More than 200 people gathered at Monday's Anchorage school board meeting to discuss the school district's proposal to close seven elementary schools over the next three years.

Dalton Ante completed sixth grade at Bear Valley last year. He told the school board he was confused why his former school was on the list of planned closures for next year.

“I enjoyed my time in Bear Valley and look forward to volunteering again when I can,” Ante said. “I was also looking forward to continuing the longstanding tradition of returning in cap and gown to read the letter I wrote to myself in 6th grade.”

The district released the plan Friday to close three schools at the end of the school year, three schools in 2026 and one school in 2027. If approved by the school board, two schools would be permanently closed and three of the buildings would be repurposed for existing charter schools and Implementation of special programs such as childcare facilities at the other two schools.

District officials argue that the closures are necessary to adequately staff schools whose enrollment has declined significantly in recent years.

The Anchorage school board heard from dozens of parents at its Monday meeting, most of whom had students at Bear Valley. Many said they found the criteria used to identify schools unfair and the process not transparent.

Bonnie Gurney is a real estate appraiser and mother of a Bear Valley student who also testified at the meeting. Gurney said the district's assessment that Bear Valley lacks growth potential is inaccurate.

“Any real estate professional will tell you that the only place where massive population growth can occur is Southside Anchorage, so closing an elementary school is incompetent at best,” Gurney said. “We understand the predicament you find yourself in. Their schools are half empty, that's a harsh truth. If you had a rubric that made sense, if you had transparency, and if you had things that were applied consistently, we could deal with the great feeling of sadness. But right now we are angry and frustrated.”

The proposal would affect about 1,400 students and close nearly 12% of all elementary schools in the district.

The district will hold five community meetings over the next two weeks to hear from parents and plans to vote on the plan at its Dec. 17 meeting.

In 2022, the district proposed closing six schools, but ultimately only closed Abbott Loop Elementary after significant opposition from parents.

Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at [email protected] or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.