PALMER â At the last Mat-Su Borough School District School Board meeting of 2020, Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani illustrated what were not equity issues, but disparities in how students at Mat-Su Career and Technical High School perform and how they are selected, detailing a change in course that has drifted the school away from its mission, according to Trani.
âOur goal is not to create a school for elite students but to create elite schools for all of our students,â said Trani. âThe point is not to destroy Career Tech, the point is to bring the the whole entire place up as much as possible.â
PALMER â After the demolition of Houston Middle School began on Monday morning, the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board and Mat-Su Borough Assembly met in a joint meeting to discuss design plans, funding and the schedule for building the school. Contractors have 60 days to complete demolition and remove all debris and Borough Project Manager Jeff Walden said the next cost assessment would arrive in mid-January. The total estimated cost of the rebuild is approximately $32 million.
âThat gave us a total of $27.4 million to start with this program. At this point, we have expended or encumbered the $848,000 for demo and $3.2 million for the total design,â said Mat-Su Borough Finance Director Cheyenne Heindel. âSo right now for funding that is available that we have on hand we have $23.3 million.â
PALMER â On Tuesday at a joint meeting between the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board and Mat-Su Borough Assembly, MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani detailed the efforts in mitigation of COVID-19 implemented in the schools. Despite the continued rise of COVID-19 cases around the Mat-Su Valley, data presented by Trani showed the steep decline of positive cases in schools recently.
âThe schools have a lower infectious rate than the communities in which they reside and in some places itâs dramatic, like Palmer itâs less than half of the infectious rate in the community,â said Trani. âThe schools may actually be a mitigating factor for the spread of the coronavirus. Being open may actually slow down the coronavirus in the community.â