I'm still trying to wrap my head around the context and constraints elevated during conversation #80 with Clayton Holland, Superintendent of Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) in Southcentral Alaska. Imagine 42 schools spread across 17 communities in a geographic area the size of West Virginia. Several schools are only accessible by plane or snowmobile. This #100DistrictConversations chat was both fascinating and inspiring!

"I started working in KPBSD in 2000 as a teacher and became Superintendent in 2021. I have learned that our professional learning systems must be nimble and decentralized enough to support a wide variety of needs, interests, and values.

Our biggest breakthrough came after COVID disrupted our PLCs and professional learning structures. We had to rethink how we deliver training across distance and varied contexts. Now, we are focused on train the trainer models where we bring a principal and trusted staff member to central office for intensive training, then they return to implement with their school teams.

The high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) rollout a few years ago taught us valuable lessons about implementation fidelity. Our first year was incredibly difficult, but the schools that went all-in showed strong results. We had to reboot a bit in year two, addressing gaps and adjusting some curricular materials to better align with community values. Now we are seeing real traction and progress.

What excites me most is how we are leveraging technology and creativity. We are starting to use AI tools to build efficiencies in administrative tasks with our lean central office team and specific training with our special educators. We have built industry partnerships for CTE programming, like 1-week intensive camps with on-site housing for students from villages. In one remote village, we even installed a welding connex setup so students could explore similar applied learning experiences that other kids have in their school buildings.

Two of our strategic goals center on student outcomes and experiences. We brought in a consultant a few years ago to co-develop a school climate and mindset survey. The questions help us monitor how welcome and engaged students feel. The scope of our district means we really emphasize site autonomy, empowering principals to decide how to approach survey scores and which strategies they want to use to bring them up.

On the teacher side, we are prioritizing evidence-based literacy instruction for secondary educators, trauma-informed practices, train the trainer PD opportunities, and recruiting more staff from across the region. Despite challenging funding realities, we have been working really hard to connect more folks across the schools to be able to learn from each other and learn alongside teachers with similar contexts. The key has been finding a balance between collaboration, meeting each school where they are, and maintaining high expectations for all of our students."