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The window to file for candidacy in Petersburg's municipal election is now open. Folks in town who meet the qualifications for local office can add their name to the ballot by turning in required paperwork to the Borough Clerk's office before the window closes on Aug. 20. A total of 14 seats will be up for election this fall. Each position is for a three-year term. Among the local elected positions will be two seats on the Petersburg Borough Assembly, currently occupied by assembly members Bob...
The Pedal/Paddle battle will be returning for its 10th year in Petersburg, Alaska. After raising $20,400 for education in 2023, the Petersburg Medical Center is aiming higher this time. "Our goal this year is $24,000 because it's 2024, we're shooting big," Community Wellness Manager Julie Walker said. In 2023, PMC gave out four scholarships, three to Petersburg High School graduates and one to a PMC nursing student. However, there's more to these scholarships. "We can offer a lot of money to...
Petersburg teachers will likely have a contract for the next three years. That's because a deal between the teachers union and the school district met a final requirement on Friday when Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the state operating budget without vetoing any one-time public education funding. The two groups came to a tentative contract agreement in May that was contingent on Dunleavy approving all $175 million dollars for public education in the state operating budget. That agreement came after...
Petersburg School Board unanimously passed the district's FY25 budget at their regular meeting on Tuesday. This year, more of the budget is going to instruction and less to operations and maintenance, summarized PSD Finance Director Shannon Baird. The budget estimates 450 students will be enrolled in the school district in the 2024/2025 school year. That number is around 19 students fewer than the school year which has just ended. Because the base student allocation has remained flat for yet...
June 13, 1924 – With the Reverend John Flint absent, Sunday broke clear and beautiful and the long deferred picnic of the Lutheran Church Sunday School was held at Sandy Beach. Several power boats, one of them a tow, were taxed to their capacity to take and bring home the crowd. The day was ideal. The older folks lunched and watched the youngsters play games. Several braved the waters and enjoyed bathing and swimming. Sandy Beach is all its name implies. It is a beautiful crescent-shaped cove about three miles from Petersburg, where a lodge b...
Alaskans, including many in Petersburg, have experienced heightened food insecurity for the past several years - ever since the Dunleavy administration cut more than 100 jobs from the state's Division of Public Assistance in 2021, which left offices understaffed and led to a severe, multiyear backlog of applications for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Thousands of Alaskans were left without the food aid they needed. To combat the backlogs Gov. Dunleavy added millions...
After twenty three years working for the Petersburg School District, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter will retire on June 30. In early 2001, Kludt-Painter's dad told her there was a job opening for a principal in Petersburg, Alaska, and said he thought she'd like Petersburg, a town about the same size as her hometown of Orofino in rural northern Idaho. She jumped at the opportunity. Barb Marifern, who was on the hiring committee, said that after a series of phone interviews with each...
Petersburg High School's baseball team capped off a historic season last weekend, taking fourth place at the Alaska State Tournament in Wasilla. After losing their first game against Kenai Central Kardinals, the Vikings fought through their loser's bracket games without taking another loss, with the team's freshman and sophomore pitchers stepping up to carry them to victory. "We were 9-11 for the season... For our baseball program three or four wins in a season is actually considered to be a...
Silversmith Erin Kandoll has always considered herself an artist. When the Pilot visited Kandoll's studio, her ginger-color hair sat atop her head in a hair bun while she sorted out dozens of turquoise stones. Twisted Ginger, the name of Kandoll's silver-and-stone jewelry business, was born from a creative pastime. "Started from a state room on the Kestrel with my tackle box ... then to the garage ... to selling everything, to quitting, and then to this," Kandoll recalled. "Now, I'm just ... liv... Full story
May 23, 1924 – The first Fordson tractor for Farragut Bay for J.O. Wallace pioneer rancher there, arrived this week from the outside. Mr. Wallace took the first horse to Farragut Bay two years ago and the animal has grazed its own livelihood the past two winters. Farragut Bay is similar to many other bays and inlets in Southeastern Alaska, with marsh, meadow and tidelands at the head, consisting of rich soil and which will someday support a considerable farming population alone. Several ranchers have located there. The Forest Service has b...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly is considering an ordinance that may increase the local sales tax cap for the first time in over two decades. If passed, the ordinance would appear as a ballot proposition this fall, allowing borough voters to decide the hike. The proposed ordinance seeks to raise the maximum taxable transaction amount from $1,200 to $5,000 by amending code language. Under the current municipal code, any purchase exceeding $1,200 is only taxed on the first $1,200 - capping the...
The Petersburg School District is considering three scenarios to reduce the financial burden of student activities on the district's general fund. The three scenarios each involve different adjustments to activity fees, expenses, or a bit of both. The first proposed scenario is all price hikes for activity fees and no cuts to expenses; the third option does not change activity fees, but cuts expenses significantly. The second scenario tries to balance the other options and does a bit of both....
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot hopes the bill she successfully ushered through the 33rd Legislature will provide school districts with effective tools to recruit and retain experienced teachers. “Districts are struggling to staff schools,” said Himschoot, whose House District 2 includes Sitka, Petersburg and dozens of small Southeast communities. “We’re trying to add more tools for districts to fill positions with the best teachers they can get,” she said. House Bill 230, sponsored by Himschoot, is an education reform package that includes elements...
