Sorted by date Results 751 - 775 of 920
The Petersburg High School shop class recently finished making 19 new log books for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) cabins in the area using the computer numerical controlled (CNC) router put into service at the school in the fall of 2013. The shop class, lead by teacher Nick Popp, has been using the CNC router to produce signage for the Petersburg Borough and other organizations around town. The partnership between the USFS and the school began the idea for such collaborations, and also helped...
Erika Kludt-Painter will be offered a one-year contract to serve as superintendent for the Petersburg School District in the 2015-16 school year. After meeting in executive session, the school board voted to suspend the superintendent search and instead proceed with contract negotiations with Kludt-Painter at the March 17 meeting of the board. "I appreciate the confidence and the support of the board and of the staff and community," she said. "I feel like I've had a lot of support and... Full story
Petersburg Public School officials are looking at ways to move forward with an interim plan to address issues with the kitchen facility including the need for a new ventilation system to bring the facility into compliance with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Though the district-wide food service renovations for the school landed in the top ten list of capital improvement projects for the state Department of Education, that funding source remains uncertain. The project was also listed on last year’s capital improvements l...
Superintendent groundhog day To the Editor: On Thursday, Jan. 8 I attended the Petersburg School Board meeting. The school board decided, along with their attorney, to pay the now ex-superintendent Lisa Stroh through the end of June full salary and benefits and she doesn’t have to work a day for it. In the 20 plus years I have lived in Petersburg and the 30 years I have worked in education I have only had the pleasure of working with one superintendent that was an educational, innovative leader in the a district and that lasted for only 2 y...
The Petersburg School Board approved a new search proposal with the Alaska Association of School Boards (AASB) to conduct a search for a new PSD Superintendent after the Board accepted previous Petersburg School District Dr. Lisa Stroh’s resignation and settlement release agreement, which grants her administrative leave with pay and benefits through June 30, 2015—the same benefits outlined in a paragraph of her hiring contract provided to Stroh should she be fired without cause. Questions have been raised as to whether or not the board fir...
The Petersburg School Board unanimously approved Tuesday night a $69,350 bid to replace a boiler in the middle school. Ketchikan Mechanical Incorporated submitted the second lowest bid to the district and will replace the current leaky boiler that was originally installed in 1984. The boiler will likely be replaced by the end of March. Harri Plumbing was the high bidder at $143,600. Schmolck Mechanical Contractors bid second highest at $141,637. Superior Plumbing and Heating bid the job at $89,740 and Raincountry Contractors was the lowest bidd...
On Jan. 7, former Petersburg School District Maintenance Director Tye Petersen was sentenced to 12 years in jail, followed by 25 years of supervised release for Distribution, Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography. U.S. District Judge Timothy M. Burgess presided over the sentencing hearing in the U.S. District Court in Anchorage where Petersen has been in custody of the U.S. Marshal Service since his arrest in October 2013. Petersen, 46, was arrested after federal investigators and local police conducted a search warrant of his home and... Full story
The Petersburg School Board accepted Petersburg School District Dr. Lisa Stroh's resignation and settlement release agreement last week, which grants her administrative leave with pay and benefits through June 30, 2015. Stroh cited family medical issues last December for requesting temporary administrative leave, but submitted her resignation December 31. During the special meeting, Petersburg Borough Assembly member John Havrilek questioned the board's decision to grant Stroh pay while not... Full story
Other school districts, or any other employer wishing to hire Dr. Lisa Stroh, should contact the Petersburg City School District for an employment reference and ask the question “was she fired or did she resign her position?” Parents of students, the residents of Petersburg and student body, as well as Stroh’s next employer, deserve a response to the question. We disagree with the payment of six months salary and benefits to the outgoing superintendent who apparently resigned voluntarily due to family medical reasons. Why would the Distr...
Petersburg School District Superintendent Lisa Stroh submitted a letter of resignation to the Petersburg School Board December 31 citing family medical issues as her reason for resignation. Stroh requested administrative leave from December 16 through January 5, which the school board granted. "She felt a need to get down to Montana quickly," said school board member Sarah Holmgrain. "She asked for a leave of absence and while down there determined that she needed to stay." The board hired... Full story
Grant coordinator Ginger Evens updated the school board on recent initiatives of the Healthy Living Grant including recent staff training related to mindfulness based stress reduction techniques and dealing with childhood trauma. The Petersburg School district was one of eight Alaska school districts that were awarded the grant from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services beginning last fiscal year. The district receives $150,000 annually, amounting to about $600,000 total during the grant’s four year duration. Recently, staff h...
January More than 600 Petersburg residents signed up for the borough's recycling program. The Petersburg Land Selection Committee requested the borough pursue legislative action regarding the State's calculation of land entitlement for the Petersburg Borough after the committee's determination that the State's selection of land was inadequate. The Petersburg School Board approved a $2.3 million exterior wall renovation project for the Rae C. Stedman Elementary School. Petersburg School District... Full story
School board members unanimously approved an updated budget presented by Finance Director Karen Quitslund at Tuesday’s meeting, which included an additional $197,643 in revenue from the state, based on student enrollment. The budget was formulated based on a projected enrollment of 425 students. The actual student enrollment for this year is 431, one student more than last year’s enrollment of 430. “So in the fall we have…our student count. When we have those actual numbers, they get plugged into a formula called the foundation formula and tha... Full story
December 19, 1914 – Despite the fatherly interest advanced by the moralists in our behalf to make Alaska dry; might not the people directly interested have something to say in the matter? Who made the prohibition states dry? Was it not the people of those particular states? Then why should an outsider be allowed to rush a resolution through congress to make the country dry before the people; whose interest is involved have a chance to say whether they want it dry or not. Let the intention of those who desire to see Alaska dry be ever so sincere...
