Anchorage School Board to vote tonight on controversial career academies plan

The Anchorage School District Education Center. (Valerie Lake, Alaska Public Media).

The Anchorage School Board is preparing to ballot Tuesday connected whether to instrumentality a career academies exemplary astatine precocious schools starting this fall. 

The academies would require incoming freshmen to walk 1 of 8 regular classes learning astir a imaginable career. Students would past prime a profession way arsenic sophomores and person only 1 opportunity to alteration their mind.

The exemplary has drawn disapproval from immoderate who are worried astir funding, staffing and diminished schoolroom clip for different subjects. But territory leaders person promoted it arsenic a measurement to boost occupation training opportunities and graduation rates.

“Our extremity is to create a strategy that results successful an accrued graduation rate,” Kersten Johnson-Struempler, nan district’s elder head of coach and learning, said during a position to nan schoolhouse committee past month.

The territory held a kickoff event for nan profession academies inaugural past fall. If nan scheme is approved Tuesday night, astir of nan 8 precocious schools would person 3 career paths students could take from. Choices see law, nationalist information and education, manufacture and construction, subject and wellness services and business and leadership.

The territory secured a $15 cardinal assistance for nan programme from nan U.S. Department of Education, but does not person a scheme to afloat money nan programme going forward.

Mark Foster, a erstwhile main financial serviceman for nan district, precocious wrote an opinion piece successful nan Anchorage Daily News calling nan scheme “fatally flawed.” In an interview, Foster said nan scheme is “deficient.”

“Going into a caller programme successful nan look of uncertain backing and very constricted and diminishing reserves, strikes maine arsenic not being arsenic fiscally responsible arsenic nan historical believe of making judge you person nan money to prolong immoderate your start,” Foster said.

Foster is besides worried that nan academies will beryllium astatine nan disbursal of halfway world subjects. Students would suffer people clip for halfway subjects arsenic nan territory moves from a six-period to an eight-period time to adhd nan academies.

Corey Aist, president of nan Anchorage Education Association teachers union, is among those skeptical of nan plan. He is concerned astir nan added workload for teachers without further compensation.

“Can we spend it? Not without further funding,” Aist said. “Can we support it? Not without further staffing.”

District administrators opportunity it could return an further $3.5 cardinal and 30 further teachers to instrumentality nan academies.

With nan gathering group for Tuesday astatine 6 p.m., newly-elected Board President Andy Holleman said nan committee is divided connected whether to o.k. nan plan.

“About half person concerns astir what our gross from nan authorities is going to be, and whether aliases not this would beryllium nan champion usage of those costs crossed nan full territory aliases crossed each of our broad precocious schools,” Holleman said.