ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Anchorage School Board heard public testimony Tuesday night regarding remaining possible school closures.

“We have a number of people coming to testify,” said Andy Holleman, president of the Anchorage School District Board of Education. “The administration has changed its recommendations on school consolidations… I suspect we’ll have a few hours of testimony.”

Baxter, Fire Lake, Lake Hood and Nunaka Valley elementary schools remain in jeopardy as the Anchorage School District Board of Education gets closer this month to deciding which schools will close next year. This is part of the district’s plan to “Rightsizing ASD.”

On Nov. 1, the district announced its first agenda with its “Rightsizing ASD” plan, which called for the closure, consolidation or repurposing of seven elementary schools in the district. These first schools included Baxter, Fire Lake, Lake Hood and Nunaka Valley, Bear Valley, Tudor and Wonder Park elementary schools.

“It will save the state some money. This will reduce the amount of state funding Anchorage receives, but we will be able to provide more staff,” Holleman said. “We will be able to run better schools in fewer buildings than the number of buildings we currently have.”

However, in late November, the district announced that going forward it would only recommend the potential closures of Baxter, Fire Lake, Lake Hood and Nunaka Valley ASD elementary schools. If selected, these schools would close by May 2025. Bear Valley, Tudor and Wonder Park elementary schools were removed from the list after hearing public testimony, the district said.

“At this point, we have learned a lot about the schools that were removed from the list, and that’s really the purpose, to give the community an opportunity to have their say,” Holleman said.

Holleman said Tuesday’s discussion will be used to gain more public input on how the community feels about possible cuts to these schools before the district makes its final decision on Dec. 17.

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