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The Petersburg School Board discussed COVID-19's continued impact on the school during Tuesday's meeting. The majority of students have returned to in-person learning according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter. Classes were moved online on September 28 after several cases were reported among students and staff at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School. The schools reopened on October 5, but some students remain in quarantine because of close contacts. "It's been a relatively normal...
The Petersburg School Board reviewed the results of Performance Evaluation for Alaska's Schools (PEAKS) tests Tuesday during a report given by Testing Coordinator Bridget Wittstock. The PEAKS tests were not conducted in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they returned in the spring of 2021. According to Wittstock, the State of Alaska expanded the window for testing to allow for as many tests to be taken as possible, but only about 64% of the eligible population participated....
The Mitkof Middle School traveled to Ketchikan last weekend to compete in the Schoenbar Cross Country Invitational. The Vikings competed against teams from Craig, Hydaburg, Hollis, Ketchikan, Klawock, Metlakatla, Naukati, and Whale Pass. Gabrielle Whitacre was the first MMS finisher in the girls race, placing third overall with a time of 14:40. Maria Toth finished sixth with a time of 15:21 followed by Rikka Miller who completed the race in 16:20 and placed 12th. In 16th was Freya Tucker who...
Students and staff at Petersburg High School and Mitkof Middle School returned to the school Tuesday after moving online last week according to an update from the school district. The Petersburg School District Health Advisory Team met Friday to assess the level of community spread of COVID-19 and the impacts on positive cases within the school and close contacts. Though staffing levels were tight, the school believed in-person learning could continue at Stedman Elementary School and resume at...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht issued an emergency proclamation Friday recommending actions to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Petersburg. The proclamation recommends masking and social distancing in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, it encourages organizations and businesses to reduce capacity and avoid large gatherings. It recommends people to get vaccinated, saying they are safe, effective, and free, and get tested if they plan on traveling, are exp...
Infection Prevention and Quality Manager Liz Bacom gave a presentation during Thursday's Petersburg Medical Center Hospital Board meeting on the status of the COVID-19 outbreak in the community. At the time of the board meeting there were 19 cases of COVID-19. That number has climbed to 32 as of Wednesday. Bacom's report included details on how the virus has spread, age demographics of positive cases, testing information, and contact tracing. Of the then 19 cases, one was travel related and...
The Petersburg Medical Center reported Wednesday that community spread of COVID-19 is occurring and there are now 32 active cases. Eight cases were reported from September 28-29. None of the 29 resident and three non-resident cases are travel related. The ages of the cases ranges from 3 years to 62 years with the majority of cases being under the age of 40. Four of the cases are students and three are workers at a local business. PMC also listed reasons why members of the community should be concerned including the rapid increase of cases over...
The Petersburg School District announced Tuesday that classes at Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School would be held remotely for the remainder of the week because of COVID-19 cases in the district. Students spent the morning half of Tuesday in person before being sent home. PSD Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter announced on the school’s website that multiple cases have been reported among staff and students. The school is also involved with contact tracing, as directed by Public Health, which has become challenging with the rise i...
Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht issued an emergency proclamation Friday recommending actions to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in Petersburg. The proclamation recommends masking and social distancing in public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, it encourages organizations and businesses to reduce capacity and avoid large gatherings. It recommends people to get vaccinated, saying they are safe, effective, and free, and get tested if they plan on traveling, are exp... Full story
The Petersburg Medical Center reported 28 positive COVID-19 cases Tuesday morning with 24 test results pending. Two cases were identified over the weekend and seven were reported Monday while one case is no longer active. The Petersburg School District release a statement Tuesday morning announcing Mitkof Middle School and Petersburg High School will move to remote learning for the rest of the day. Stedman Elementary School remains in person. School officials are conducting contact tracing for... Full story
It's not about you To the Editor: I am a youth of Petersburg, and similar to the majority of the youth in Petersburg that are my age, I attend Mitkof Middle School. I have lived in Petersburg for nine years. When the pandemic hit, my family and I socially distanced, masked up, and did what we thought was right. Part of the reason we didn't contract the virus is because the school took precautions too. There has been an argument about what the coming school year will look like; people are...
Breakthrough COVID-19 cases found in Alaska April 30 Between Feb. 1 and March 31, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services identified 152 positive cases of COVID-19 among people in the state who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a report from DHSS. About 74 percent of the vaccine breakthrough cases, or 112 individuals, were among people who had received the Pfizer vaccine, according to the report. Thirty-eight percent of the breakthrough cases had received the Moderna... Full story
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. Dustin Crump will be teaching Spanish and PE at Petersburg High School and Computer Science at Mitkof Middle School. He is originally from North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he earned a bachelor of arts in Spanish. His wife is from Petersburg and after their wedding, they moved to...
