Anchorage School Board: 10/6/26 ASD School Board Meeting

You know, the, the schools, a lot of the students walking around like they're prison inmates, like they're really bored, they're not interested in learning. And you know, there's something to— and, and part of the problem is all the teachers and the administrators, they're just used to it. This is just the way it is, that teenagers are just unenthused about learning and there's nothing we can do about it. But I think there is something more can be done about it, and that's probably the most important thing to do is focus on inspiring the kids to learn for themselves and have a sense of curiosity. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker tonight is Delaney Cordoza.

Welcome. If you could please state your name for a record, you'll have 3 minutes. You can begin when you're ready.

Sorry if I sound funny, I'm really cold right now. Um, hi, my name is Delaney. I work at ASD as an SLC paraprofessional in elementary. I want to preface this by saying I'm not here speaking on behalf of the union at all. I'm going to be— we're speaking with them as well because this decision was made between all of you and our union heads without any input from us at all.

We weren't even told it was going to be happening. Now we're told we have Indigenous Peoples' Day off. It's a non-school, non-work day, and that's amazing. We're all in support of that. Most of them— us are part Native or fully Native, and we're told that to make up for it, we're being given an extra day at the end of the year.

Problem is, that doesn't pay our bills now. I just recently put a half a tank of gas in my car. That was over $50. A full day of missed wages for our new newer employees is over a full tank of gas. Now, that can mean the difference between whether or not they can even get to work for the next 2 weeks.

This is a big problem. So a missed day of wages might not be a problem for you, it might be insignificant, but we are the lowest paid workers in the district. This is huge for us. We are being told we are not allowed to use our leave to make up for this missed day of work, and that is unacceptable. We are already the lowest paid.

Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck. The majority of paraprofessionals qualify for state aid. This should not happen at all, ever. So to take a day out of our wages and tell us we are not allowed to use our accrued leave that is through our contract to cover that day— most states consider that illegal. In fact, in half the states it's called wage theft.

This is part of our contract. The fact that you all sat and talked with our union heads and made this decision without our input is not okay. You are costing us money. And as she was saying, it is hard to get paraprofessionals. We are still, what, over 100 short for the district?

Things like this are why nobody wants to take this job. We have low pay, and our pay is taken away at the drop of a hat without even talking to us first. Even if we budget, that's over $100. You take that out of somebody's paycheck and they're already on state aid, you're taking away entire pay periods worth of gas. You're making them late on their rent.

They can't afford enough groceries. That might be okay for all you, that's not okay for us. That's a full doctor bill for my house, if not more. And if I get late on that bill, it goes to collections, so now I'm paying more. And you guys made this decision just unilaterally.

That extra day at the end of the year does nothing to help that you've taken a full day from us now. All right, this, this is awful, and you guys need to do better. Yes, we have a budget. Does not need to be taken out of the paycheck of our lowest workers when we need it the most. Thank you for your—.

Cut off before the time set. So, thank you for your testimony. Um, our next speaker tonight is Dave Weber.

Welcome. If you could please state your name for our record, uh, you'll have 3 minutes. You can begin when you're ready. Hey, um, Dave Weber. I am a father of 3 children here in ASD.

I'm here to speak in support of the resolution tonight on scholarship granting organizations. Uh, first of all, my, uh, preschooler has a fantastic teacher at Chester Valley Elementary, um, Miss Winter. She's awesome. I work at a professional service firm here in town. I work particularly on the audit side of things, so private and public company audits.

I've been following scholarship granting organizations and the formation of it since about December 2025 through today. I've been following it very closely. I do think it's, first of all, a truly revolutionary form of funding schools. I also think scale of them, of the organizations themselves, is important. But first off, I do want to just advise— I'm also part of a committee that advises private company school, private schools here in town.

And I do think that private schools are way ahead of where the public schools are right now. On day 1, January 1, 2027, SGOs will be able to receive $3,400 each from married couples, and that'll result in a very significant funding amount for those private schools and for ASD if things are put together well enough. I do believe that this resolution speaks to a lot of really good things. I do want to say that scale of the SGOs that ASD supports is important. There's a current audit requirement for organizations that make over $500,000 in receipts.

That audit requirement will be strengthened and it will be important that ASD supports scale. What I mean by that is private, private schools already have that scale in terms of they work with multi-state SGOs right now, and they're getting all their processes set up in order to receive that money on day one of the new year. So all that is to say that Audits, uh, is an important part of that because you have to have a team that is ready to comply with those federal compliance measures, which are really important and really stringent. But lastly, I just want to say this is a truly revolutionary form, and I really encourage the board to support this resolution.

Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker tonight is Alvin Kennedy. Welcome. If you could please state your name for a record, you'll have 3 minutes. You can begin when you're ready.

Good evening.

I'm also a member of the Alaska Chosen Operation. I'm co-executive director and, um, We talk about our youth and how we can best serve them. Our student athletes are very, very important. Uh, one of the things we like to talk about in our organization is some of the things I've heard here tonight, uh, discipline, control, being respectful to teachers. If you have an issue, come and talk to us.

Being mentors and things like that. Back in early August, August 20th, we did a symposium over at Baggage. We were requested to come. We spoke with approximately 20 teachers that day, showed them our curriculum. They're talking about adopting it.

We have another one coming up with the— over at the Special Olympics building here this month where another group was talking about adopting curriculum that we do for our student athletes and being mentors, teaching them to be good students, good role models for the younger kids that we have in our program, and leaders in the school district. I've heard a lot here tonight, so I'm not going to take up much of your time, but I just want to make sure that if at all you as a board can do anything to assist us and helping our children get scholarships out of here. I, I hope you'll do whatever it is you can do that will help us, help our student athletes. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.

Our next speaker tonight is Anthony Bounds.

Not seeing—. And wanted to come back on the day they have playoff game.

So, okay, knowing Anthony isn't joining us tonight, our last speaker is Dacia Bell.

Welcome. If you could please state your name for our record, and then you'll have 3 minutes. Uh, hi, my name is Harasiya Bell. I'm a freshman at East, and I just want to say thank you to Alaska Chosen. Alaska Chosen highlighted me, and what they didn't know was at the time I had two Fs in school, and their support really juiced me up and made me want to go harder, not just on the field but in school too.

