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Denali Borough School District

Denali Borough School District serves the student in the Denali Borough.  This rural community stretches along the Parks Highway in Alaska and includes the three schools of Anderson, Tri-Valley (in Healy), and Cantwell.  In addition to these specific communities, other population centers in the Borough are McKinley Village, Panginue, and Ferry. All three of these lie in the attendance boundary for Tri-Valley School.

Each of the communities has a unique history. Anderson is the bedroom community for a remote air force station, Clear.  Over the past 15 years changes at the base have contributed to a significant decrease in student population from a peak of over 100 students to a current enrollment just over 30 students K12.  Of current interest is a 10-year, $1 Billion construction project underway at Clear. While plans are to house all workers in temporary lodging on the base, it is quite possible that this could impact our enrollment.

Healy and the surrounding sub-communities have a history that is tied to the coal industry in interior Alaska.  Usibelli Coal Mine supplies coal to the 6 interior power plants.  Two of these plants are also located in Healy.  The other significant driver of the economy and student body is Denali National Park and the related tourist industry.  In addition to year round park employees the area also sees an incredible influx of workers and visitors in the summer months.  Of interest is a slow increase to winter and shoulder season tourists. In 2017, the first large grocery store opened in Healy.

Cantwell is a traditional native village and railroad camp.  This small community has had a stable but small student population generally ranging from 20 to 30 students.  Our current enrollment is on a low tide with 7 students projected for FY20. 

Between the communities within the Borough there can often be concerns about the community getting their “fair share” as compared to the others.  The smaller areas often feel that attention and services are provided preferentially to the Healy area.  Healy residents sometimes express feelings of resources being squandered on the smaller areas instead of consolidating functions.

Demographically our students are largely Caucasian with a small number of Native Alaskan students, predominantly attending Anderson and Cantwell.  Due to the stable employment opportunities at the Mine, Denali Park and Clear, many families are affluent, especially in the Healy area.  This can hide the fact that many other families do not have these resources and struggle to provide the same opportunities for their children.

DBSD also operates a statewide correspondence program, PEAK.  This homeschool support program operates out of two offices in Anchorage and Wasilla and enrolls about 700 students.  Historically the majority of these students were dual enrolled with one of the many private schools in Anchorage.  More recently, and as our enrollment grew, our proportion of traditional homeschool families has grown.

The Denali Borough collects revenue almost exclusively from accommodation tax and has been able to financially support the school district to the maximum level allowed in State law.

In the Fall of 2016, DBSD began a strategic planning process with broad community involvement.  Through the 2016-17 school year the district completed work on the action plans underneath the main plan and moved to implementation beginning in the 2017-18 school year.  Our revitalized mission is “Nurturing, empowering, and inspiring today’s student to positively shape tomorrow’s world”. The Core Plan Team established four strategies.  They are

1) We will effectively communicate in order to achieve our mission.

2) We will strategically utilize technology to achieve our mission. 

3) We will improve connections and collaboration in order to achieve our mission.

4) We will ensure challenging personalized learning to achieve our mission.

The DBSD School Board has adopted a set of standards to guide student learning.  The District has also established an evaluation and support system to help teachers on a continual improvement process.  In this vein we have also implemented positions of Instructional Coach and Ed Tech to specifically engage with teachers on self-reflective practices to improve student learning.