The school board reviewed progress on its multi-year strategic plan at an Aug. 3 work session, setting immediate priorities for the upcoming school year around individualized student learning, social-emotional development and hands-on career training.

The school year starts with teacher in-service days Aug. 20-21, with the first day of classes Aug. 25.

During an Aug. 4 interview, Superintendent Joshua Garrett explained that school leaders will immediately focus on building individualized learning plans for students. The process will involve setting goals around each student's academic strengths, weaknesses and personal interests, while also providing postsecondary preparation for students in grades eight through 12.

“We will be focused on starting the development of those plans from the very beginning of the year,” Garrett said. “I’m not saying it will be completed during this next school year. That might be too ambitious. Creating the plans will be easier than the implementation.”

The strategic plan was last prepared in 2024.

In addition to individualized learning, he said the district will immediately work to engage students by integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum across grades K-12. SEL is an educational framework that teaches non-academic life skills alongside traditional subjects like reading and math, helping students learn to manage emotions, set personal goals, build empathy, maintain healthy relationships and make responsible choices.

To support the initiative, Garrett said the district plans to dedicate staff members who can remain accessible to work directly with students. The curriculum relies on age-appropriate lessons, daily classroom check-ins and positive behavior strategies.

“It’s a very wide, open thing that covers a lot of areas.”

Another major item highlighted during the work session was the expansion of on-the-job training (OJT) programs. Garrett said the aim is to restructure OJT opportunities to help students build real-world readiness and job skills through practical experience.

He noted that while the district intends to address every goal in the strategic plan as much as possible, specific timelines may shift. Revisions could also follow the district's upcoming accreditation review, which is scheduled to run from February through March 2027.

“That’s not to say everything with the plan will hinge on the accreditation, but it could cause a few things to be revised,” he said.

Because the meeting was a work session, official action could not be taken by the board.

Garrett shared several recent achievements with the board, said the district has improved its financial position through additional one-time funding from the state for the upcoming school year. The extra state funding will reduce how much the district needs to pull from its reserves to cover spending.

He also highlighted strong academic performance on the state’s annual AK STAR test, which measures student proficiency in English language arts and mathematics. Students ranked first in math and sixth in reading statewide during the previous school year.