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The Petersburg Borough has released the names and resumes of four finalist candidates seeking the Chief of Police that has been filled for five years by Kelly Swihart. Swihart is leaving to seek a job in the Lower 48 to be closer to family. Steven W. Lewis is currently a Detective Sergeant with the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon. He began as a Reserve Deputy with the same department in 1987 moving through the ranks to become a corrections deputy and in 1994 as a patrol deputy. He supervised the K-9 unit, which had three dogs. A...
One of the largest graduating classes in the history of the Petersburg School District will receive their diplomas next Tuesday at commencement ceremonies in the PHS gym. Principal Rick Dormer said the 45 students rolled through the system each year like a wave, due to their class size. “They were a very active class. Very outspoken and very likeable kids,” Dormer noted. “They were all over the school, involved in activities with other students. They weren’t a bunch of stuck up seniors,” Dormer stated. Also unique to this class was the inter...
In a media release posted this week, the Alaska School Nutrition Association named Carlee Rae Johnson as its Director of the Year. The nutrition director for the Petersburg School District since 2011, Johnson has put much effort into widening its local lunch program's menu options. "She does all these amazing things with this limited equipment," said Erica Kludt-Painter, PSD superintendent. "Our facilities are very minimal," Johnson explained. "We have basically only a double convection oven....
WRANGELL — Wrangell Public School District learned last week its secondary school principal, Bill Schwan, will be departing after the current academic year ends. His departure is the latest among the district’s top administrators. At Evergreen Elementary, school principal Gail Taylor tendered notice in January. She took off for Oklahoma earlier than expected, departing this week on Tuesday. Faculty member Therese Pempek will helm the school through the year’s end. After a search for Taylor’s replacement, the district announced it will be hiri...
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The process of laying off teachers in what’s known as “pink slip season” — May 15 to the last day of school — attracts most of the attention when education loyalists argue for funding. But there’s another category known as “displaced” or involuntarily transferred teachers that also stems from budget cuts. It involves keeping a teacher in the district but putting him or her up for bid to a different school. Teachers selected to be laid off or displaced are identified by school principals and generally are the latest hi...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Karl Ward is long dead, but some say the once-revered school superintendent in a small Alaska fishing town was not the benevolent educator worthy of having the high school gym named in his honor. A cellphone video made by a man before he died by suicide last month has given voice to at least five other men, all of whom say they were sexually abused decades ago by Ward, confirming publicly whispers that had long quietly existed. Rick Martin graphically explained on the video what he said Ward had done to him, and now his w...
Alice Neidiffer, the student body president at Petersburg High School, recently spent a half week in Juneau, researching bills and passing notes in hearings, all while observing those who might not be as balanced and fair as she strives to be. Neidiffer worked as a staff member on State Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins' roughly six-person team for four days in late March, living with her mom and commuting from the valley to the Capitol building. "Alice definitely has poise, period,"...
The Petersburg School District recently purchased a less invasive way than a breathalyzer to test for alcohol, coming after a few students were hospitalized amid the homecoming dance in February. The Passive Alcohol Sensor appears to be a black flashlight. On the side, though, is a sensor that reads alcohol levels. Petersburg school staff members can administer the alcohol sensor simply by asking a student to say his or her name into the small hole on the side, said Richard Dormer, the middle...
WRANGELL - The Wrangell Public School District announced the selection of Debbe Lancaster for the Superintendent position on Wednesday. She begins work on July 1. The board arrived at its decision after a series of interviews and consultation with a selection committee. That committee, representing district staff, a parent and student, also had the opportunity to meet and interview the candidates. Lancaster has reportedly accepted the district's offer, agreeing to a three-year salary which...
WRANGELL — Safety was the watchword of last week’s meeting of the Wrangell Public School Board, with parents and staff alike weighing in on security at Wrangell’s public schools. The crux of their concern was an incident involving a high school student on February 12, in which the student was recorded by peers during class discussing the setting off of fireworks or explosives at the school, with the intention of getting expelled. Faculty and the school administration had been alerted to the conversation by concerned students afterward. Super...
The school board on Tuesday approved a three-year contract agreement with teachers, moved forward with a cafeteria kitchen remodel and celebrated the arrival of the district's new activity bus. The labor agreement between the Petersburg School District and Associated Teachers of Petersburg was finalized for the years 2019 through 2021. In it there's a 2 percent raise stretched over three years for the base salary of teachers. There will be a half percent raise in the first year, one percent rais...
