Video Clips

Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.

Clips from Anchorage School DistrictClear

Herper Kushner

“I would encourage this board to come into my class, right? Tyson Elementary. Come into my class for one day and you can see what we're dealing with, and hopefully you guys can provide some support.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:30

Herper Kushner

“in our program we have 3 intensive classes, uh, our building subs have been cut and we are already struggling to get subs and parasubs into my SBBS classroom. So even when we do have a substitute, that does not help us at all because a lot of the subs come in and they are not trained and they're not able to work with the students that we serve.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

1:28

Rachel Blakeslee “the board essentially just provided some high-level ideas of things that were priorities for spending both in FY27 and FY28, which we'll discuss again tonight.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:51

Jharrett Bryantt “$26 million is actually going to be really difficult to balance, especially when our intent is to try to minimize disruption, um, and negative impacts to our students as much as possible. We're getting to that point where we're literally choosing between school safety, security in buildings, versus class size reduction relief.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:44

Jharrett Bryantt “just the same number of staff we have now and some of our other obligations will cost about $40 million extra. That's not adding a lot of new positions or contracts, that's just what we have right now today, and we know that's not enough. So really, by setting aside some of these dollars, we are reducing the deficit”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:28

Herper Kushner

“I wanted to come in tonight and give some comment about some issues that are really facing our school, uh, and in my classroom. Um, so I'm here because I need you to understand what these budget cuts are actually looking like in my classroom and in our classroom.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:59

Jharrett Bryantt “they are also sensing those same tensions that we're sensing here at the boardroom. We have to balance two tensions that are interconnected between needs of today versus the needs for FY28, and when given a binary choice case, community members are opting to think about next year's deficit versus restoring needs for now.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:33

Tammy Hoag

“Mr. Whitfield with his 330+ students would be teaching 3.3 times a larger capacity of kids than those teachers.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:48

Jharrett Bryantt “There is a case to be made that the more we invest towards stabilizing our staff, the less disruption that our educators will face, but also, um, the, the more anxious our parents will get if they feel that they're facing class size increases on top of the class size increases that have already happened.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:55

Jharrett Bryantt “this proposal would reduce the deficit from around $40-ish million for FY28 down to roughly $26 million.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:29

Jharrett Bryantt “We could make a choice to invest more deeply in FY27. We have very few educators in the talent pool, so there will be challenges, but that's going to increase the deficit on the other side.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:16

Herper Kushner

“She is not NCI trained, that is nonviolent crisis intervention trained. That is not a building administrator problem. That is a district problem.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:34

Jharrett Bryantt “Anchorage is the 32. So today, um, the, the breaking news is that the administration released an initial proposal for how to spend those funds, which the board will review, deliberate, um, for consideration at our second meeting in October.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:32

Pat Higgins “the morale in the school district with the classroom sizes, with the special ed kids in they're just feeling inundated... I urge you to do it because it's, it's depressing for them. I am very concerned about the turnover we're going to be looking at and the impact it will have.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:39

Jharrett Bryantt “we do have a pretty sizable structural deficit along the way. So that is why this proposal also sets aside a smaller but meaningful portion of the waterfall funding for stabilizing our FY28 needs. And I want to be very clear about this because I could see this as something being misunderstood by the public, that the administration's proposing to save the money without some sort of purpose.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:54

Paul McDonogh “I'd like to express how much it meant to me to see the start of public comment. Two teachers coming on a Tuesday night— you got to wake up early tomorrow, and the board needs to know what you're going through. Um, so for the teacher at Tyson and the teacher at Golden View your testimonies meant a lot to me.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

1:08

Jharrett Bryantt “There would be very few options for the board to adopt a balanced budget that wouldn't require reducing educator positions, and I don't feel that our community is in a good headspace to accept that reality. So I want to do whatever I can to try to protect as many educators as possible. So we only had the final budget number, um, confirmed by the State Department of Revenue yesterday, so we're very early in this conversation”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:30

Dan Whitfield

“I'm frequently told it is what it is, or given assurances like, if anyone can teach 330 students a day, you can. But in a day and an age where we as educators are often asked Is this considered best practice? I ask you all tonight, is a student load of 330 students daily considered best practice?”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

1:19

Paul McDonogh “I would love to have visits to schools. I would love to make myself available for the full day which both teachers requested, if that can be done by the principal... I very much look forward to bringing what I saw in those students' voices who are often so silent back to this body so that we can understand what their children need and more importantly bring those stories to the city government, which is currently deliberating how much to fund next year's education, and to the lawmakers in Juneau who are going to gavel in in January and start deciding how much education is worth then.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:35

Tammy Hoag

“he is going to have over 330 students across 6 classes with only 1 planning period.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:37

Dan Whitfield

“the part-time band director position was cut, and that FTE transitioned to other areas of the school. The result this year: my student daily load is 330 eager yet very loud middle school students. I'll say that again— 330 students every single day, an average of over 50 students per class”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

1:03

Jharrett Bryantt “Those conversations are going to happen here in the boardroom over the next couple months, and by December I would hope we'd have a pretty good understanding of what the options are, and then we'll need to make some decisions going into February.”

