Fairbanks will kick off its annual State of the Schools next week with a series of informational talks.
The event is one of a two-part communication effort the school rolls out early in the year, which includes the State of the Schools and the district-wide mailer, Measurements that Matter.
Since State of the Schools started in 2021, the district has taken a different approach to the format and this time, it will be offering a weeklong series of videos that each focus on different areas of interest, rather than a single day of presentations.
“This year, because we did the last two years in person, we decided to do the videos each day to break up the topics,” said Superintendent Adham Schirg. “Every year we look at this State of the Schools event and we look at ‘how do we make this more of an event for our families.’”
Schirg said he wanted to start the program in 2020 after taking the superintendent position the previous year, but with the pandemic, the event held off until 2021.
The videos this year, the first of which will be released on Monday, will start with an introduction to the format and focus and will release on the website and across social media platforms.
Tuesday’s video is titled Authentic Learning in the High School and will start the conversation around this year’s theme of going beyond the classroom.
“The instructional focus over the last two years has been to create instruction that ties to real-life things for kids,” Schirg said. “So, so for instance, we have our ninth graders interviewing the twelfth graders this year and asking them to tell their stories.”
He said the interviews will eventually be published and even entered into the Library of Congress.
The video planned for Wednesday is titled, “Real Life Learning in the Middle School.”
“We feel, as a school district, we should be trying to expose students at a young age to things that will spark some kind of passion,” Schirg said. “And we want to connect that passion to learning that can extend out into the world.”
He talked about the 6th-8th graders working through the robotics program and further introducing informational material dealing with engineering and design. The school is also partnering with Tolles Career and Technical Center for biotech programs, which has allowed students to learn about living cultures of fruit flies and fish.
On Thursday, the video will deal with “After School Clubs in the Elementary School.”
Schirg said that information will cover the clubs the elementary principal has encouraged students to participate in, outside the typical ones. New clubs include offerings like Lego Club and Cookie Club, which Schirg said offer the students educational experiences with baking.
“There is clearly a theme throughout all three of our buildings of expanding our students learning beyond the four walls of the classroom,” he said. “We really encourage that and want our students to be able to build on those skills as they go beyond Fairbanks.”
Friday’s video will cover the district’s master facility planning process, something officials have been actively working on over the last year. In December of 2022, the board of education approved the master facility plan, looking to bring additions and renovations to each of the school buildings. The district broke ground on the elementary addition last fall but then saw a rejection of a ballot issue in November that aimed to generate money for one of the two building phases. That issue will be on the ballot again in this month’s primary.
This year’s Measurements that Matter highlights the work that is happening across the district and how it aligns with the mission, vision and strategic plan, Schirg said.
Topics in the mailer range from information on the district’s S.T.E.M. program, Project Lead to the state report card results.
He said residents in the district should expect the mailers in the coming days.