I brought up all my grades up to Bs N-A's. The positivity Alaska Chosen brought didn't just impact me, it impacted our team. Sometimes all it takes is someone believing in you and showing you that you're doing something worth being proud of. Alaska Chosen does that for kids like me. They are well known and all of us are working to get media coverage and looked at by recruiters.

Having them there just makes us all feel seen. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. That completes public testimony for this evening.

Our next item under E is consent agenda. Is there a board member who wishes to pull an item from the consent agenda before we approve it?

Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the agenda as drafted? Mr. President, I move to approve the consent agenda as drafted. Second. Motion made by Member Lesson, seconded by Member Bellamy. Seeing no discussion, can we have a voice vote, please?

Student Representative Gibson? Yes. Member Wilson? Yes. Member Bellamy?

Yes. Member Blakeslee? Yes. Member McDonough? Yes.

Member Higgins? Yes. Member Lessens? Yes. President Jacobs?

Yes. We've adopted our consent agenda by a vote of 7 to 0. We'll move to action items.

Okay, um, Vanessa, take just a quick break, which hopefully was no more than 5 minutes while we discuss a potential amendment that came in. Um, so we'll resume at no later than 7:20 PM. Thank you.

Board is our first action item, AASB resolution. Is there a motion? Member Lessens. Yeah, at this time I would move ASDR 26-27-03 S2. Seconded.

Motion made by Member Lessens, seconded by Member McDonough. Member Lessens, the floor is yours. Uh, thank you, and I appreciate the second from Member McDonough. So as I noted earlier during the committee reports, The genesis for this resolution had its most immediate origin in our recent Governance Committee conversation, and the reason for that Governance Committee conversation and the reason for this resolution is spelled out in some of the attached supporting materials that in January of 2026, The governor opted Alaska into a new federal education tax credit program which had been created through this 2025 Reconciliation Act, and we, we heard public testimony about this earlier this evening. Starting in January of 2027, taxpayers will receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit up to $1,700 per year for an individual or up to $3,400 per year for a married couple filing jointly.

When they make donations to any state-recognized scholarship-granting organization, which I'm calling SGOs here for short.

There are a lot of nuances to this program, and the state of Alaska has been following along. There was a new press release in mid-August indicating that Alaska would begin certifying SGOs. And in fact, it has received applications over, over the summer and fall. On, on October 1st, a nearly 200-page document, the federal regulations about the SGOs, how they can operate, was released by the IRS. And then on October 2nd, DEED issued another press release announcing that the governor has approved the first batch of SGOs.

So all of this is to set up a few things. Number one, the board— the Governance Committee reviewed an earlier draft of this resolution in the Governance Committee. But again, this was last week, and that was before the federal guidelines were released and before DEED released its response to the federal guidelines. And so a couple of revisions had to be made, in particular to acknowledge new information from the federal regulations and to acknowledge and really flag an issue, attention, that the State of Alaska has declared that it intends to submit its final list of SGOs to the IRS by December 1st. That is language more or less taken from the press release, and that is peculiar to me personally, and so it's addressed here because the federal guidelines specifically say that a state may perfect its final list of SGOs until February 15th.

And I am concerned that the state of Alaska is rushing the submission of its list of SGOs to be done before a new governor is sworn in. So I'm just saying the quiet part out loud right now because I have a microphone and can do so. And I think it's really important that people understand that in order for schools, for public schools to take advantage of a program that doesn't yet exist, that's going to need time to scale up and design and implement. Uh, we need until the middle of February perhaps for the state of Alaska to perfect a list of scholarship-granting organizations. So there's a lot of substance to the language and rationale here.

So I want to be clear tonight, there is a resolution which is before the body, and then in this S2 version there is a second section which has proposed language for the Alaska Association of School Boards to consider as adopting, and there's rationale for that. And the really— the reason for that is that currently the Alaska Association of School Boards opposes vouchers, and I'm— it's important that It's made clear that this is not a pure voucher system as many of us understand vouchers, and the reason for that is that taxpayers can make voluntary contributions to public school through a scholarship-granting organization to public schools and public school districts that districts like the Anchorage School District can use for qualified educational expenses, including Haido's Tutoring. Including wraparound supports, including transportation, including so many of the things that we know our students will benefit from. There is a value— I feel like it's this language from the superintendent— there's a value-added proposition to local taxpayers who can again receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit when they make a contribution to an SGO that in this case would support a school district. That we can enhance the level of services that we are able to offer our students.

But it's really hard to explain that, and we're going to need to do a lot better job of communicating that. So there's an S2 version before you. It has been bolstered by additions made and suggestions made by Member McDonough, and maybe I would like to pause and ask him to speak to the additions to this S2 version. At this time. Can we— sorry, can we get the S2 version?

It is, it is. Oh, we don't have it up. So if board members are willing to refresh, um, the online meeting agenda, um, both the S version and the S2 version— the S version I think was submitted, uh, during our meeting tonight or just prior. The S2 version was worked on by Member Lessens during the meeting, and so we had to reboot our system to incorporate those and upload upload those online. So if members refresh, you should have access to S2.

Can you tell me the title of it? I've, uh, so, so it's the, it's the document that is this one. Sorry, it would look like the third resolution of this year, but an S2 version. Got it. Okay, great.

We're on the same page about how to access the document. Uh, Member McDonough, I see your hand.

Uh, sure, Mr. President. I'll, um, follow with, uh, the maker of the motion's invitation to speak on this. Um, starting with when this was brought to Governance Committee, I expressed I share the Association of Alaska School Boards' concerns about vouchers. Um, there is a standing indefinite resolution of an ESB to oppose school voucher programs in Alaska. And at the time I said, if this is shaped like a voucher, looks like a voucher, sounds like a voucher, but is not a voucher, like, isn't it still a voucher?

But the fact of the matter is that Public Law 119-21 is a— it's a law now. Like, the Congress passed it and it was signed by the president on July 4th, actually, of this year. And then now it's a part of the U.S. Code, 26 U.S. Code Section 25. And there's plenty of federal laws in education that I disagree with on the way that they support accessible and inclusive education. But it's my job as a school board member to administer those legally required programs and those, those laws, uh, to the best of my ability and to be as inclusive and, um, like, non-discriminatory and publicly accountable as possible.

So I, I did speak with some legal support of my own just to see like what can the AASB realistically do to put a public option of like publicly controlled bodies, publicly controlled SGOs to support public education with this new tax credit incentive. And the like one thing is we, we can form public bodies and we can be accountable to the public as any other public body is, which I think is something we might as well do. And we, we have an ethical and I think moral imperative that we should advocate for.

