Thank you to my two favorite groups of people: Students and teachers

Over the last nine months childrens’ joyous laughter and the calm guiding voices of teachers have drifted on late summer breezes, emerged on brisk fall mornings, cracked the air of bone chilling winter afternoons, and now sprout out of the long spring days from school playfields across the Mat-Su. Those voices and laughter have been music to my ears. From the first days of school in August to these final days of school in May my two favorite groups of people, students and teachers, have worked together to accomplish something that many thought was impossible during a pandemic; they kept schools open and they kept learning.

COVID has brought so many challenges to our communities, our State, and our Nation. And those challenges have brought out the best of us as Alaskans. Countless employees including classified staff, administrative staff, and district office staff have all pitched in to keep kids in schools and teachers in front of them throughout the entire year. Alaskans are resilient and we saw that within our Mat-Su teachers, students, and their families as they all responded with a “can-do” attitude during a school year like no other. From classrooms that were suddenly closed to whole schools that were shut down for various lengths of time the employees of Mat-Su borough School District and those we serve, Mat-Su kids and their families, took the COVID challenge head on and persevered.

I want to thank all of our employees for going above and beyond this year. I want to thank the parents who entrusted us to keep your children safe. I want to thank our community partners who supported our efforts at keeping Mat-Su kids in school and learning. And finally I want to thank the students who epitomized my ‘ask’ at the beginning of the school year, for granting us flexibility and grace as we worked to manage this dynamic school year. The grit our Mat-Su kids exhibited this school year is inspiring to all of us.

That inspiration makes us confident that next year will look more like normal! As the case count dwindles, vaccination rate increases and normalcy returns we will carry the lessons with us that we have learned during the pandemic. I am confident that the lessons around flexibility, and resiliency will help us make sure that our childrens’ laughter and joy of learning will continue to drift across the playfields, down the halls, and through the classrooms of the Mat-Su for generations to come.

I offer you all my heartfelt thanks for your sacrifices and dedication, the Alaskan-spirit has shown through in Mat-Su!

Respectfully yours,

Dr. Randy Trani, MSBSD Superintendent