Looking back on the last school year and ahead to 2023-24

Last school year saw many highs, many lows, frustrations and controversies as the Matansuka Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) ushered in four new school board members, marking the most conservative school board in recent years.

The school year had a rough start after Durham School Services, which was awarded the contract for school bus transportation, faced staffing shortages, forcing MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani and the district administration to issue rolling bus cancellations, leaving many routes without bus services several days a week.

MSBSD was not alone in facing school bus driver shortages last year. The Anchorage School District responded to its bus driver shortage by dividing students eligible for bus transportation up into 3 groups, providing buses for one group at a time — and up to 6 continuous weeks without available busing for others. ASD also called on active duty airmen to assist with some routes. Fairbanks reduced their normal 120 routes to less than 70 extended routes, and seating 3 students to a seat.

Eventually, Durham was able to offset the shortage by bringing in drivers from the lower 48 and eventually hiring enough staff to fill all the school bus routes.

That success was short-lived, as the second-half of the school year was upended when Durham School Services was unable to negotiate a contract with the Teamsters Local 99 and drivers walked off the job, leaving MSBSD with no bus services for most schools.

The strike lasted a month after several negotiation meetings resulted in a contract that was ratified by the unions. This coming school year, school buses appear to be fully staffed with a contract, for which Dr. Trani is happy.

Among the top highs that Dr. Trani is most proud of is the graduation rate, a 90% graduation rate this year, among this highest in years. He is also proud of the 4 C’s program, which is in its 3rd year, and points to 94% of all the grades are now passing.

“It’s happening much faster than I had thought it would. If you’d asked me 3 years ago, I would not have guessed that achievement could’ve turned around so quickly.”

Another high point has been the success of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) in raising the graduation rate in the Mat-Su Borough.

“Among the students who took CTE courses, there was a 99% graduation rate last year,

“It shows why CTE is so important, what it does to our graduation rate, is the CTE concentrators, when students take 2 classes in a CTE sequence. It’s a game changer,” said Jillian Morrissey, Chief Communications Officer for MSBSD.

The CTE program at MSBSD, is among the most robust options in the state, and beyond, something that Dr. Trani enjoys highlighting.

“Our CTE programs are amazing! We offer so many different opportunities for kids. We lead the state in that, has to be one of the best in the nation at this.”

CTE in the school district offers courses and certifications for welding, fire sciences, culinary arts, construction, and many more fields, and CTE is not limited to one specific school, but has courses available in every school throughout the district. Students are not limited to taking CTE courses in their home school, but have the option to take CTE courses at schools throughout the district.

“We have this huge, sprawling CTE program of study in every single one of our secondary schools. Some (schools) have duplicate programs, but they also have courses that other schools don’t have,” Dr. Trani explains.

While Dr. Trani is encouraged by the demand and success for the CTE programs available, he would like to see a continued change in the mindset of CTE.

“In the past, folks had a choice of college or Vo-Tech. We don’t use Vo-Tech anymore; it’s career technical education. It’s not an ‘or’ in the middle, now it’s a great big ‘and.’ We recognize that they are the same thing.”

An example of this change in perception can be seen in a new CTE class in which students develop and run a business out of an Algebra classroom.

“Known as ‘AMPED,’ it’s a combination approach to Algebra that’s very hands-on, and mixed with the Business class where they’re going to create their own business,” explained Career and Technical High School (CTHS) principal Jason Ross earlier this year. CTHS will be one of the schools launching the program in the coming school year.

The ‘AMPED’ course is part of the much bigger ‘AMPED on Algebra’ course in which all objectives and standards of Algebra are taught, but with real world, project based lessons, labs, and activities. The intent is to create a more robust learning environment for students, allowing them to connect what for many can be a tough subject with an entrepreneurial setting.

“We went and watched the program at West High (in Anchorage) where they developed a screen-printing business, but it’s tied to Algebra standards,” says Dr. Trani. CTHS plans to launch a similar business, but Dr. Trani said the AMPED class is not limited to screen-printing, but whatever the students decide.

“This is the perfect example of not ‘this or that,’ but ‘this and that.’”

“We find that students that may not be interested in business, the success rate of passing Algebra 1, which is the most failed class in the Valley, goes way up with this hands-on approach,” said Ross.

AMPED on ALGEBRA also directly feeds in a graduation requirement revision that Dr. Trani is spearheading-raising the minimum graduation standards for the Class of 2025. Under the proposed revisions, students would now need to acquire a minimum of 25.5 credits in required and elective subjects to receive a diploma.

This new proposal see the biggest change in the math requirements, which would bump up to 4 credits needed for graduation. Currently, students only need 3 math credits to graduate.