To the point about, like, my concern with vouchers and then what I've decided to put into this resolution. In states such as Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio, research is finding that voucher programs are actually losing ground in math education, which is a huge priority for this school district and Alaska in general. And then in Arizona, people are, researchers are noticing that the people enrolling in voucher programs never were enrolled in a public school in the first place. So it really is just like being directed. And so I want to look at the effects of those voucher programs and how they're harmful and then advocate that the AASB places itself in a way that can remove those and guard— put guardrails around them.

So the suggested language, I've added one whereas sentence or like one whereas clause to this that states that AASB support for SGOs shouldn't be read as support for reducing or replacing public funding, which is basically one of the biggest concerns, like I said, in Arizona, and then I added 3 statements to the text after the resolution that will be used for us to prepare an AASB resolution in its original text. The first addition says that AASB will call on the governor and the legislature to build durable, broad-based, publicly accountable revenue because tax credits are voluntary and it will be impossible for a public school board to reliably be able to predict.

And like, I think if this becomes a sort of supplanting or mainstream, like non-supplemental revenue, I think that could— there's a huge amount of risk. And I would— I think ASB needs to be stronger while it advocates for these SGOs, it can double down and say, but the state of Alaska has a constitutional commitment before the SGOs start investing in schools. And then the third addition is asking the SGOs to voluntarily put the neediest students first and for the SGOs to begin reporting publicly and offer themselves accountable to the public. So even if they are, like, seeded by private means, I think that AASB has a strong platform to urge these SGOs to at least be publicly transparent in how they make decisions and how they invest in students. So with those, it's very nuanced and very complex, but I'm excited if this passes the body to then go and do some peer-to-peer board education with our colleagues in Alaska, where I think there is a lot of fear and there is a lot of concern and consternation about the ratchet effect of vouchers.

But I could, like, I could see myself helping educate people that these additions would be essential and structural supports for SGOs to be more publicly accountable and for the mission of public school districts to not be undermined by them like they have been, such as in like Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio. So those are my additions. Um, I, I appreciate Member Lessens and all the research she did on getting this drafted and put in front of the board, and then I think with her support in raising this S2 version, I'm excited for this to go to the AASB body for consideration, and I hope the rest of our board supports it too. Thank you.

Thank you, Member McDonough. Member Lessans, additional comments? Yeah, I just, um, I really appreciated the comments about needing to help other boards understand this, and I, I think that there need to be, assuming this this resolution moves forward tonight, um, it's a really complicated issue. And so I think board members in attendance at that November meeting are really going to have their work cut out for them to talk through, um, what this means for Alaska. But if we want a couple of specific models from some of the research that I've done, I'm aware that in like the Las Vegas area Clark County Public Schools, I think that's Vegas, has partnered with something called the Public Education Foundation.

So they, you know, here's the school district, here's the foundation, and that, that SGO is going to create the package of services that local donors will hopefully find compelling. In Denver, Denver Public Schools are partnering with something called the Denver Public Schools Foundation. Which is going to be offering tutoring and after-school scholarships. There may be something— well, there is something called the Future School Fund. It is setting up a nationwide model.

They're intending to operate in all 50 states. It's a former superintendent that's designing this, and their intention— you can go to their website, you can Google them— is to work directly with public schools, public school districts to again channel donations.

One of the remarkable things about all of this and the nuances is that taxpayers with a federal income tax liability in any state can make a donation to their favored SGO to then channel. So if you have friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, out of Alaska and they have a federal tax liability, they can make a donation to an SGO serving Alaska students, which I think is really remarkable. So it's incredibly complex. Guidance is, you know, less than a week old, but I'm excited about the potential. I mean, I'm full of bad analogies, but You know, it's, it's— the table is set, you know, the game is going to be played.

It's time for us to play ball. Um, and I'm, I'm hoping that, um, the Anchorage School District and school board can lead the state of Alaska and take advantage of, as Member McDonough said, a new law. Whether we love it or feel uncomfortable with it, I hope we can take advantage of it for our students. To channel at Member Higgins to do what's best for kids. So thank you.

Member Higgins. I'll just mention that tomorrow, um, what, 2 PM Alaska time, there's an NSBA presentation. I'll be, uh, I've signed up for that. And I think it, when it provides that additional information, it may give us some insight because they— this was scheduled a week ago, I guess, or something like that, 2 weeks ago, and they canceled it because there was some issues still still being resolved on this issue. So I'm not sure what, what might be changed or might be revised or something with it in a short period of time, but I think it's important that we're engaged with it.

I don't disagree with that. I just think that the NSBA information and what we get additional may alter the way that we're trying to address this issue, and that's my only concern.

Seeing no other discussion, we have a voice vote on Member Bellamy. I would just like to invite Member Lessons and Member McDonough to come to resolutions committee so that we can lay this out the right way. Otherwise, uh, it may not get the attention we want it to have because people won't understand. So please Seeing no additional discussion, and it's usually the Wednesday before the conference starts. Thursday, sorry.

Okay, seeing no additional discussion, can we have a voice vote on ASD Resolution 2627-03S?

2.

2627-03-S2. Student Representative Gibson? Yes. Member McDonough? Yes.

Member Higgins? Yes. Member Wilson? Yes. Member Bellamy?

Yes. Member Blakeslee? Yes. Member Lawson? Yes.

President Jacobs? Yes. Resolution passes 7-0. Completes action items for tonight. We have a slate of non-action items which will be in front of us at our next meeting.

Does any— oh, apologies, we need to circle back to action items. We have one additional item at the bottom of our agenda. We wanted to give space for the board to nominate a member to be considered by the AASB Executive Board for placement in a vacant board seat at the upcoming election. Any nomination has to be approved by our board before consideration by the AASB Executive Board for consideration. So is there a member who wishes to be nominated and then put forward for consideration?

Or may we nominate someone? You absolutely may make a motion to have a nomination.

I move to nominate Member McDonough. To the AASB board. Sorry, a second. Second. Member Lessans, would you just speak to your nomination?

