By Rick Sansted, Superintendent, Alexandria Public Schools

As we continue to tackle the challenges that COVID-19 has brought us, we also continue to plan for the future. Many businesses and industries are going to look different in a post-COVID world. Alexandria Public Schools, and education as a whole, have learned a great deal about being creative and intentional in how we serve our students and families.

I want to share a couple of pieces as we begin some of the planning process for the 2021-22 school year.

Future planning

Given the volume of change that has happened in the past nine months – again across industries and organizations – we will be collecting input from our students, parents, staff and community in the next couple of months.

We will be gathering that input a variety of ways. Surveys and focus groups will take place in the coming months to help gather input about the desired daily experiences of our young people.

We have learned a great deal about our processes and practices with our experiences in our learning models, assessment practices, the importance of relationships and human interaction and being flexible.

Space and facilities to meet community needs

We also continue to ensure that our spaces meet ancillary facility and programming needs. We are working with Alexandria Technical and Community College and Pope Douglas Solid Waste Management to transition properties with a lens to a community approach to meeting the needs of our individual organizations.

Once Alexandria Area High School opened in 2014, our property on 18th Avenue seemed to be out of place. The property aligns with the campus at ATCC. We are working with the college on the sale of that property in the coming months. The school district would seek a new home for our transportation shop where we conduct repairs on our bus fleet, our buildings and grounds department, food and nutrition services department and district storage. Look for additional information as those shifts move forward in 2021.

The district also has some leased facilities in the community. I believe long-term it is in the best financial interest of the district to look to either secure long-term leases where it makes sense or shift those leased spaces to ones the district owns. Look for additional information regarding the future of our facilities in the coming months.

Business partnerships

We are so grateful for the business partnerships that have supported student learning even in this COVID experience. Our AAHS CAPS (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) program has been able to function in part thanks to our wonderful business partners in the community. (See contributed photo and photo caption.)

Our students greatly appreciate the authentic experiences that are provided by our business partners. Your flexibility along with your ability to adapt during this time is greatly appreciated.

Rick Sansted is the superintendent of Alexandria Public Schools. "In the Know" is a rotating column written by community leaders from the Douglas County area.