Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 778
The Petersburg School District held its first week of in person school with COVID-19 guidelines in effect. Approximately 430 students are expected to be attending school this year as some children are still anticipated to arrive in Petersburg. They have already made it one week without issues according to Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter "The first week was great, and kids were happy to be back, and we were happy to have them here," Kludt-Painter said. "We're off to a pretty good start." The...
The Petersburg School District started its new school year on Tuesday amid regulations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. On that foggy morning, many parents chose to come in person to drop off their children on the first day of school. As the kids gathered around the school, they played on swing sets and shot hoops on the basketball court before being grouped up by their classes. Though this may have resembled an ordinary start to the school year, the impacts and challenges brought on by the...
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 Borough Assembly discussed the Petersburg School District's reopening plan during Monday's meeting. PSD released their moderate risk reopening plan Friday which includes a two week universal mask mandate and quarantine protocols for the upcoming school year. The discussion item was requested by Assembly Member Jeff Meucci who wanted to see what the assembly thought of it. Meucci said that he thought that masking up for the first two weeks was a good plan and that it is important to get the...
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...
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter gave a report to the Borough Assembly during Monday's meeting. The discussion focused on PMC's communication with the community about releasing COVID information and the construction of a new hospital. Hofstetter said that the Emergency Operations Center is missed because there is no longer a structure in place for communication about COVID. He would also like to see information again be made available on the borough's website to help inform the...
The Petersburg School Board held discussions about what protocols should be enacted for the upcoming school year during Tuesday's meeting. The talks were a continuation of those held during a work session on July 30 where the board tried to determine what guidelines best fit the Petersburg School District while weighing potential risks such as the spread of the delta variant. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said that two of the main points of the discussion would be masking and travel...
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 adopted the fiscal year 2022 operating budget at their meeting on June 8 that has a total revenue that is below the school district's expenditures for the year. According to budget documents presented to the school board, the fiscal year 2022 operating budget is based on a total of $8,043,406 in revenue. Because the school district is anticipating an enrollment of 415 students this fall, the school district will see a drop in state funding of $696,443 over last year...
As the Petersburg Borough prepares to end its Local Disaster Emergency Declaration and disband the Emergency Operations Center at the end of the month, Incident Commander Karl Hagerman said during the COVID-19 community update on June 11 the local COVID-19 Dashboard would continue to be a local resource of all things COVID-19 related. "It's been quite a long haul, very rewarding," said Hagerman. "But I'm ready to get back to my normal job for sure." With the end of the Local Disaster Emergency...
The Associated Teachers of Petersburg (ATP) will receive a one percent raise each year for the next three years as part of a new labor agreement between the teachers union and the Petersburg School District. "I think we have a really good contract moving forward, so we're pretty happy with it," said Ginger Evens, ATP's representative during negotiations with the school district. The new contract will take effect in the fall of 2021 and span three school years through spring 2024. With each schoo...
The Borough Assembly made five more amendments to the Petersburg Borough's fiscal year 2022 operating budget at their meeting on Monday before passing it in its third reading. The General Fund's revenues and expenditures equal $9,741,364 and is an overall increase of .39 percent from the 2021 fiscal year adopted budget. The recent amendments to the budget addressed a one time bonus to Emergency Operations Center staff, upgrades to two borough marine facilities, a funding source for the maintenan...
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...
The Petersburg Community Foundation (PCF) has recently awarded $24,125 in grants to local nonprofit organizations through its annual grant cycle, according to a press release. The 2021 grants were awarded to eight organizations in Petersburg across four categories. The Petersburg Community Foundation is one of 11 affiliates of the Alaska Community Foundation, which works towards strengthening communities through grants each year. The Petersburg Rainforest Festival was awarded a $1,019 grant for...
After accepting their diplomas, the Petersburg High School Class of 2021 joyously threw their caps into the air....
Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter said at the COVID-19 community update on May 14 that kids as young as 12 years old had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a small vaccination clinic that same day. An advisory committee within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted in favor of recommending the Pfizer vaccination to children as young as 12 years old just two days before. The vaccine had previously been available for children 16 years old and older....
The Petersburg School Board approved a two percent salary increase over the 2020-2021 school year for classified staff returning for the 2021-2022 school year at their meeting on Tuesday. "It's been a hard year I'm sure for some of them, and we're appreciative of the hard work that they've done this year and as well as the anticipation of them returning in the fall, " said School Board President Sarah Holmgrain. Talks between the Petersburg School District and the Petersburg District Support...
Three cases of COVID-19 were identified within a single household over the course of two days this week, according to a joint press release from the Petersburg Borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The first two cases were identified on Tuesday by PMC within a single household. According to a joint press release, the two cases were travel related. Then on Wednesday, a third case was identified within the same household as the previous two cases. All three individuals have been directed to...
Five cases of COVID-19 were reported in the community in the last seven days, one of which has been removed from the active local case count, according to the Petersburg Borough's COVID-19 Dashboard. The first four cases were reported on April 15. Three of the cases were limited to one household and were travel related, according to a joint press release between the borough and Petersburg Medical Center. The fourth case and fifth case, which was reported on April 16, are thought to have been...
The Petersburg School Board passed a board policy that outlines professional boundaries between staff and students in its first reading at their meeting on Tuesday. Board Policy 5141.42 identifies boundary invasions that are inappropriate for Petersburg School District staff, volunteers and other members of the community to cross when dealing with a student. Examples include, taking an undue interest in a particular student, using poor judgement in relation to a particular student, becoming...
Just two weeks into the season, the Petersburg High School wrestling team has already competed in their first tournament this past weekend and will be competing in another tournament this weekend. The team took sixth place in the Brandon Pilot Invitational at Thunder Mountain High School, scoring 26 points over the course of the tournament. PHS wrestled against Mt. Edgecumbe, Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell and Thunder Mountain, who took first place in the tournament. The standouts for the Vikings...
