Juneau School District readies for summer assignment

Juneau School District readies for summer assignment

Districts will plan for how to safely continue education.

This monumentally atypical school year will soon come to an end, but another school year unlike any other looms.

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Michael Johnson said at a Wednesday evening press conference that districts and schools will be working with the state to create plans for how learning will proceed in a 2020-2021 school year.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen also spoke at the press conference.

They said barring the sudden development of a widely available vaccine or antivirals, COVID-19 is going to remain a factor in Alaskan’s lives and shape the education system.

“Without safe and healthy students, teachers, and staff — learning cannot continue,” Jonson said. “Unlike this spring when we needed to suddenly shift the delivery of education, school districts now have the opportunity to spend several months working with partners to build a comprehensive pandemic preparedness plan for the 2020-2021 school year. Together we will ensure schools and staff are prepared to safely and successfully address the conditions, continuity and capacities for learning across our state.”

[UA and Juneau schools brace for the coronavirus]

Johnson unveiled a new framework called Alaska Smart Start that’s meant to help guide schools and account for the conditions, continuity and capacities for learning in low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk communities.

Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss said in a Thursday morning phone interview the information shared during the press conference matched what had been shared with administrators over the past couple of weeks.

Weiss said currently the district is focused on winding down the 2019-2020 school year and celebrating the Class of 2020, but dozens of Juneau educators have been involved in a series of meetings to discuss what August, and a new school year, will look like for local schools.

“We know we need smaller groups,” Weiss said. “We know we need groups that have less mixing.”

How those goals will be achieved is undetermined. Weiss said there have been discussions about alternating which students are in schools depending on the day of the week, but emphasized plans are far from final and not especially detailed at this time.

“None of that has been fleshed out yet,” Weiss said.

She said the district will remain committed to making sure the technology needed to make a blend of learning both at schools and home workable will be available to Juneau families.

Weiss said the district’s plans for the next school year as well as some summer programming expected in July will take shape over the next four to eight weeks.

“What we’re doing is taking all of that thinking alongside our thinking about how we can open schools in a blended learning model,” Weiss said. “That’s our hope that we can have students in schools at least some of the time.”

• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast for the week of March 25

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

The aging Tustumena ferry, long designated for replacement, arrives in Homer after spending the day in Seldovia in this 2010 photo. (Homer News file photo)
Feds OK most of state’s revised transportation plan, but ferry and other projects again rejected

Governor’s use of ferry revenue instead of state funds to match federal grants a sticking point.

The Shopper’s Lot is among two of downtown Juneau’s three per-hour parking lots where the cash payments boxes are missing due to vandalism this winter. But as of Wednesday people can use the free ParkSmarter app to make payments by phone. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Pay-by-phone parking for downtown Juneau debuts with few reported complaints

App for hourly lots part of series of technology upgrades coming to city’s parking facilities.

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

Annauk Olin, holding her daugher Tulġuna T’aas Olin, and Rochelle Adams pose on March 20, 2024, after giving a presentation on language at the Alaska Just Transition Summit in Juneau. The two, who work together at the Alaska Public Interest Research Group’s Language Access program, hope to compile an Indigenous environmental glossary. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Project seeks to gather Alaska environmental knowledge embedded in Indigenous languages

In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word… Continue reading

The room where the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee holds its meeting sits empty on Tuesday. A presentation about an increase in the number of inmate deaths in state custody was abruptly canceled here. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Republican lawmakers shut down legislative hearing about deaths in Alaska prisons

Former commissioner: “All this will do, is it will continue to inflame passions of advocacy groups.”

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, March 25, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Employees at the Kensington Mine removing tailings from Johnson Creek on Feb. 17 following a Jan. 31 spill of about 105,000 gallons of slurry from the mine, although a report by the mine’s owners states about half slurry reached the creek 430 meters away. (Photo from report by Coeur Alaska)
Emergency fisheries assessments sought after 105,000-gallon tailings spill at Kensington Mine

Company says Jan. 31 spill poses no risk to Berners Bay habitat, but NOAA seeks federal evaluation.

Dozens of people throw colors in the air and at each other during a Holi festival gathering Monday night outside Spice Juneau Indian Cuisine. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Holi festival in Juneau revives colorful childhood memories for some, creates them for others

Dozens toss caution and colored cornstarch to the wind in traditional Hindu celebration of spring

Most Read