Bartlett High School is a high school in Anchorage, Alaska. It had an enrollment of 1,666 as of November 26, 2016.[2] Construction started in 1971, and the first classes were held in 1973. The school originally housed both Bartlett High School, named after U.S. SenatorBob Bartlett, and Begich Junior High School, named after U.S. RepresentativeNick Begich.
The school district's 2003-2004 Profile of Performance reported three goals: "Improve school climate" (attained), "increase percentage of students passing HSGQE Math by 5%" (partially attained) and "reduce dropout rate" (attained). The dropout rate in 2003-4 was 7.3%.
Bartlett High School was heavily damaged during the 7.0 earthquake that occurred on November 30, 2018.[5]
Name of school
Like other senior-junior school complexes in the Anchorage School District during the 1960s to the early 1970s, the complex housing Bartlett was originally given two names. One was for the senior high school, and the other for the junior high school. In line with this, the complex housing Bartlett was called Bartlett-Begich,[6] denoting Bartlett High School (named after Sen. Bob Bartlett) and Begich Junior High School (named after Rep. Nick Begich). During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Anchorage School Board began to change all of these complexes into high schools and to create separate junior high schools (now known as middle schools) as new facilities could be constructed, in each case moving the original junior high school name as the new junior high school was built. Hence, the complexes formerly known as Chugiak-Gruening became Chugiak High School and Gruening Middle School, Service-Hanshew became Service High School and Hanshew Middle School, and so on.[6]
At the time the school now named Benny Benson Secondary School (an alternative school originally paired as a junior high with East High School, opened in 1991[7]) was designed and built, it was not anticipated that a junior high school in the northeast Anchorage area would be built. The family of Nick Begich was asked if they would like the new facility named after Begich (rather than Benny Benson), but the family asked rather that the Begich's name remain on the Bartlett High School building until a new junior high could be built in the area, with the assumption that Begich's name would be transferred to that school.[6] Thereafter, "Bartlett-Begich" remained technically associated with the school building,[8] but Begich's name was not used on Bartlett High School diplomas, in official documents, or in Anchorage School District communications regarding the school; it was retained only in the words "Bartlett - Begich" painted on the southeast wall of the high school building.[6]
In November 2006, the Anchorage School Board made official that the name of a new middle school in Anchorage would be named after Begich.[9]Begich Middle School opened for classes on August 22, 2007.[10]
^Pesznecker, Katie. (September 30, 2006). "Muldoon middle school is looking for the right name — Tributes: Educators Begich and Stears are popular figures for a label that could be decided by the School Board November 13." Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved through Newsbank.com (subscription required) on 2007-05-18.
