-income area students with no transportation to these special programs.

How about middle schools? Clark has 698 students; 250 of those students are sixth graders. Could 50 of those students go back to each of the feeder elementary schools? Eight hundred twenty-seven students are at Begich, with 270 of those being middle school students. Returning sixth graders to the schools that were raided could help make them whole again and add more opportunities to keep focus on the social emotional side of these students before they transition.

I have dutifully scoured the Rightsizing ASD information and I can tell you, I don’t see the path that took eight schools with nearly identical scores and came up with Nunaka Valley Elementary as the school to repurpose. I don’t understand why Wonder Park is a tear-down due to poor design when Gladys Wood has the same design and hasn’t come under this scrutiny.

I have been told that the need to close or repurpose three of my district’s Title One schools with 77%-84.2% minority enrollment is due to poor planning, with not enough density in those areas. I have the data to prove that is not true. For instance, the part of Anchorage Baxter Elementary draws students from has 15 apartment buildings, 417 condos, 46 duplexes, 164 mobile homes and 1,237 single-family homes. Nunaka Valley has 47 apartment buildings, 531 condos, 104 duplexes, 25 triplexes, two mobile homes and 857 single-family homes. These schools’ zones are a textbook example of mixed use. All three of the schools slated for closure that are located in my Assembly district, using the map provided by ASD, have the greatest percentage of kids aged 0-4 in the area surrounding the schools. This is an area where young families start out, and some learn to love those neighborhoods and stay.

I don’t want to cast any shade on the Inlet View Elementary rebuild. Our schools are in desperate need of this kind of love. I do question that three schools within two miles of each other, in an area of working families, struggling to get by, would all find themselves on this list, while we watch another area of town win big. Something doesn’t look right.

Karen Bronga is a member of the Anchorage Assembly representing District 5 (East Anchorage).

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