Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 207
Rae C. Stedman Elementary School brought on board six new teachers this year as the school looks to create smaller class sizes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the building. One of the new teachers is a face some students may already know. After teaching at the Mitkof Dance Troupe, Kaili Swanson decided she wanted to do something to help the community push through the COVID-19 pandemic. She received an emergency teaching certification through the state and started teaching kindergarten....
Sixth grade teachers Bridey Short and Casey Gates are the two newest additions to the teaching staff at Mitkof Middle School. Both teachers signed a one year contract with the district, but while Short's position is permanent, Gates was signed on temporarily to address the need for staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Short is originally from Petersburg, but left Alaska to attend college at the University of Montana. She moved back home in 2009 after graduating with a degree in social work and ph...
Enrollment in the Petersburg School District was at 429 students as of last week, but Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said at a Petersburg School Board meeting on Oct. 13 that the district had originally budgeted for about 471 students this year. The lower than anticipated enrollment is a result of students opting for homeschool programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and some students moving out of town, said Kludt-Painter. She said 39 students are currently enrolled in homeschool programs,...
A positive case of COVID-19 was identified this morning in Mrs. Potrzuski's fifth grade classroom at Rae C. Stedman Elementary School, resulting in a district-wide school closure, according to a statement on Petersburg School District's Facebook page. Both the student and their parent tested positive for the virus, according to a joint-statement between the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The student recently traveled to Juneau on a non-school related trip and is symptomatic,... Full story
Petersburg School District switched over to a low risk level of operations, or green level, on Monday. Rae C. Stedman Elementary School will be in session from 8 A.M. to 1:45 P.M. in person Monday through Friday, said Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter at the COVID-19 community update on Friday, Sept. 25. Teachers will stay with their classes throughout the day and limit interaction with other teachers and pods. Students will still get recesses, lunch and other breaks while in school. Mitkof...
Mitkof Middle School was recognized as a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education for its overall academic performance. MMS was one of 367 schools nationwide that were selected for the award. Recipient schools were recognized for either their overall academic performance or progress in closing the achievement gap among students. The middle school was the last school in the Petersburg School District to receive the award. Petersburg High School was honored...
This year's Petersburg High School volleyball team is about one week into their season, and like other sports this year, the team is playing under COVID-19 protocols; however, the girls are just glad to be back in the gym, practicing the sport, said Head Coach Jaime Cabral. A core group of seniors graduated last year, which caused positions on the team to have to be rearranged this season. There are only three seniors on the team out of the 25 players. Most of the students are young, but are a...
Petersburg School District students are glad to be back at school, despite COVID-19 protocols in place, and have been adapting to the new split schedules, said PSD principals Heather Conn and Rick Dormer at a school board meeting on Tuesday. At Rae C. Stedman Elementary School, one group of students attends class physically in the morning while the second group attends virtually from home. Then in the afternoon, the two groups switch. The group that attended class in-person in the morning is...
Although the Petersburg Parks and Recreation community pool has reopened on a limited basis, Petersburg High School students will have to wait until Sept. 2 for the swim and dive season to start. According to Activities Director Jaime Cabral at the Petersburg School Board meeting last week, the Alaska School Activities Association held a special meeting earlier this month, and found that several schools throughout the state did not have access to a pool until Sept. 1 due to COVID-19 concerns;...
The Petersburg School Board approved schedules for Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High school at their meeting on Tuesday that includes alternate days of in-person instruction at the start of the school year beginning Aug. 31. The students at both secondary schools will be split into two groups, the blue group and the white group. The blue group will have in-person class time on Mondays and Wednesdays and the white group will be in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During a day when a...
Mindy Lopez has taken on the role of chamber administrator with the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, a position she said allows her to support local businesses at a time when they may be reeling from the financial setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We all go through difficult times in our lives," said Lopez. "Sometimes it feels good to have someone walking with you in those hard times." Before joining the chamber in early June, Lopez had been working with Petersburg Mental Health doing...
On Tuesday, Petersburg Medical Center staff were ready to start collecting test samples from passengers flying into town as of the afternoon jet to be tested for COVID-19, said PMC Director of Patient Care Services Angela Menish. As passengers get off the plane and exit the tarmac, they are greeted by borough employees. If an individual is arriving from another part of Alaska, then they can enter the community. If the individual is arriving from outside of the state or country, then they are dir...
Outdoor activities will possibly resume at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School on July 13, said Activities Director Jaime Cabral at the Petersburg School Board meeting on Tuesday. School districts throughout Southeast Alaska put together a document with guidelines from the Alaska School Activities Association and the state on how activities can safely resume. While some schools throughout the region have already resumed activities, others haven't, said Cabral. The reason the Petersbu...