Um, I am, uh, happy to nominate Member McDonough for this position. I think he has has shown tremendous insights into how boards operate, both in Anchorage, and has the potential to improve the way that boards function statewide and, and take that and support the body as a whole. I know that he is aware of major issues facing the Alaska Association of School Boards and has ideas about how it could better serve school boards. Um, but I would like to let him speak to his vision. Okay, Member McDonough, if you would like to take the time to decide if you accept the nomination, and then, um, Member Lessons indicated she would appreciate hearing your vision for serving on the board if you're Chosen.

Yeah, through the President, thank you to the— well, to Member Lessens and Blakeslee for the nominations.

I'll keep it brief, but I will say for the sake of where I come from has a really important position within, I think, the the crises that AASB is facing right now, including this board. I am involved in supporting 9 public school districts in Alaska through the nonprofit work that I otherwise do in my professional time, and the other 8 school districts are rural. So I've seen the whole spectrum of problems and issues, and I think right now AASB, from my observations as a non-board member, until very recently. Um, their organization wants to support both and currently doesn't have a clear-cut vision of how to support both. And, um, I come in at least having spanned that spectrum for so long, and, and, and like my day job is to solve problems in rural districts, and then this night job is to oversee the way ASD solves problems and I think that there's this unity that we really need to achieve as a collective of the state in order to really serve the communities.

One issue in particular that is probably indicative of this but is not really prescriptive of all solutions is Alaska Native language revitalization. Under Alaska law, it's actually something that would be illegal for like the Department of Education in Alaska to mandate school districts to teach Native languages and to like build our curriculum and make us teach Native languages. ASD already does. We have at least two very active and robust immersion schools for Native language, and we actually just earlier today accepted a federal grant supporting that school But there are actually more than like 40 rural districts that are in Native tribal communities that don't teach their tribal languages. And I think that the infrastructure that AASB does as a, as like a servant to all school boards is a very important way to get buy-in.

And when, when the AASB is positioned to help both rural districts and urban districts achieve their needs, it will help us unify with our rural counterparts. I could talk on forever, but I think that's kind of a primer of what the executive board leadership at the AESB would look like if this board does choose to nominate me. So thank you again, Member Lessens and Member Blakeslee.

I'm hearing Member McDonough accepts his nomination. Member Bellamy, do you wish to speak to the nomination being made, or do you have other business under this item? Okay, Member Wilson, regarding this nomination or other business under this item? Um, not this nomination, but another nomination. Do we want to—.

Should I wait? I would like to nominate someone as well.

I think it might be best to hold a vote on each nomination separately, that way there's a record. So if there's no other discussion for this item, let's have a voice vote to nominate Member McDonough for one of the seats. I believe there are 4, Member Bellamy mentioned, one of which is a 1-year term. Okay, a voice vote please to approve the nomination of Member McDonough.

Student Representative Gibson. Yes. Member Wilson. Yes. Member Blakeslee?

Yes. Member McDonough? Yes. Member Lessans? Yes.

Member Higgins? Yes. Member Bellamy? Yes. President Jacobs?

Yes. That nomination is approved and then will be sent on to AASB for consideration by a vote of 7 to 0. Is there any additional nominations? Member Wilson. I would like to nominate Member Bellamy for this board as well.

I'll second. Oh, motion made by Member Wilson, seconded by Member McDonough. Uh, Member Wilson, would you like to speak to the nomination? Yeah, absolutely. Member Bellamy has been a part of the AASB board for some time now, and I think it's incredibly— I think her work is, is always very passionate and always student led, and her experience on this board I think is incredibly important for the AASB board to move forward with that experience, particularly since there are new members joining.

So I would absolutely support nominating Member Bellamy.

Member Bellamy, if you want to speak to your willingness to accept the nomination and any of the remarks you want to make.

So I am currently on the board, so I will be um, just serving for one more year. One.

I think there is a one-year seat, it's my understanding. So I would like to, uh, do that one. Thank you. Thank you for the nomination, Doug.

Seeing no other discussion, can we have a voice vote on the nomination for Member Bellamy? Student Representative Gibson.

Yes. Member McDonough? Yes. Member Higgins? Yes.

Member Blakeslee? Yes. Member Lessans? Yes. Member Bellamy?

Yes. Member Wilson? Yes. President Jacobs? Yes.

Nomination is approved to move forward to AASB for consideration by a vote of 7 to 0. Is there any additional nominations?

Seeing none, we'll say that completes this agenda item, and then we'll move forward to non-action items. There's a slate of non-action items on our agenda which will be before us at our next meeting. Does any board member wish to discuss a non-action item at this time? Member Blakeslee? Yeah, I just wanted to make a really quick note on ASD Memorandum Number 47 about the facilities and land returning to the muni.

Um, just a request to the administration or to Dr. Bryant that when it comes before us for action, if you can put in the dollar amount of the— and I guess I'll read the language in the recommendation section. It says the administration recommends that the Anchorage School Board approve and authorize a superintendent to transfer available prior year bond funds in order to demolish the Abbott facility, etc., etc. Um, and I would just like to make a request to have a dollar amount of what those funds are, how, how much they are. Yes, will do.

Yeah, I remember we talked about it before, but if it could just be in the actual, um, language, that'd be great.

Thank you. Seeing no additional discussion on non-action items, we'll We'll move to the superintendent update. Dr. Bryant. Thank you, Mr. President. So I'd like to just take a few minutes to share some initial data from the ASD Listen survey.

And as the team pulls up the brief PowerPoint, um, I just wanted to underscore that this is the first conversation of many that we'll have on not just the survey but the next steps that include robust community engagement and just different ways about communicating about some of the most consequential issues that face our district. So this report is just the very, very initial data findings that we have from the survey. And I expect that at our next board meeting we'll go a layer deeper, and then by the time we get into November, we'll start to actualize our community conversations and some of the other components of ASD Listens. This survey is just the beginning. If we can go to the next slide.

So in terms of the survey that closed on September 29th, so this only recently closed, so we haven't had time to do a deep analysis including on the open-ended responses But just so you understand the high level, we did have over 3,900 responses in 4 different languages. And just to give you some perspective, we do a number of district-wide surveys, and overall this is above the average. We did have a right-sizing survey a couple of years ago that received closer to 10,000 responses, but 3,900 is a healthy number of responses. But it's very important that I qualify the following information that this is not statistically representative of the full ASD community. So I just want us to take the following findings with a grain of salt.

