The design for the new Inlet View Elementary offers amazing opportunities for the Inlet View program as well as the surrounding community. Of critical importance, the design moves the building to the south side of the Inlet View lot, which will allow students to remain in the existing building while the new one is constructed.
A small but vocal minority of neighbors is now attempting to derail the approval of that design by the Urban Design Commission, arguing that the building should remain on the north side where it currently stands. But that would split up the school and require students as young as 5 to be separated from their peers and bused to unknown and unfamiliar buildings during construction, at great financial cost to taxpayers and devastating cost to the school community.
Opponents of the design justify inflicting such hardship on the students, who have already suffered through COVID-19, by arguing that the property is a public good. But we must not forget that it is first and foremost a school. It’s a public good because it produces intellectually curious members of society. We’re so lucky in Anchorage to have world-class public spaces, including the Park Strip, the Coastal Trail, and Westchester Lagoon, all of which are mere steps from Inlet View. Let’s focus on getting our schools to that same world-class status, and protect our students in the process. It’s time to put aside selfish concerns and get this project done.
— Terri Davenport
Inlet View Elementary parent
Anchorage
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