SPECTRUM: Anchorage Assembly Fails Civics 101 assignment

As a social studies teacher in the Anchorage School District for nearly 20 years, I was extremely disappointed to learn that the Anchorage Assembly offered an apology to a Mat-Su Valley resident for comments posted on social media by assembly member Amy Demboski.

This was a rash decision made by Chairwoman Gray-Jackson and should have been opposed by all of the members of the Anchorage Assembly. The grievance by Mr. Gregory Jones and the protest by a few Mat-Su Valley and Anchorage residents were emotional and baseless. Moreover, the assembly’s action was inappropriate and showed intellectual dishonesty. When analyzing and forming opinions about historical and current events, I teach my students to review multiple sources and to use documents from primary sources whenever possible before drawing conclusions or making decisions. The assembly’s choice to apologize was based on inaccurate information presented in an article written by an ultra left blogger. They did not research the FBI and State Department data that was reported and available for review. They did not listen to the interview that Mrs. Demboski conducted with Gregory Jones. Most importantly, they did not show their fellow Anchorage assembly member the collegial respect of discussing this with her personally before making the decision to apologize.

The residents of Anchorage expect the Anchorage Assembly to do their due diligence by researching facts and uncovering the truth in order to make the best decisions possible. If there is one positive that I can take away from their lack of professionalism, it will be an example that I can use in my classroom about the importance of using logic and reason rather than emotion and biased sources to make important community decisions. They failed a basic Civics 101 assignment.

The semester is almost over, but it is not too late for them to fix their failing grade. They should redo the assignment by apologizing to Demboski and to the residents of Anchorage and Eagle River/Chugiak at the next assembly meeting.

Todd Smoldon is a resident of Willow.