But with that said, we did collect quite a bit of demographic data that's going to allow us to look at this data not just on the aggregate, but really from the perspective of different demographic groups. And there's so much work that still needs to be done to make sure that we have participation from more groups in the coming months, not necessarily through a survey, but through meeting these people where they're at and figuring out ways that we can partner with third-party organizations to really bolster representation of other groups. So with that said, uh, let's go ahead and go to the next slide. So just to, um, ground everyone in what the purpose of this survey was, it really was to deep dive into what we value as a community. It wasn't to necessarily understand support for a specific proposal.

It really was, um, themes grounded in— on the right-hand side you'll see the major themes were community values, trust and confidence, understanding the ASD budget and operations, getting an initial sense for how respondents prioritize budget items, and trying to understand when given 2 or 3 tough choices where different groups fall. We asked some questions about the future of our school buildings. While we won't be considering any schools for consolidation this coming year, I do understand that this could be something that we to consider in future years. We wanted to get insights on that front. And then what was really important to me is to start to get some insights into how the community wants to be engaged and to get some honest feedback, because clearly there are ways that we can take this to the next level.

And then on the left-hand side, you know, really our intention is not just to collect this data for the sake of it. This data is going directly to me and members of my senior leadership team because the idea is to take this as an initial step to try to change our practices when it comes to communicating information and making tough decisions. Next slide, please. So just to give you a sense as to who participated in the survey, um, you'll see that, um, we have representation across a number of different, um, age groups. I do want to draw your attention to the under-18 population.

You're going to notice on this slide and a future slide that we actually had very robust student participation in this survey. And it's fascinating because we've already done some initial work to disaggregate the student voice, and you really see a unique perspective that has really challenged my thinking in terms of how we're going to make sure that this current budget is going to support the needs that our students are seeing from the perspective of their classroom. So I thank our students for their participation in this. And then you can see a breakdown, and again, this is why it's important to note that this this is not necessarily representative whatsoever of the community. We do see that the survey did skew female, for example.

So that's just one of the caveats when it comes to looking at the data. So next slide, please. I also wanted to give the public a glimpse into who participated by race and ethnicity. One of the reasons why I wanted to collect demographic data is because if we see that certain groups are underrepresented, I want to make good faith efforts to figure out different strategies. This is one of the number one things that I've asked of my Superintendent Advisory Committees, which includes the Native Advisory Committee, the Special Education Advisory Committee, our Multicultural Ethnic and Concerns Advisory Committee, and others, to really understand if a survey isn't the best modality to collect feedback, who are the groups I can partner with, where are the locations I can go to, and what are the formats, if perhaps even specific outlets that I can start having dialogues width to reach folks that, that didn't necessarily participate in the survey.

You'll also notice that a lot of the data that you'll see in the following slides all add up to more than 100% in many cases. Why is that? Because if you took the survey, you'll notice that you were able to select from multiple categories. So of note, we see 12.94% represents groups of more than one race. So they selected more than one category, and then the majority of of our respondents self-selected white only.

So my key takeaway is that there is important work that still has to be done to ensure that we're hearing from all voices. And I'm just as committed to the voices that didn't participate in this survey as those who did, because we have to make sure that we're making decisions at the policy level that really bring all of us forward to where we aspire to go. Next slide, please. Uh, and then just a glimpse into what people's roles are, um, in the ASD community. You'll see again these add up to beyond 100% because people wear multiple hats, but in general, um, we had a lot of parents participate in the survey.

25% Represent current ASD students, which I'm really thrilled about, and I thank the SAB and all the students that made that participation possible. And, you know, a number of parents that that did have ASD students in the past but maybe not right now, all sorts of different combinations. So that's why this adds up clearly to more than 100%. But we did, we were able to reach across almost every category that we were looking for to some degree.

Next slide, please.

And on this next slide, it says we asked survey respondents when you think about ASD, what matters most to you? Which was intentionally a very broad question, but it really was interesting to see just the aggregated responses where when most people think of ASD, they see us as an educational institution where we need to help students learn. And I think it's really important for us to keep in mind because we provide a lot of services that help students outside of the classroom. So We have to be able to discern what it means to further our mission as an education institution while also realizing that students come to us with a number of needs and they require support services or just stable food and meals to be the best learners they can be. But it was interesting that 68% think about helping students learn.

And then also of note, great teachers and staff is a close second at 68.26%. When they think about ASD, they think about our talented educators, and I completely agree with them. And those are the folks that we need to do our best to keep with everything that we can do to keep our great educators and to attract future crops of educators for the years to come. And what matters most to people as well is having great teachers and staff, but also having safe schools. And again, this goes down to really important decisions that face us.

We obviously need to invest in our educators and our classrooms, but earlier today we were talking about how an investment in a roof also creates a safe learning environment that we need to aspire for our students. So safe schools is definitely up there. Now what's really interesting is that I haven't done this yet, but this is one example of something I'd like to come back to the board with and the public to break it down by demographic subgroup, because you'll notice that supporting students' mental health matters most to about 29% of respondents. But when we break it down by students, for example, it's actually in their top 3. And I think that as we break this data down by different subgroups, we're going to get insights that are going to help remind us that it's important to look beyond the aggregated data.

And when we think about what our educators are saying, what our parents are saying, what our students are saying, we can begin to make informed informed decisions as a governing group in terms of our investments, what we want to protect, and what we potentially have to stop doing so that we can fulfill our mission as a learning organization. There's a lot here, but I just wanted to give just a 50,000-foot view, and the next step in the process will be to go a little bit deeper. Next slide, please. This is another example of a question that we asked the community, which is, how much do you trust ASD to do each of the following. So for example, we asked the public, how much do you trust ASD to use public money wisely?

And you'll see that for those who participated in the survey, it was pretty narrowly split. About 47% do trust, um, meaning either a great deal or somewhat, ASD to use public money wisely, whereas 44%, um, don't agree much or they don't agree at all. And then some people were unsure. And then if you look at the second question, which was how much do you trust ASD to put students first, you'll actually see a, a much wider margin where 63% agree a great deal or at least somewhat that ASD puts students first. But you'll see that there's so much work to be done when it comes to listening before major decisions.

This one was almost tied at 47.8% versus 47.3%. 5. But you will notice that there are quite a few people in this community who do put a great deal of trust to listen before making major decisions, and those are the individuals where we have to keep on earning that trust that we have. But clearly there are many individuals in this community where we need to rebuild and strengthen trust because clearly it's been lost, or perhaps it was never there. So this underscores the work that has to be done.

