Twenty-five years ago, I coached Boys and Girls Club soccer on the Inlet View Elementary School playing fields. Every year since then, I’ve seen youth soccer and football teams practicing there. Kids won’t play soccer and football there next summer. That playing field is going away.
The Anchorage School District developed a plan to build a new two-story school building right in the middle of the playing field. They could rebuild on the footprint of the existing school. That would save money and save the playing field.The school district’s justification for this terrible decision is that ASD would prefer to keep the 215 students in the original school for the year it takes to build the new school. There is room for these students in nearby elementary schools. School Board member Dave Donley pointed out in his Nov. 15 opinion piece that several elementary schools adjoining Inlet View School’s boundary are under capacity.
In 2022, we will vote on a $110 million school bond, of which $30 million is for Inlet View Elementary School. Let’s spend $20 million to rebuild Inlet View School on its existing footprint, save the playing fields and share the millions that we save on needed repairs to other Anchorage schools.
— Martin Hansen
Anchorage
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