Video Clips

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

Clips from Anchorage School DistrictClear
1:47

Paul McDonough

“the resolution would state that the board hereby commits that it does not intend to close any schools this school year as long as there's no emergency need, like weather, epidemic, another epidemic, or something. Um, and the, the rationale I think comes from the, the superintendent's remarks way back in April, uh, where the superintendent gave many reasons why school closures this year, while it may be a cost savings measure, we have so much dust settling from other programming efficiencies, 3 years in a row of school closures... and now the board is committed to a new committee to basically re-engineer the whole process of identifying schools for closure, uh, that a year of reprieve and respite would be very needed for the community.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:15

Paul McDonough

“I hope that as we read it in the next 2 weeks that we're able to give the community some assured understanding of where we are on school closures this year.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:03

Paul McDonough

“I also took up, just generally in my own capacity as a board member, in non-action items on the agenda, the Resolution 2627.01, which, if it passes through the next reading of the board, would essentially tell the— like, the board being able to express that it will limit its authority in closing schools this year. Only to emergency situations, which I think will be a supportive voice from the board to the committee to be able to say that we don't want to disrupt the process of planning a new engagement strategy by having to then identify schools to close halfway through that strategy being completed.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:29

Jharrett Bryantt

“Fiscal stabilization is my number 2 priority because we know that we have about a $40 million structural shortfall.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:15

Rachel Blakeslee

“ASD would be slated to receive up to $32.2 million. The waterfall funding mechanism, though, is really FY26 surplus funding that would allow us to receive that appropriation.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:54

Kelly Lessens

“It would approve and authorize the superintendent to appropriate $6.8 million of the $7 million remaining in the district's unreserved fund balance to reinstate up to 45 school-based FTE and restore levels of service for secondary student athlete for the '26-'27 school year”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:58

Kelly Lessens

“The Anchorage School Board— no board in the state of Alaska should be in the position of trying to fill positions days before the school year starts and of staring down to like the bottom of the barrel with their resources.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:55

Jharrett Bryantt

“the short of it is that ASD has a very small margin of error because over the past several years we've spent our reserves to be dangerously low, so we do not have $32 million to gamble.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:49

Rachel Blakeslee

“if it's determined that that funding was withdrawn, then that funding would have to be paid back by the legislature before then the third priority would be funding school districts across the state.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:44

Bonnie Gurney

“I was really disheartened last week to learn that we were losing one of our most beloved, charismatic, and young teachers at Bear Valley because they were facing the prospect of a 38-wide combo class.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:00

Kelly Lessens

“$680,000 to ensure that in the first semester of 2026-27, highly gifted elementary students and student athletes enrolled in any sport retained or restored for FY27 by prior board action can safely and equitably access the educational services for which they are qualified”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:17

Rachel Blakeslee

“So the original memo that I put together essentially proposed spending about $6.8 million to restore 50 FTE.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:37

Lem Wheelis

“I measured my classroom divided by the regulatory metric for classrooms of 1 person per 20 square feet and determined my classroom has the capacity for 38 people. That includes me, so 37 students.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:33

Lem Wheelis

“I will have 45 students sitting in my classroom.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:07

Kelly Lessens

“this proposal, in essence, in Memo 016, and quite frankly also in 016S, says with that dollar, that 5th dollar, dollar number 5, from 4 to 5, we're going to spend 97 cents, leaving 3 pennies for our students if there's an emergency.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:26

Adrienne Michael

“this year classes in even our lowest grades will be double that if we do not add additional teaching positions.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:30

Lem Wheelis

“I was encouraged to read ASD Memorandum 16 over the weekend, and I'm here tonight to urge you to pass it. We need to put every dollar we can get into reducing class sizes.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:25

Lee Butterfield

“At 24 students in a secondary classroom, learning ends and management begins. At 35 students in a secondary classroom, management ends and triage begins.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

1:01

Kelly Lessens

“the differences between the original version and the S version equate to slightly fewer FTE, 45 in the S version versus 50 in the original version. The S version specifies that it would, that we would direct those new dollars towards teacher, building substitute, and counselor FTE.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:36

Christy Sitz

“Anchorage's estimated share of these state resources includes $32 million in one-time funds and millions more, millions more in energy relief. The decision sits right here. The ASD Finance Committee has brought forth a proposal to invest to hire over 50 teachers. We urge you to pass this.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:34

Adrienne Michael

“the reality is the money is available and you can impact this school year right now.”

