Anchorage School Board limits interim superintendent search to district staff

The Anchorage School Board will choose an interim superintendent only from current Anchorage School District employees, Board President Carl Jacobs announced Friday, Oct. 16, in a letter posted on the district website.

Qualified district employees can apply through Oct. 30. The board will review applicants after the window closes and plans to vote in November.

The interim superintendent would serve through June 30, 2027, or until the board appoints a permanent successor.

The search follows Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt's announcement Oct. 8 that the Alexandria City School Board in Virginia had voted to appoint him and that he had accepted. He wrote that he expects to conclude his service in Anchorage in early 2027 but did not give an exact last day. Alexandria City Public Schools says his appointment there takes effect Feb. 1, 2027, under a four-year contract running through June 30, 2030.

Jacobs pointed to the timing of the vacancy. "A superintendent leaving in the middle of the school year creates uncertainty for students, staff, families, and our community," he wrote. An internal process "allows the Board to consider qualified leaders who already understand ASD, our schools, our community, and the work underway," he wrote.

The board aims to have a permanent superintendent in place by the start of the 2027-28 school year. Jacobs wrote that students, employees, families and community members should have "meaningful opportunities" to say what the district needs, and that the board need not rush that decision "simply because this transition began unexpectedly in the middle of a school year."

The letter does not say how the permanent search will run, whether the board will hire a search firm, when community input sessions will be held or whether the interim superintendent may apply for the permanent job.

At the board's meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20, Jacobs said the letter had been released at the board's direction and that more information would come at a future meeting. Bryantt said at the meeting that his first day in his new role is in February.