Anchorage School District Changes for
the Upcoming School Year

BY MADISON SHELTON

Many changes are happening for Anchorage School District students. Some of which include but are not limited to, starting times, freshman academy, right-sizing facilities, and staggered start dates. Here’s what you need to know:

Start Times
ASD will be changing their start times. For middle schoolers, school will start at 9:30am. High schoolers will start at 8:45am.
On Mondays, school will start an hour later for all students..
There are many reasons why ASD has decided to make these changes, mainly to align more naturally with the sleeping patterns of the students. ASD changed the start times to create a better environment for the students to achieve academic success. This could also impact on the attendance rates of the students. School sports will also be adjusted to align with the new schedule times. These schedule changes may not apply to charter schools or alternate programs.

Freshman Academy
The incoming 9th graders of the 2024-2025 school year will be offered the new Freshman Academy courses. These courses will introduce the students to different career pathways. Students will have the opportunity to explore vocational classes that could help them with future career choices. During the Freshman Academy course, the students will partake in freshman seminars, career exploration, career fair pathways, pathway declaration ceremonies, advanced academies, and college visits. This gives Freshman students a more career-oriented path for graduation.

Right Sizing of Facilities
In Anchorage we have many schools, some of which, based on the number of students they serve, ASD argues that we don’t need. The declining enrollment in schools around Anchorage makes it so the ratio of students to schools is not good for the budget. To fix this issue, ASD is planning to close several elementary schools. Taking these actions will allow ASD to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per school year. These changes are set to take place over the next three years.

Staggered Start Dates
This year Anchorage School District will be implementing staggered start dates. This means that different grades will be starting school on different dates.
Grades 6-7 will start school on August 15, 2024.
Grades 8th and above will start a day later, August 16, 2024.
The reason for this change is to help incoming students get adjusted to their new school. It will help them to navigate the school better and for the school staff to discuss expectations for the students’ behavior.

Madison is a 10th grader who enjoys art, figure skating, biking, and science.