Updated: 1 minutes ago Publication date: 1 minutes ago

In the quiet upper mountains of South Anchorage, Bear Valley Elementary School, an award-winning school with a 40-year history, faces a strange and imminent threat: closure. This isn’t just the loss of a neighborhood elementary school in a great location; This is the beginning of the systematic dismantling of the community cornerstone of the Upper South Anchorage hillside. The school district’s proposal to close its doors is a direct attack on our children and our community.

Under the direction of Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt, the Anchorage School District School Board is tasked with giving a terrifying and incredibly rapid timeline for closing and consolidating schools; This decision apparently came from Western Demographics Inc., a self-proclaimed outside company. Based on information compiled by. expertise “Closure and consolidation” and a questionable track record of skewed numbers and irrational results. Here we go again. Outsiders are making a bunch of money off of us to decide what’s best for Alaskans.

None of the hard data behind this ill-advised decision to close Bear Valley next year has been shared with concerned parents or the public. Slightly flawed justifications shared include claims that the school is at 69% capacity; This is misleading because the school had a waiting list of 43 students at the beginning of this school year. Bear Valley’s recent loss of students was due solely to the district eliminating the entire sixth grade, and even that reduction is being mitigated by the launch of a much-needed preschool program that will serve 20 students and more than 40 students next year. future. The proposed move to separate Bear Valley students and send them to O’Malley, Huffman and Rabbit Creek would increase those schools’ capacity to 98%, 96% and 98%, respectively, and increase dropout sprees to 1. It’s the “infinity plus one” factor, as the kids might say.

The closure appears to be both questionable and rushed in many ways, and puts the Anchorage School Board in an untenable and unfair position due to information they should not, at face value, trust. The closures and consolidations that Superintendent Bryantt proposes solve nothing and will only create a vicious cycle of regression in which each school is overburdened by the neighboring school that is being closed.

Whatever the game is being played here, whether it’s numbers or upcoming budget deficits; The real debate should be about providing a decent education to all students. For Bear Valley, our school is the soul of our mountain community. We stand together to protect the future of the school and its students, incredible teachers and dedicated staff. The district needs to rethink this harmful decision and carefully examine the entire process, including the history and methods used by Western Demographics Inc.

Bear Valley plays a unique role here; Dr. It is doubtful that Bryannt or this outside company can understand or take into account what this closure means for us. Bear Valley is much more than a school; One of Upper Hillside’s only gathering places. It’s a school and playground where kids learn, grow, and dream, but it’s also where we hold our community council meetings, skate, vote, have summer school programs, and hold community carnivals.

In September, we celebrated this long-established institution where friendships have been built, inspired children and memories have been made for 40 years. Closing the doors of Bear Valley means destroying what has been a beacon of learning and growth for Hillside families for decades. Why should we stop this? If they can turn off the lights at the only elementary school in our neighborhood, what’s to stop them from turning off yours, too?

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