And another interesting question that we asked was is how much do you trust ASD to explain decisions early? So 54% say a great deal or some, and 41% say not much or not at all. And this is one area where I'm deeply committed to figuring out ways that we can communicate things better. I truly agree with some of the comments from Member Blakeslee earlier where, you know, we've done some efforts to try to explain what is administration, what is the general fund versus capital, et cetera. But whatever we're doing hasn't reached quite a few people.

And I'm committed to figuring out what modalities, formats, and styles are going to be able to make a greater impact and really penetrate more people's brains in terms of understanding very complicated topics. I hope that one of the outcomes of ASD Listens is that people feel that their public schools are accessible. They feel agency even in times of uncertainty. And the way that we communicate difficult decisions and trade-offs is going to be key. So in short, this shows me that there is a lot of work to be done.

And the other thing is that this really underscores kind of the next phase of this work, which is getting more out there into the community through community conversations, which we have modeled in the realm of right-sizing. But I really want to push ourselves to think beyond just right-sizing. I'm thinking about topics on the ways we resource our schools, schools, the ways that we need to balance supporting our robust choice system with ensuring that we have strong neighborhood schools and ensuring that people understand the limitations of our general fund to fulfill our mission as an education institution. So there's a great deal here that still needs to be disaggregated, but I did want to share this. And, you know, I just want to be clear for the public that I explicitly asked a question about trust, not knowing exactly what would happen.

We certainly got data from the community during the most recent bond proposition that showed the community was not ready to make that investment in ASD at that time. But I wanted this question to be asked specifically in the survey because I hope that this can be the report card of this initiative, because I would like to do a similar survey where we ask this question again in, let's say, about 8 to 12 months, and I hope to make movement in all of areas. I want to be publicly accountable to making a difference in the area of trust, ideally well before, separate from any bond proposition or ask, just as a public institution that depends on people feeling invested in the future of our district. I have a great interest in developing trust, but it's not easy.

Next. And then I went a little bit deeper and I asked a question about What would help ASD earn or strengthen your trust? Because we talk a lot here and in other public settings that, you know, ASD has lost my trust or ASD needs to try to keep my trust. But we rarely have conversations where we really break it down into tactics and strategies. And these are by no means exhaustive.

And of course, 13% of people had something else that wasn't listed here that could help us earn their trust. But in general, it's really interesting that the top 3 most, most selected options were acknowledging mistakes and explaining what changed. That's the number 1 most important thing that we can do to earn or strengthen trust, just acknowledging. And it's— that's interesting because that's something that's not necessarily an extra town hall. It's not necessarily more engagement.

Engagement. It's the way that we engage and the way that we frame our message and the way that we acknowledge ways that we fell short and why can go a long way. And clearly we're not doing enough of that, and that's something that I do want to take in stride. And 42% selected explain decisions before they're made. That's something where we're trying to do our best to improve that even, even this year.

This is one of the reasons why before we finalize a waterfall proposal. While it was just one small gesture, at least doing a poll to understand the community sentiment on, um, budgeting for today while also recognizing the challenges of tomorrow— there's certainly more we could have done on that front. But we are trying to turn the tide on something very complicated, and this upcoming FY28 budget cycle is our next opportunity to do our best to try to explain these difficult trade-offs before they're made. Imagine if we did community conversations that were more rooted in the actual trade-offs that we're going to have to make as a governing team, kind of taking our balancing act simulations to the next level perhaps, or in different ways, formats, or modalities. These could be ways that we're showing people that we want to understand and explain and have dialogue about decision-making processes before people necessarily see a final proposal.

And then a number of people want to see how the community feedback was actually used, and I hope that this survey is one way that we're modeling a step in the right direction. We don't just want to collect data and people feel that it's not being used. There's certainly more that we can, that we can do, but one of the tenets of ASD Listens is that reporting back and public accountability. And again, we're not going to always get it right every single time, but from the very top, we're making a concerted effort to really change that paradigm. All right, and then the last slide is next steps.

So again, this closed on the 29th, and we've had quite a lot of other quite a number of different things that we've had on our plates, but the next step is to analyze the open-ended responses to understand the themes in a more robust way and to do more work on understanding differences between different respondent groups. A key part that I am holding myself and my team accountable to is that reporting back. So we're also preparing this in a report form that we'll have on our website, and I plan to talk about pretty comprehensive intensively and anywhere where I'm doing some sort of public engagement. And then that actually is a good segue into community conversations where I do want to have different smaller groups where we talk about specific challenges. One that comes to mind again is that school choice ecosystem with neighborhood schools, special education services, maybe more, many more actually in a community conversation format.

And to share with the community even more relevant and similar data that we're sharing with you tonight. And we have to report back in terms of now that we've gotten this feedback in different ways, what do we do with it? And the other piece to this is this dataset tells me that it's not complete. There are many people that participate in the survey, but I'm not giving up on people that weren't able to participate. Participate.

I really do want to hear from as many groups as possible, and we're going to throw a lot of spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. It's that important to make sure that we're hearing from groups that weren't able to access this particular survey. So that doesn't mean that we're going to reopen the survey necessarily, but it means that we need to continue to track if we're not reaching certain groups. What can I do to meet people where they're at? So I know that was a lot, But what I can commit to is that on October 20th, I do want to do a deeper dive into some of the data and then share more with the board on what our community conversation series can look like.

And then MJ and I will also be preparing our scope and sequence for our Demystifying the District series, and I anticipate one of the first topics will be demystifying district administration and the, the pros and the cons of making difficult changes on that front, um, recognizing that we've made a number of reductions over the years, but our classrooms come first. So how can we make sure that we put our district, um, best foot forward and set us up for long-term enduring success? And I believe that is all I wanted to share for tonight. I thank you for the time to share more about this survey.

Thank you, Dr. Bryant, for the reports. We will move to school board administration comments. Uh, we'll start to my left and go to Member Wilson.

Just wanted to, um, share my appreciation to all of our school business partners that participated in the career expo. Um, I didn't— I wasn't able to attend this year, but last year I attended. I'm sure it was just as amazing as it has been in the past. Would love to hear so I can report next time. Apparently I can't this time.

How many of our partners participated this year? I just, again, great appreciation for that work and appreciation to the board for, for supporting that continued work. When we were at Service High School, I look forward to going back for a visit.

