Amid declining enrollment, dismal student achievement results and a growing number of families who have chosen to leave standard public schooling, the Fairbanks School District voted on Feb. 4 to permanently shutter three of five schools that were under closure consideration.
In a 5-2 vote, the board moved to close Pearl Creek, Midnight Sun and Two Rivers schools, while keeping Hunter and Salcha elementary schools open. The decision will take effect in the upcoming school year.
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While board members blamed lack of funding and staffing shortages for needing to shutter the schools, many parents are upset with the direction the left-leaning board has embraced in recent years.
From 2002-03, Fairbanks lost 3,340 students, dropping from 15,140 to just 11,800 this year. During this time the district has been plagued by low student assessment scores, radical DEI and LGBTQ programming and heated debates about parental rights. This has coincided with a mass exodus of families who have opted for homeschool or private education options.
The district now faces a $16 million budget deficit. The vote to close three schools is expected to save the district about $10 million.
6 Comments
I think the next best step is to evaluate how many administrative staff there is and start making cuts. If schools are for teaching kids we need teachers, not administrations. Trim the fat.
Six million more dollars to go. If not more closed schools, then sport programs, teachers, teacher’s aids, para-professionals, guidance counselers, DEI staff, administrative positions have to go now. There are no sacred cows at this point. Good luck with that Fairbanks.
Trim all the fat they want, nothing will change until the rot is out
If you endorse policies and curriculum that push woke ideology in your public schools than parents who do not agree with tha ideology are going to put there students in homeschool or private schools. Simple.
On one hand, our school board (6 out of 7 members) is very left leaning, not ‘fessing up to waisted time, energy and $ on D.E.I., One of the main reasons why parents en mass are enrolling their kids in Charter and Home Schooling. God fearing parents trying to raise moral kids; forget it!
On the other hand, nothing is harder than saying “no” to the emotional testimonies of parents the board has endured. It’s the toughest of jobs. I honor their time, effort and anxiety.
So here’s our future. Three schools closed next year, the other 2 schools after those. Juneau plays with funding giving partial funding each year, but local enrollment will drop some more. To keep schools open, Juneau will sell the interests of future generations by depleting the P.F.D., then the Fund itself, and finally a state sales tax in 5-7 years. ( “It’s for the children.”) The board will be strongly WOKE for some more years further causing parents to pull kids out of
public schools. Test scores; here what you can expect. My wife and I have worked for years in a local middle school. Still do. Half the teachers cut corners, do minimal effort/ only what their contract outlines, dodge involvement with sports, clubs, anything outside the classroom, some classes kids spend most of the hour on computers each day but calling it “contact time”. Teachers a-lite in a corner of the room which gives disrupters free rein. In short, half the teachers sort-a like teaching, but have no vision or willingness to get serious and have students do the same. Did I mention most, but not all, of these
teachers are younger and just don’t have the same standards of classroom management as the older, more practiced teachers. Plus, there’s a shortage of teachers, subs, custodians and aids. They take anybody, now. Improving test scores….maybe a little in certain schools, but not much in public schools.
Frankly, this is the school board we have elected year after year. Proud to be D.E. I. and union funded.
Home schooling, charter schools and church schools are the future around here. You can bank on it.
We’re thinking, “Maybe there’s a church school looking for a couple of dedicated volunteers,” down the road.
When the actual mission of education becomes hijacked by DEI and political correctness, the people look elsewhere for their children to be educated. FAFO