In her final semester, Elisa Larson had one more chance to compete in high school, and since her left knee is torn and volleyball is over, she became a state champion in poetry. Larson won the Poetry Out Loud State Finals earlier this month, beating 10 others and scored more along the way. In the fall, Larson tore her ACL and lateral meniscus during the volleyball state tournament, ending her sports career in high school. The team would go on to win that tournament but might not have gotten ther...
School administrators in Petersburg are using recent student incidents to spark conversations and learn, while confronting the conversations with young students about active shooter scenarios. There were two students charged in early February with fish and game violations after one 17 year old allegedly hit two deer consecutavly with a truck and the other filmed it from its passenger seat. There appears to be laughter as the deer were hit. One of those teens, Jasmine Ohmer, 17, issued a statement on Monday, in which she sought forgiveness and...
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Doctors confirmed the presence of mumps in Juneau for the first time in more than two decades. There has been one confirmed case of the disease in Juneau as of Thursday, and three other possible cases, Juneau Public Health Center nurse manager Alison Gaines said. The first case was diagnosed in January, with the most recent suspected case appearing this past week, Gaines said. This is the first confirmed case of mumps in Juneau since 1997, Alaska Division of Public Health Epidemiologist Amanda Tiffany said. Mumps is a cont...
In the last month, borough officials hosted three open houses for the public to offer cost saving or money making ideas, prompting a question that some folks would ask before submitting their suggestion: What’s the problem? If the borough is asking for input from the community on how to make money, in what areas is the borough in trouble financially? Finance Director Jody Tow offered some revenue areas that are in flux, starting with state funding. “In 2015 the State began to make cuts to Petersburg’s funding,” Tow said. “They started w...
The Petersburg School District is in the midst of drafting its calendar for the 2018-2019 year, and the superintendent at a recent school board meeting discussed the difficulties of settling on a resolution that a majority would support. “Twenty six years of doing calendars,” said Erica Kludt-Painter, superintendent of schools, addressing the school board at a recent meeting. “... If you put out three calendars, you’re going to get a third, third, third of the people who like them. If you put out two, you’re gonna get 50-50. I’m just saying...
A coffee shop fundraiser in Petersburg last week in memory of an 18-year-old girl who died in 2016 raised thousands of dollars and sparked an outpouring of online support from across the country. Guylynn Etcher, owner of Glacier Express Cafe, and Britni Birchell, owner of Common Grounds & Alaska Island Coffee, organized a fundraiser last Thursday on behalf of Molly Parks, who wanted to be a special education teacher. She was an athlete, a daughter and a sucker for the underdog. She loved...
Petersburg’s assembly on Monday voted against issuing a permit to allow a private hauler to pay for a second boat ramp at Scow Bay, saying it would set a precedent open for too much interpretation. John Murgas, owner of Island Ventures LLC, applied for a special use permit to install a second boat ramp at Scow Bay. His proposed ramp would nudge-up against a jetty, which would, he says, create safer launching and hauling of boats. “A single mishap,” Murgas wrote in his permit application, “while loading or launching a vessel due to souther...
January The Borough assembly started approval of a program called Local Improvement Districts, which asks Petersburg residents whether they would pay for road work in their neighborhoods. The Petersburg School Board discussed the possible loss of federal funding through a program called Secure Rural Schools. The school district reported a case of a Pertussis, or whooping cough, confirmed in Petersburg. Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter said it was not a public health emergency. An engineer led...
I am writing in support of the Alaskans for Integrity ballot initiative. I am one of three statewide co-chairs for this initiative and I am excited to share why this initiative is as good as — maybe even better — than sliced bread. When I first showed up in the legislature, there were some things that didn't make sense to me. Like why there's a culture of lobbyists wining and dining legislators over 25-dollar-an-entree meals at downtown Juneau restaurants. Why city or borough elected officials are required by state law to adhere to a far mor...
Ndesamburo Kwayu is the retired headmaster of the Sokoine Secondary School in Tanzania. His wife Rose is a retired elementary school teacher. The couple visited Petersburg last week to provide a report on projects that the Petersburg Lutheran Church and the Petersburg Rotary Club have supported, and also to inform the community of the continuing needs of the school and neighboring town. The secondary school is comparable to a high school level program in the U.S. It has 650 students and a staff...
The Petersburg School District updated its strategic plan for the next four years, with a focus on health, diversity in the classroom, future readiness and co-curricular activities. A Planning Team with 16 people, including school staff, board members, students, and other community members took two days in mid-November to finish the strategic plan that will run through 2021. “[We talked] about what a school district will look like for the next four years,” said Mara Lutomski, “what our high aspirations are even though we may not end up there...