Anchorage School Board: 9/1/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Sep 1, 2026

0:22

Jim Anderson “even though your revenue, you don't have a gain in revenue, you have those core staffs at those schools that are no longer competing against every other school and the same amount of money.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:47

Rachel Blakeslee “I think there's just this heavy focus that school closures mean closing the deficit, and that is not what it means.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

1:03

Rachel Blakeslee “many seem to believe that school closures are the thing that will solve these massive budget deficits that we've faced year after year. It is the idea that if ASD would just close some more schools, we'd be done with it, this conversation of the deficit.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:53

Jim Anderson “71% of the community supported closing and combining schools. What we also see though, and we've seen it during community conversations, town halls, other surveys is people do recognize that a better education level of service is important.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:59

Paul McDonogh “I think the president and the board did a really good job at articulating the large picture challenges. That right-sizing has faced and the ways that this committee is empowered to push through those challenges, especially the ways that we've defined the guiding principles and the scope of work to be much more focused on instructional opportunities, which is, I guess, our word for the superintendent saying levels of academic service. Where we're trying to predominate that right-sizing this year is going to be more studied with the basis of getting good services to kids, less than the savings of some budget result.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

1:05

Jim Anderson “we all know that everyone in Anchorage does not watch school board meetings. Back in 2022, although we started right-sizing as part of the budget process, we did really engage with the community and the board on, on the reality is that it wasn't just about money, it was about the levels or education levels of service in the efficiencies within the district.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:16

Margo Bellamy “that educational piece needs to be front and center because for me personally, it's about the quality of service that we can give to every kid.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:16

Margo Bellamy “that whole education piece around the benefit of closing and consolidating. It's not just about money.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:56

Jharrett Bryantt “I've also met people that share your perspective, that they feel that school closures are the panacea for major financial issues. But I was also interested by the many comments I saw in the post-bond survey where people in the open responses were very forthright that it's less about the school closures generating a huge influx of revenue”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:35

Jim Anderson “There is, there is a money piece on the first year or two, that's true. By year 5, it's really probably not about the money at all.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:09

Jim Anderson “So there is a measure of financial gain especially in an era where we have less money nearly every year.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/26 ASD School Board Ad-Hoc Committee Meeting · Aug 26, 2026

0:39

Jharrett Bryantt “I'd actually like to move towards creating an in-house survey panel within the Anchorage School District.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:11

Anna Brawley “if anybody's listening who can donate something to give away, I'm all ears.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

1:23

Jharrett Bryantt “I'm excited to launch what I'm calling the Demystifying the District series.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:31

Jharrett Bryantt “my commitment that I'd like this community to hold me accountable to is to both take in the feedback, but then also show our work for how it actually made a difference and how it was incorporated in decision-making.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:34

Jharrett Bryantt “we can certainly show the raw results.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:25

Jharrett Bryantt “So what's next? The first step is that community value survey, and this is where I could really use the help of the Assembly. We're going to launch it on September 8th.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:31

Jharrett Bryantt “ASD Listens is really our opportunity to fulfill the promise that we made to the community after the bond and levy proposition.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:29

Jharrett Bryantt “We're going to really lean on community leaders such as yourselves and others to spread the word about the survey. The more people that fill it out, the more robust the conversation”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:58

Jharrett Bryantt “the outcomes of the most recent 2026 bond and levy propositions were disappointing for the Anchorage School District community, and it was certainly an opportunity for introspection and growth.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:35

Jharrett Bryantt “I want to make sure the survey is translated into multiple languages and is accessible to as many people as possible. I expect the survey takes about 8 to 10 minutes to complete. We want to launch it after Labor Day weekend”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:34

Jharrett Bryantt “The big ask is I could really use your help to get this in front of your constituents, and I know that there's a lot of survey fatigue and reluctance to participate in these types of things”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:37

Jharrett Bryantt “the board has to navigate a $40+ million shortfall by February as we prepare to submit a balanced budget to the assembly.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:33

Jharrett Bryantt “we want to review and publish the results very transparently so we understand what the community is telling us.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:39

Jharrett Bryantt “This is a robust community engagement strategy that I'll tell you about in the coming slides.”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

0:40

Jharrett Bryantt “Is ASD listening early enough on some of the biggest decisions that face us? And are we explaining the difficult trade-offs clearly enough?”

Anchorage Assembly: Worksession re Anchorage School District Outreach and Listening Campaign · Aug 21, 2026

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