The Petersburg School District released its reopening plan Friday which outlines COVID-19 guidelines for the upcoming school year. The school district formed a moderate risk plan that includes a universal masking policy in school until the next school board meeting on September 14. A local Health Advisory Committee including a representative from the school board, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter, Principals Heather Conn and Rick Dormer, Activity Director Jaime Cabral, a Public Health nurse,...
The Petersburg School District has hired seven new teachers for this upcoming school year as the schools seek in person instruction under the new COVID-19 protocols. A few of the new teachers are returning to their roots in Petersburg including Hannah Smith who will be teaching science at Mitkof Middle School. Smith went to Gonzaga University before receiving her masters at Montana State in science education. "I grew up here actually, graduated from Petersburg High School. My parents and my...
The results of the Petersburg School District's spring Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment showed growth in language arts and math, but students didn't score as high as anticipated. Bridget Wittstock, special education director with the school district, presented the results of MAP test scores for kindergarten through ninth grade to the Petersburg School Board at their June 8 meeting. The spring results were compared to the test scores from the fall. Wittstock noted that the students...
The Petersburg School Board updated Board Policy 5127 at their meeting on Tuesday to specify that students must be enrolled in the Petersburg School District to participate in the Petersburg High School senior graduation ceremony. The school district allowed a one time exception to past practices to allow students not enrolled at PHS, but in an accredited home school program, to participate in the most recent senior graduation ceremony, said PSD Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter in an email to...
Following a 26-year teaching career with the Petersburg School District, Ginger Evens turned in her keys to Petersburg High School on Tuesday, which marked the official start of her retirement. Evens, 49, first joined the school district in the fall of 1995, teaching geography and language arts at Mitkof Middle School. Eleven years later, she made the transition to the high school, but she did it alongside the class of 2010. Evens said it was a unique experience to be able to watch that class...
The Petersburg High School Class of 2021 graduated on Monday, May 24 in an in-person ceremony before family and friends that was broadcast online in an event that was a return to tradition. Twenty-eight seniors received their diplomas on Monday, 20 of whom have plans to attend college immediately after high school or in the coming years. Jaden Perry and Mattias Volk will be enrolling in a trade school, and six other graduates have other plans or are undecided on what they will do next in life. I...
When Lydia Martin got her admission letter from Columbia University, she didn't open it right away. She had just been turned down by two other universities and couldn't take anymore disappointment. Then the following day during first period, she decided to read the university's response which told her she got in. "It was really surprising," said Martin, who will be entering the Ivy League university in New York as an earth science major. "I had been holding out a bit of hope to get in obviously....
Three sixth graders at Mitkof Middle School have placed in the statewide 2021 virtual Native Youth Olympic games. Elias Anderson placed first in the Seal Hop with a distance of 81 feet and 10 inches. He also took the bronze medal in the Two-Foot High Kick with a height of 52 inches. Gunner Washke also placed in the Seal Hop and secured himself the bronze medal with a distance of 48 feet and 5.25 inches. Paige Hansen finished third in the state for the girls Kneel Jump and took home the bronze...
Petersburg High School will test students involved in interscholastic, in-person sports that involve competition and travel on a weekly basis as the Petersburg School District looks for ways to get students participating in activities again, according to school district officials at the Petersburg School Board meeting on Tuesday. The school district will be using BinaxNOW Antigen tests, which are a low-level indicator for possible COVID-19 infection. Only high school students and their coaches w...
The Petersburg School Board approved the academic calendar for the 2021-2022 school year at their meeting on Tuesday that takes a more traditional approach to the school year. Under the approved calendar, school begins on Aug. 31 for students and ends on June 2. Christmas break will be two weeks long, and spring break will continue to be one week long in the middle of March. The Petersburg School District also scheduled in-service days for teachers near other holidays, like Labor Day, to extend...
January The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed establishing critical habitat areas for humpback whales in three distinct population segments located off Mexico, Central American and the Western Pacific. The Petersburg Borough sent a letter of disapproval to the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the proposed critical habitat for humpback whales after residents spoke out against the proposal. The Petersburg Borough authorized the hire of Josh Rathmann to fill the...
Activities at Petersburg High School are set to resume later this winter and spring with basketball and cheer starting Jan. 11. The decision comes after an Alaska School Activities Association Board of Directors meeting on Dec. 8. Petersburg School District Activities Director Jaime Cabral serves as the president for the region and also attended a conference for activity directors across the nation. "We're still super fortunate," said Cabral. "I got to talk with quite a few [activity directors]...