On May 7, negotiating teams for the Associated Teachers of Petersburg (ATP) and Petersburg School District met for a private discussion. The certified teacher contract negotiations have been in a stalemate for months. The situation is constrained by inadequate state education funding that has not adjusted for inflation since 2017. The lack of funding is causing trouble for the district budget to meet the union's expressed need for teacher salary increases. At the May 7 meeting, the district...
Petersburg High School's baseball team finished off their regular season games with a bang last weekend taking down Wasilla's Redington High School in a clean 3-0 series. This year's young roster of Vikings rounded out their monumental season with two blowout games, featuring highlight performances from the team's seniors who were honored during senior appreciation on Saturday, as well as all-around success on offense and defense from the team's rookies. "This has been a historic season. We got...
Rodney Lee Anderson was born on el Día de los Muertos, November 2, 1965, in Davenport, Iowa, to Ronald Gene and Victoria Lee (Dawson) Anderson. His lifelong best friend and brother, Ronnie, was 21 months old and with Rodney's birth the family was complete. As a little boy Rodney showed an affinity for all animals, but he especially loved birds. He was mesmerized by them. Perhaps all those quiet hours of observation were the genesis of Rodney's unique sense of time. He was never in a hurry and... Full story
Petersburg High School’s track team are off to the races this season as they prepare for their second meet in Juneau, with their first meet already under their belts. Many of the younger Viking athletes ran on a full track for the first time ever in Ketchikan on April 19 and 20, as the team competed in running, throwing, and jumping events across the two-day meet. “The athletes who have been around knew what to expect, but we have a fair amount of young athletes who haven’t really been around so they were a little bit nervous. Overall, I think...
Let’s keep Petersburg schools - and Alaska - great To the Editor: Through no one’s fault but my own, I got busy with work and forgot to run down and attend the #RedforEd march for education. So I wanted to thank the Pilot and KFSK for covering the event as well as local school board and statewide education issues. Public school is what we make it, and in the near decade I’ve lived here I’ve seen people pour their hearts into making our schools great. I don’t have kids in the district, but as a Borough taxpayer I believe strongly in funding o...
Letter to the Editor: Support teachers to keep Petersburg competitive Contract negotiations between the Petersburg School District and the Associated Teachers of Petersburg began in January. The current contract, which is set to expire at the end of this school year, allowed for a 1% increase across the certified salary schedule in each of the last three years. This was in line with similar increases in previous contracts. As we all know, the last three years have brought significantly steeper inflation - roughly 15% in Alaska. We have all...
There were more attendees than usual at the Petersburg School District Board meeting last week as over a dozen teachers observed discussion about critical issues surrounding district finances. A few attendees testified before the PSD School Board, expressing shared concerns related to the district's tight budget and ongoing certified teacher negotiations between PSD and the Associated Teachers of Petersburg (ATP) union, which have struggled to reach an agreement on a three-year contract amidst... Full story
The Petersburg School District Board unanimously agreed to join the Coalition for Education Equity of Alaska (CEE) at the board meeting Tuesday night. One reason the district board is joining the coalition is because of its "unique" ability to "use legal avenues to ensure the state and legislature carry out constitutional responsibilities regarding education." Founded in 1996, CEE is a statewide member-based nonprofit that champions access to quality, equitable and adequate public education in...
Petersburg High School's musical ensembles traveled to Stika last weekend for 2024's Southeast Alaska Music Fest where their hard work was commended by audiences and judges alike. Over the course of the three-day event, PHS's choir, concert band, and jazz band performed in solo and group ensembles, viewed performances from schools across Southeast, and attended music clinics with other students, soaking in as much of the experience as possible after preparing their setlists for months. "Last yea...
Who better to talk about education in Alaska than students. They could continue leaving it to school administrators, elected officials, their parents and teachers to speak for them, but that would be the easy way out. It’s also been unsuccessful. Looking to break that losing streak with the governor and state legislators unwilling to adequately fund education, hundreds of high schoolers around the state last week showed they are frustrated at the outcome. From Ketchikan, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, in Anchorage, Eagle River, Homer, Bethel and U...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s ongoing crew shortage has eased up for entry-level steward positions but remains a significant problem in the wheelhouse and for engineers, likely keeping the Kennicott out of service again this summer. As of March 8, the state ferry system was short almost 50 crew of what it would need to put its full operational fleet to sea this summer, which means keeping the Kennicott tied to the dock, Craig Tornga, the system’s marine director, reported to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. That is abo...
The Petersburg Vikings took down the number one seed Hooper Bay to win the state at the 2A boys state basketball championships in Anchorage last weekend. The team beat both Ninilchik and Cordova in close matches leading up to the championship match, where they took control after some adjustments in the second half and maintained a strong hold on the game throughout. "To win a state title is extremely challenging, it's hard, it's difficult... I'm very happy," said head coach Rick Brock. "We talke...