Anchorage School Board: 8/4/26 ASD School Board Meeting · Aug 4, 2026

0:48
“recognizing that while it does prove a risk for the district, it also means that if the legislature were not to give us a single cent, we could technically cover that expense. Again, not without some risk exposure, but also recognizing that the price of oil has been very high.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:25
“I just want to make sure that this committee is going to get the full support of information they want about the process that has been used in the past. They're going to want to know what was the selection criteria for Campbell, what was the selection criteria over all the other schools”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:35
“we are eligible to receive up to $32.2 million, but we could also still receive amounts less than that. So it is truly a waterfall amount of funding, meaning there are a few other priorities that the legislature will have to pay out prior to school districts receiving whatever is left over.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:33
“we've come up with just an already really powerful early brainstorm of the types of stories that we still need to hear as a board and as a community. Those would include things like student experience stories”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:37
“there certainly is a possibility that the, the state might be short on its revenue projections. There is a very real possibility that districts will not get the full funding that was outlined in the law.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:23
“The committee will be entitled to the same board RFI process that any board member can request information through. And so that access to information isn't driven by myself, it's driven by our policy.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:17
“the original proposal I put together was one for $6.5 million. $1.8 Million, which would net us about 50 FTE.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:36
“Since I'm on the committee as well, I'm just wondering, we have not even met, the three of us, to even map out the work or come up with a timeline. I do think the committee needs some flexibility in what that— and maybe some checkpoints along the way.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:58
“there should be, uh, like student pathways mapped more carefully according to the, the changes that have already been in, like, the Cascade that we— I don't think we have a good appraisal of those student pathways. And I think a catalog of these resources going in the public face in real time.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

1:00
“the charter, the— with this duration in the charter concerns me. The deadline of having, of having to complete all of this work— I recognize it says unless extended by action of the Anchorage School Board— but having to complete all of this work by December 31st, recognizing we have holidays built in there and likely no work would be happening during that time, feels like a very short and unrealistic window by which to complete something of this magnitude”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:35
“The one, the one thing that may also be a flexibility thing for the board to consider is paraprofessionals as another support for direct classroom experiences.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:53
“I would respectfully bow out of participating as a committee chair of this committee if the deadline were to remain December 31st, because I, I worry that, um, that would come across as feeling pretty disingenuous to the community if we're trying to complete an entire listening effort by December 31st.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:41
“my proposal is to extend the duration of the committee through no later than the next reorg, which is the maximum amount of time in our bylaws. Is there any opposition to that?”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:46
“I think maybe getting to $32 million is under question, but I don't think we're committing a fund balance in its full— that will— that doesn't have guaranteed restoration of revenue.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:14
“I'm going to support this because the alternative is unacceptable. Uh, not filling these positions are going to hurt the kids.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:24
“$680,000 to ensure that student athletes enrolled in any sport retained or restored for FY27 by prior board action can safely and equitably access district-level competitions and regional or state-level competitions via district.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

1:05
“the S version still would approve and authorize the superintendent, superintendent to appropriate $6.8 million of the $7 million remaining in fund balance, in unreserved fund balance, to reinstate up to 45 school-based FTE and restore levels of service for secondary student athletes for the 26-27 school year.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:20
“And that 4% is an obligation we're supposed to maintain. So we're really being placed in a difficult position. But I also think realistically, we're not going to not get some funds.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:29
“I am concerned that the reserves that we have are not adequate in case something comes up.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:47
“Accounts to spending 97 cents of that dollar at this point in time. So does that— I'm hoping that can help frame the level of investment that this proposal does.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:31
“The proposed duration is 7/16 through 12/31 of '26. The purpose is to facilitate collaborative, transparent, and community-centered processes for evaluating how the district should approach rightsizing should future enrollment, financial, and operational conditions warrant such consideration.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:39
“We have spent down to 5%. We have had 1 out of every $100 available to us, that 5th percent, to deal with emergencies. And this proposal Allocating 6.8 of $7 million.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:56
“having a contingency for should the amount of revenue that we're hoping and projecting and have been told, you know, that we should be able to account on doesn't manifest, what would be the backup plan?”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:33
“I did want to just make sure that at least for me, this is not an investigatory process.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:43
“I haven't wanted to spend down to fund balance down to 5%, and I never thought I would co-author a memo suggesting we spend down to 4%. I have been deeply grumpy— is a polite word— this weekend, not at the maker of the original memo, but at the circumstances in which we find ourselves It's atrocious”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:58
“I would like to propose that we really privilege the idea that narrative data is the primary means of data collection that this committee should be gathering, because we already have the demographic data, we have the accounting data, we have the instructional data. I would like the board to specify that narrative data is necessary in the guiding principles of this document.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

0:53
“016S would generate 45 new FTE and would direct the administration to allocate those FTE to new teachers, building substitutes, and/or counselor FTE, not just FTE.”

Anchorage School Board: 08/04/2026: School Board Work Session · Aug 4, 2026

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