Because I saw how the principal there embraced the Academies of Anchorage concept, and the students were absolutely amazing when, when they escorted us to, to the, the room that— the library that we were in. Um, and I look forward to hearing more about the amazing pathways and different classes at that school. So I plan on going to visit before our next meeting. So also, um, I think that was it for the moment. So thank you.

Thank you, Member Wilson. We'll go to Member Blakeslee. Yeah, I'll be brief. Um, I, uh, this is really interesting initial feedback from the ASD Listens conversation, and it kind of ties into, um, sort of my own reflections about how we listen to community members, and so much, I think, about showing people that they feel heard is in the way that we respond to them. And so lately, one of the, of the many issues, the many challenges that we're facing along, you know, with all the budget constraints and resource constraints that we have, one of the items that has really been coming up a lot for me lately through emails, through phone calls, um, through direct experience, our, uh, and public testimony even tonight and in previous board meetings is around student safety.

Um, and I'm hearing over and over again how teachers and staff do not have the resources and are not equipped to handle what feel like an alarming number of safety issues that I feel like the, the— maybe it's the class sizes themselves, it's the lack of, of supports and resources that maybe used to exist. And obviously I wasn't on the board prior to this year, but it feels like there's been a mounting number of sort of safety concerns and incidents that, that are sort of, uh, coming up and multiplying over many different schools on a weekly basis. And frustrations that I continuously hear is sort of a lack of resolution, or not even, I guess, support, lack of answers about how to support those teachers in these, in these really high-pressure environments where they're balancing a lot and being exposed to just an unprecedented level of safety concerns within their classrooms and in their schools. So I guess the point of my comments right now is that I would really like to work with the administration to learn more about how I can respond to those concerns and how we can do a better job of giving teachers and families really clear answers that don't feel like non answers that don't feel sort of mired. And there's a lot that we don't know or a lot that we can't do in trying to figure out ways how— about the things that we can do.

And so I have ideas. I'm just putting it out there that I, um, I'm concerned. I'm hearing the concerns. And as we're talking about ASD Listens, uh, I would like, I would like to focus on, on a portion of that being the way in which we're able to give solutions back to the community to show that we're hearing them. So, um, yeah, I would like to work with admin.

I'll probably send you guys some emails, and also with the board as well, um, around safety, and hopefully soon. Thanks. Thank you. We'll go to Member Bellamy. Thank you.

Just a few quick, uh, reminders. Uh, Member McDonough, if you're on— still online, I'm going to send you the nominations form for you and, uh, you or Kelly. Either one of you can fill it out. It has to go in by Friday the 9th. No, I'm— no, either one.

I mean, you could do it or he could do it. Oh, you want him to do it? Okay, so, okay, Paul, I'll send it to you. I already do have it. Okay, thank you.

Good, good, good. Okay, I didn't want to want you to miss the deadline. Uh, other than that, I'm glad I'm excited about the, the SGO.

I don't know what the reception will be or not, but I think we're wise and in line where we need to be so that we can tackle that and take advantage if there is a way to take advantage of it. And so that's all I had. Oh, and thank you for sharing the initial data from the survey. I'm not sure how the right-sizing committee work will fit into this, but I can see some possibilities. So I thank you for that.

Thank you, Member Bellamy. Mr. Gibson, is there a student representative in closing comments?

Uh, yeah, I have a couple. So I just kind of want to echo what Member Blakeslee said. Um, I actually wrote down a couple statistics that were marked down from the AST Listens initiative. And I just want to acknowledge that the fact that, you know, there's like a huge problem with trust and confidence and just like listening in general. But, you know, acknowledging was the biggest percentage that was a challenge to us.

And I see this at my school every day, you know, that we're having trouble communicating with schools. And, you know, for example, if we write a resolution and we're like, oh, we're gonna email this, it goes nowhere. Nothing happens. I've had this happen to me personally a couple times writing resolutions and everything of that fact. But just to put it simply, that, you know, listening before making decisions is crucial to the step.

And we just need to keep this in our minds and keep this in check when you know, when we're making our decisions like this, sitting on top of boards for power, because ultimately we serve the people, we work for the people. And, um, you know, I also think that this kind of just ties into the parents and guardians section of the ASD student, uh, uh, percentage reports, um, with the people, you know, these people came out here today, they, they, they went out and testified on the, at their behalf, their students' behalf. Whatever. But, you know, I just want to kind of call that back to that initiative of how the classrooms should have the power of we should represent the students. And, you know, that confidence factor with helping the students.

And we need to just establish that trust. We need to establish to the schools that, you know, we work for them. We represent you guys. And we want to establish that we're not holding the stake for We're not in power for just like a title form, the power for a reason, and that's all I wanted to give. Thank you.

We'll go to Member Lessens.

Uh, thank you. Mostly I just wanted to extend my appreciation to the board for engaging in something really different and unexpected. It's, um, I just really appreciate the fact that the 7 of us could come together and voice our support, and I hope that we are able to convey the gravity and the potential benefits of moving forward with this resolution to our partners around the state. So I just appreciate the, the power of collective thought and contributions. Um, I don't know what the appropriate time or space would be, so this is it.

Um, my understanding is that the assembly is— has reviewed, is scheduled to review later tonight a potential, um, change to the municipal charter governing how school board elections would operate, how school board members would be elected. We're currently elected by across the district as a whole. And I have a lot of thoughts, but I, I will simply point out that, um, we've had a 7-member board since at least 1961. When I looked at the Anchorage Municipal Charter, it indicated that board members were to be elected at large. I couldn't tell if that was a change from prior practice or something new.

Member Bellamy is shaking her head, so she's got a thought there. But we have been elected at large for at least 50 years, and my personal belief is that it's critical that board members continue to serve the district as a whole. So I'm aware that there is some kind of an assembly work session later this week on the topic, um, I think it's October 8th at City Hall at 10:30 AM. I think also on YouTube, so I may try to either watch that work session just to track it, or possibly attend in person. It's open to the public.

Um, I think that there are a lot of fundamental problems with the proposal, and I'll leave it at that. I would indicate my own personal interest in having the board president write something on behalf of the board as a body. I had sort of meant to bring this up earlier this evening, but it slipped by me, so I don't know if that's problematic to bring it up now, but I am personally interested in our board taking a stand on the Assembly's proposal in whatever the most appropriate venue, um, might be. So I'll leave it at that.