“The substantive change in the graduation requirements would be from 3 math credits to 4,” Dr. Trani previously told the school board. In the past, he has expressed concerns over students underperforming in math, regardless of whether students choose to go into a trade or vocational training or go to college.

In addition to the traditional high school math courses such as Algebra, Geometry, or Trigonometry, Dr. Trani points out a list of alternative math courses already being offered throughout the district that students could take to fulfill the additional math credit, particularly with an emphasis on CTE math.

A sampling of courses options for students to obtain math credits includes Cabinet Making, Digital Electronics, and Welding Technologies. There was also listed Personal Finance, Accounting, and Technical Math, to name a few.

“There’s currently 49 CTE courses that a student can earn a math credit…so there’s lots and lots of other opportunities.” He also stated there are perhaps a number of science courses that could also fulfill the math requirement.

“There’s no problem with us being able to provide enough math courses for kids, to provide the incentive for them to take the math, and that’s what this does.”

The increase in math requirements is just one of several programs that continue to face ongoing debate among the school board and parents. Another has been the requirement of AP Seminar, something that parents have spoken against, saying that the policy might hold students back who may not yet reach proficiency in key subject areas, hurting schools and students.

AP Seminar is an interdisciplinary course meant to develop and practice the skills in research, collaboration, and communication that you’ll need in any academic discipline. Students develop and utilize critical think skills, investigate topics in a variety of subject areas, write research-based essays, and design and give presentations both individually and as part of a team.

“This course in particular is so foundational, no matter where they go after school. It’s all the skills that they will need-reading an point-of-view, giving a sound argument, making multimedia presentations. It is a super helpful class no matter what job you have.”

However, Dr. Trani believes that many are confused as to the policy requirement.

“This isn’t for advanced students, they don’t have to be advanced to be successful. It gives you advanced placement when you finish it.”

He also clarified that the AP Seminar requirement has been in place for the past few years.

“That’s existing language in our graduation requirements. Students take AP seminar or an equivalent for the 2025 class. In the 2026 class they would be required to take an additional AP course, IB equivalent, dual college credit, or a number of other possibilities.”

This proposal has not yet been approved by the school board.

Last school year saw the introduction of PLC Mondays, which was introduced as a way to see student knowledge and performance increase in students throughout the MSBSD.

“It will be back this year as well.”

The idea of a PLC-Professional Learning Communities-is a collaborative group of educators sharing ideas to enhance their teaching practice and create a learning environment where all students can reach their fullest potential. Most PLCs operate within a school building or across a district and can be organized by grade level, content area or an entire teaching staff.

“It’s a gargantuan mind shift for many people, to go away from the blueprints, which literally say on ‘day 1 you do this, on day 2 you do that,’ to thinking about what we want the students to learn; how are we going to know they learned it, what do we do if they haven’t learned it, and what do we do if they have?”

PLCs are not new; many schools and districts in the lower 48 have implemented similar programs to share best practices, brainstorm, and enhance teacher reflection as to what is and is not working in the classroom.

“We want to change the trajectory of our students, and that means changing the old schedule. If we want to change, then we need to change how we really teach someone,” says Dr. Trani. He believes that regularly schedule meetings that the PLC model offers will be better for teachers and students.

“This isn’t a new curriculum or program. It’s about teachers having that ‘team time’ together,” Morrissey concurs, adding that PLC Mondays is about giving teachers time together.

This shift in focus to team time is going to be reflected more this coming school year. For example, within the MSBSD, the Office of Instruction is going to change to the Office of Teaching and Learning, a kind of nod to PLC Mondays and team time.

“It’s not just about what is being taught. It’s about ‘are the students learning?’”

Some parents have been resistant to the implementation as it is held Monday mornings, pushing back start times at schools where it has been implemented, with many speaking at school board meetings that while they support the idea, the time is inconvenient, interfering with drop-offs and work schedules, and with student learning

PLC Mondays are implemented during Monday mornings, with Middle Schools and High Schools starting at 8:45 am. Elementary Schools start at 10:15 am.

When asked why a late start versus an early release day, it was determined the late start days would have fewer scheduling conflicts with extracurricular, co-curricular and athletic activities. Many students are involved in after-school activities such as sports, music, or clubs, and teachers are either the coach or sponsors of these activities, many of the teachers would not be available for PLC meetings.

The District has arranged for early drop off for parents who need to use it, but Dr. Trani says that there haven’t been many signed up for it.

Looking to the upcoming school year, Dr. Trani is aware that it takes time to see the results of change, and he is planning for fine tuning the things that have been implemented.

“It’s nice that going into this school year, unlike the past 3 years, it looks like it will be a pretty normal school year. I feel like we have a lot of the big building blocks of change to manifest, to increase student achievement. We aren’t adding a lot, but rather fine tuning.”