Petersburg Schools will be looking to replace their existing boiler rather than rehabilitate it, board member Cheryl File reported on behalf of maintenance director Dan Tate at Tuesday’s meeting. Tate was absent due to serving jury duty in Ketchikan, but sent along a report explaining that further research indicated that repair of the apparatus wasn’t feasible “We became aware that the manufacturer only recently discontinued manufacturing the seal kits needed to repair our boiler,” File read from the report. “This…necessitates the need to repla...
WRANGELL — Wrangell's advisory committee to Alaska Department of Fish and Game held the second of several public meetings at the Fire Hall Dec. 11, to discuss Board of Fisheries proposals for the 2014-15 meeting cycle. This committee provides a forum for fishing and game management issues, allowing the public to review and discuss new proposals and to provide recommendations to both state boards of Fisheries and Game. To consult with them on crab, shellfish and shrimp management policies were Joe Stratman and Troy Thynes from Petersburg's A...
Petersburg schools will be testing out the idea that less is more when it comes to lighting — and not simply saving a bit on the budget, though that remains a major selling point. “What got me thinking about this was a maintenance directors’ conference I attended up in Anchorage,” Maintenance Director Dan Tate said. “It was environmental design loss prevention, and they showed, very clearly, that you can have a lot of lights on to produce a lot of glare that defeats a security officer’s nighttime vision.” Tate consulted with Petersburg Po...
School board members got a brief breath of hope after the Alaska Department of Education reported that Petersburg was No. 1 on its list, as well as Nos. 9 and 33. But that all will still depend on the budget and how far down the list state appropriations would flow, as several large ticket items, including a pair of school renovations for Yukon-Koyukuk and Fairbanks that were billed at more than $10 million each. Petersburg’s first request is much more modest than the item that precedes it — for a boiler rehabilitation. $24,565 was requested wi... Full story
The final details on the remodel of the Stedman Elementary School have officially been scratched off the contractor’s and administrator’s checklists as the school, already long open for children, received its last scrutiny from designers. Tony Yorba of Jensen Yorba & Lott, Inc., the firm that designed the school modifications, was on hand to give a final recap, and answer questions of board members. Though most had finished their lines of inquiry beforehand, Sarah Holmgrain had a few concerns about the building’s protective envelope and the p...
Esther Geneva Evans, 98, passed away peacefully in her sleep on November 22, 2014 in Gresham, Or. Esther was born on a farm near Dallas, SD. She was the daughter of James and Hattie Evans. She earned her teaching degree from Northern Teachers College in Aberdeen. After teaching in various country schools and at a high school in Rosco, SD, she moved to Petersburg, Alaska, in the fall of 1943 to teach business courses at the high school. She later obtained a Master of Arts degree from the... Full story
Petersburg schools had, overall, a clean audit on a good fiscal year, which ended June 30. The school was able to set aside a healthy amount, budgeting for future maintenance around a law that capped reserve limits at 10 percent of schools’ expenses. “In our opinion, the financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects,” said Eric Campbell, a partner in the international services firm BDO, which completed the school’s audit. “That’s a clean or unmodified opinion. That’s what you want. (Finance Director Karen Quitslund) does a gre...
It has been a warm start to winter inside Petersburg Elementary schools, and the comfort and cost-saving benefits of the building's remodel continue to be realized as the first round of bills roll in well under budget as work wraps up on the building's renovation. The project began in April of this year at a cost of $2.3 million. It was designed by Juneau architectural firm, Jensen Yorba Lott and installed by Alaska Community Contractors. "They're in the final stages of the punch list for things... Full story
Petersburg youths wishing to spend a year overseas should begin looking to filling out an application with the borough’s Rotary Club soon. “We are looking for high school students who are freshmen or sophomores to apply to be a Rotary exchange student and go for their sophomore or junior year,” said Dave Berg, Rotary member. “These kids will be selected here soon and go out on exchange August of 2015 for approximately 10 months to one of 20,220 different countries we exchange with.” While many y...
A few issues sparked a lively discussion among assembly members and the public at Monday’s regular meeting. Four residents spoke out against the use of herbicides and pesticides to be sprayed by the state in the area. The assembly discussed the issue and then voted to draft an ordinance that would take a position on spraying in the Borough. It will be modeled after a similar ordinance from the community of Skagway. Mayor Mark Jensen said that he’s still working to secure a date for a public community meeting regarding state regulations on the...
Petersburg schools' aging kitchen continues to cook up new headaches for administrators as they continue to work towards securing funding for a much needed complete remodel. This time, it was the refrigeration unit, a free-standing near-antique of more than 30 years that bit the dust for good on Friday, necessitating the premature purchase of two other free-standing units to ensure the school continues to serve quality food to students. "We knew it was a matter of time to when our refrigeration...