Member Higgins, thank you. Um, yeah, that resolution is kind of interesting because I've got mixed views about it, because on one side, um, the public has a hard time knowing the diff— all 7 board members when they vote, and they don't get quite as engaged as they do with, like, the assembly breaks it out. They still are representing all the municipality. I mean, they, they are elected by that, but they're actions are municipal-wide, and they do that, and it does get you a different mix of people on the board because you got some that are politically more aligned with others who are not. But that's reflective of the population as well within it.

So I have mixed views about it simply because most people don't know who their school board members are. They don't make the contacts. They just don't have as much impact. And, and that's a concern to me because there are at times you want to know how people are voting. It's like the assembly legislature right now.

We're complaining about the legislature not supporting funding for school, but that's not true for all legislators. And you need to know whether your legislature is voting the way you want or not. And that's a big issue to me. So it's a little bit mixed on there. The survey is, is a benefits and concerns.

On one side we're saying they don't have the information, it's misinformation, they need more. On the other side, we're asking you what type of job we're doing and how we're handling the money, and they don't have the details. So that makes it difficult. We've got questions in regards to closing schools. What is the capacity for the schools?

We agreed this, the from the administration that the capacity from the state is inaccurate considering all the things we have to do. And, and with that, then we're still using those numbers like it's, uh, 81.2%, uh, as if it's meaningful. And so now we've got middle schools over 100% still, we've got, uh, elementary at 99%, and I question whether or not it isn't overcapacity because they have special ed programs in there. So there's a little bit more to it, and that becomes difficult. So, um, yeah, it— we've got to reestablish the trust and transparency.

And Mr. Superintendent, calling it right-sizing when we've had no proposals other than downsizing, to me, it's just not how we're going to establish trust and transparency, because I haven't seen that. And we know we got 8,000 kids that need space for daycare. And we haven't come back with a proposal. I haven't seen new assessments on the occupancy issues and some of the academic outcomes with these moves.

I've gotten some of that detail, but I'll share that later when I get the rest of it as well. So I've just got concerns about truth and transparency when we call it right-sizing, but all we do is focus on downsizing. And then we need to reassess how much money we saved. Well, remember the proposal closing 3 schools is $51,000 in a few years, 5 years. That's it.

We've got one charter school that went up, I think, $400,000, which would be like $4 million more they've gotten because they're getting money shipped at $10,500 per student. And we've got other increases going. So we're not going to save the money long term. And they're trying to say we need to do this because of costing save long term. And, and I— we got a challenge.

What— let's look at the facts now. What are we saving? How much is it really costing us for these schools closure? And what's the academic impact? I mean, the middle school, getting those 6th graders, uh, going into middle school.

I've gotten some academic data. I'll cover that at another time. But that's an important issue because I want to see what happened this year. I know what happened last year. So there's a lot of discussions, kind of issues out there, and we have a lot of new challenges.

I gotta tell you, I want to appreciate all the emails, and I get phone calls as well, but there's several issues out there. One is investigation processes that is concerning to me from the information I got. If you got concerns with, with safety, and a number of these do, and you got other concerns out there raising them to the school district if you're comfortable is great, but you can also go to the ombudsman if you want to. But you should get back a response when this is conducted. You should get some information.

You can't get the confidential, but that doesn't seem to be happening according to the allegations being raised. We got serious staffing issues and that we're just not addressing. You know, I get mentioned before, 33 kids and 7 special ed kids in a 3rd grade class was Ludacris. That's a, that's a big issue. And then we have safety issues being raised, and I'm not sure how those are being handled at this point.

So from a school board standpoint, everything with decision-making is not based upon how much the public likes us, is how good we're doing for students. And how good would— how good we're being doing— a lot of data that I get, and, uh, and I always done this in the other meetings. As I said, if there are people who have issues or concerns, I've shared my number with all the community councils. Is my direct is 907-952-5871. I don't care, um, but you're my boss.

The staff, the students, the, the parents, and the general public is the school board's boss. You're at the top of the pyramid. So if you have issues or questions, I'm not going to rely upon training the school board guide on how to avoid difficult questions. Uh, I, I welcome any questions or issues at all. Uh, you are entitled to the full explanation.

Thank you.

Uh, Member McDonough.

Uh, thank you. Um, I'll start with appreciation to members Bellamy and Lessons for taking over as chairs of the committee that I was chair of a few weeks ago. I feel strong about their leadership and being able to get business in front of the board in an efficient way, working with board leadership to vet it cost-effectively in ways that work for the public. So I just want to appreciate their leadership. And I also really appreciated our student representative Stephen and his comments about ASD listens.

I had a similar insight to him and wanted to reflect that a big part of an environment where trust is hard to earn, like, um, I want to point out that has a lot to do with the starvation of public education in Alaska. And we say that a lot, like our schools are starving, but what that really means is the students are starving for the resources that they should be getting to learn, which means they're not getting enough time with the adults, they're not getting enough care and attention, they're not getting enough catch-up and remediation because we don't have it. We don't have enough educators to put in front of them. The educators are starving. Teachers in Alaska are relatively low wage compared to other states, especially on this, like on the Pacific Coast, and our teachers are starving without a pension in Alaska.

During times of starvation, I think the number one thing it takes to build trust actually wasn't on the survey, but I respectfully acknowledge that it's not the superintendent's place to invite this. And it's to offer something new, to offer change, and to offer a rambunctious ability to go. And like, really, in some societies during these starvation times, it's the people who will actually go and like convince others to share who become the best, most trusted leaders. And it's hard to put that on an administrative side survey where the responsibilities of earning trust, I think, are really ours first. And I appreciate the insight of how the overall administration, how the superintendent and his staff can better cultivate an atmosphere of trust.

But when 9 of the 11 options were how to communicate, That shows that's, that's really his job, is like effectuate what the board chooses to do and communicate it to the public. I would introduce to us just the idea that while people are starving, what they need to see from us to trust them is that we're acting. And tonight, actually, we have officially lapped last year. We've matched last year's number of board resolutions. So I think this is a very active board.

Um, last year in the 12-month whole school year, we passed 3 resolutions. This year we've already passed 3. So we are being much more active. We are committing ourselves to scrap on the front lines, to engage with contentious political battles, and to teach the rest of our peers what it takes to run education in Alaska. It will take some time for these actions to really be reached by the public, but I think we're doing the right thing.