The Reduce Plastic Use Petersburg Group got together last week to talk about what its members have done to promote awareness of the problems of plastic usage. "Our goal has been to increase the awareness of the problems of plastic and the marine plastic in particular and try to influence behavior, which is a challenge," said Sunny Rice at the virtual meeting last week. Gina Esposito began the presentation with a talk on plastic items that have escaped the waste stream and made its way into the e...
Petersburg Public Health Nurse Erin Michael warned the public that as people's lives change and adapt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they can begin to feel depressed and suicidal. At the COVID-19 community update on Wednesday, May 27, Micheal said the state reported an increase in emergency room visits related to suicide. She said it's not uncommon for people to feel anxious or depressed as they deal with the pandemic. Some specific causes of depression brought on by the pandemic can be a lack...
On Monday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy released state health mandate #18, which eases previous restrictions on intrastate travel. The newest health mandate supersedes state health mandate #12, which had limited travel between Alaskan communities to critical infrastructure or critical personal needs. State health mandate #18 now opens up all purposes of travel for communities connected by the road system and the Alaska Marine Highway System. Travel between those communities does include the use of boats...
The Petersburg School Board approved the 2021 fiscal year operating budget at their meeting on Tuesday, which has a revenues budget that is $105,060 above expenditures to account for unknowns in the coming school year. The budget has $8,832,258 in revenues, with most of the funding to Petersburg School District coming from the state and Petersburg Borough, according to PSD Director of Finance Karen Morrison. The state contributes $6,861,054 to the Petersburg School District, making up 78...
Petersburg Medical Center has sent out a total of 71 samples to be tested for COVID-19 at state and commercial laboratories as of April 15, said PMC CEO Phil Hofstetter at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 community update. Sixty-three tests have returned negative, seven are still pending and one test has returned positive, but the individual has since recovered. On Wednesday, the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services reported 293 cases of COVID-19 in the state. Of the positive cases, 106...
As of Wednesday afternoon, Petersburg Medical Center has submitted 39 COVID-19 testing samples to state and commercial laboratories, 26 of which have come back negative and the remaining 13 tests are still pending, according to PMC's Laurie Miller at Wednesday's daily COVID-19 community update. "We're relieved everyday that we don't have a positive test, but we know they are coming," said PMC Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Bryner. On Wednesday evening, the Alaska Department of Health and Social...
Members of the Local Emergency Planning Committee, as well as community leaders and local business representatives, got together last Thursday to discuss the COVID-19 virus and how entities throughout the community have been taking precautions against it. "There's a bunch of information going around," said Sandy Dixson, chairperson of the Local Emergency Planning Committee. "We just want to make sure we're all on the same page ... It's not if, it's when it gets to our community, and we do not...
The Petersburg School Board adopted a policy on Tuesday in its second and final reading that addresses the Petersburg School District's pandemic and epidemic emergency readiness. Board policy 6114.4 was recommended to the school board by the Association of Alaska School Boards. Since its first reading in February, School Board Vice President Sarah Holmgrain said parents have had some concerns over the extent that the district would be able to quarantine students; as a result, language within...
Thank you coaches To the Editor: I grew up without men named Coach Caulum, Coach Olsen, Coach Hammer, Coach Mason or Coach Davidson. These are men who volunteer their time to turn undisciplined boys and girls into polite hardworking focused young men and women. I recently traveled to Juneau to watch my two great grandsons wrestle for the Vikings. I was so proud to be a part of this community. The wrestlers represented us with courage, effort and sportsmanship. They had me shouting my support, celebrating wins and wiping tears at honorable...
The Petersburg School Board approved an updated math curriculum for the district and the purchase of related materials totaling approximately $42,000 at the board's meeting on Tuesday. A whole new math curriculum is being adopted at Rae C. Stedman Elementary School that was constructed last year by second grade teachers Becky Martin and Mary Midkiff, according to Elementary Principal Heather Conn. The curriculum teaches math to students in a spiral manner. "We will see the same information...
With the increasing presence of cell phones in the district, the Petersburg School Board held a discussion on the district's cell phone policy at a school board meeting last week. At Rae C. Stedman Elementary School, cell phones are not allowed to be seen during school hours, and must be kept in students' backpacks. Principal Heather Conn said she hasn't seen any cell phones this year so far, though she has seen them in past years. When a student is caught with their cell phone out, they must dr...
