Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 905
For the next few years, school meals will be free to all students enrolled in Petersburg School District. All three school sites in PSD now qualify for the USDA Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to student families because the meals are ultimately reimbursed by money from the federal government. PSD Food Program Director Carlee Johnson McIntosh managed the administrative push for getting the CEP. "It's such a great need ... I've seen it...
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...
On Saturday, the Petersburg Community Foundation (PCF) granted over $26,000 to nine Petersburg nonprofits and awarded Volunteer of the Year to Jim Stolpe. The Petersburg Community Foundation formed in 2008 as a local affiliate of the Alaska Community Foundation (ACF). PCF continues to grow its community grant-making endowment fund, thanks to the support of the Rasmuson Foundation, ACF, and generous local charitable giving. Every year, dividends from its investments are used to provide financial...
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 Borough budget for the next fiscal year (FY25) is nearly decided. Currently, the proposed general fund budget for FY25 anticipates total revenues amounting to $13,009,827 and expenditures of $13,408,975 - spending a deficit of nearly $400,000. This budget includes maximum funding for the Petersburg School District. The borough finance department attributes the FY25 general fund budgeted deficit spending primarily to the school district funding increase request, however 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...
Graduation has arrived for the class of 2024. Commencement events kick off on Tuesday, May 28 with a noise parade around the loop starting at 5:00 p.m. followed by the graduation ceremony in the high school gym at 7:00 p.m. This graduating class faced its challenges. They were freshmen in the fall of 2020, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic shaped the beginning of their high school experience. "We had teams that qualified for State, but we didn't attend because State wasn't really...
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...
PMEA supports the teachers union To the Editor: We, the members of the Petersburg Municipal Employees Association Union (PMEA), support the Associated Teachers of Petersburg Union (ATP). As fellow public servants and advocates for quality education, we recognize the vital role that teachers and staff play in shaping the future of our community. We stand firmly behind the ATP in their current ongoing negotiations for a fair and equitable labor agreement. We believe that investing in our teachers is an investment in the future of Petersburg....
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
An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Friday struck down an Alaska law that allows the state to distribute cash payments to the parents of homeschooled students on the grounds that it violates constitutional prohibitions against spending state money on private education. “This court finds that there is no workable way to construe the statutes to allow only constitutional spending,” wrote Judge Adolf Zeman, concluding that the relevant laws “must be struck down in their entirety.” The decisio... Full story
April 18, 1924 – Boats which sold halibut to the Glacier & Deep Sea Food Company Tuesday for 9 and 5 were Audrey, 2,000 lbs; Irma, 500; Alfa, 500; Gertrude, 1,500; Hulda, 1,200; Rival, 2,500; Era, 2,500; Thelma, 3,500; Success, 7,500. Boats which sold to Storfold & Grondahl the same day were Lund, 6,000; Valhalla, 2,500; at 9 and 5 cents. Boats which sold to Ness Fish Company were Sunset, 8,000; Unimak, 8,000; Neptune, 4,000; at 9 and 5. The Glacier and Deep Sea Food Company shipped on the Alameda 63 boxes of halibut and 20 boxes of shrimp. T...
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...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: After roughly 24 hours of debate and consideration of 137 amendments, the House passed the operating and mental budgets last week. Leading up to passing the budget on the House Floor there were weeks of subcommittee hearings, where each agency’s budget was scrutinized, amended, and then passed to the Finance Committee for consideration. As a reminder, my subcommittees were the Departments of Public Safety, Corrections, Education and Early Development, and Fish and Game. In the Finance Committee each agency’s budg...
Children and staff lined the halls of Stedman Elementary School Friday morning to celebrate Principal Heather Conn's recent recognition as "Alaska Elementary Principal of the Year." The Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals (AAESP) selected Principal Conn as National Distinguished Principal for 2024 for her exemplary educational and community leadership. "I feel very honored, humbled, excited, and emotional all at the same time," Conn told the Pilot in an email. A life-long...
April 11, 1924 – H.J. Jorgensen already has a large number of signers for a roadway proposed to be built from the city limits to Sandy Beach. It is a needed improvement. Sandy Beach in the summer time is the playground for Petersburg people, owing to the fine sandy beach there, and the roadway would give an outlet for autos and growing business interests. When roads were first started in Juneau, there were but a few autos, but with every mile of road built, the number of machines increased rapidly and the same will hold true for Petersburg. A...
Dear Friends and Neighbors: After a lovely and restful Easter weekend the House is continuing to debate the operating budget. The House Finance Committee is working through nearly 100 amendments, but so far very few have passed. After the committee finishes the amendment process, they will vote on whether to pass the operating budget out of committee. After the bill moves from the House Finance Committee it will be another opportunity for members to offer budget amendments on the House Floor before the budget package is debated and voted on....
If you read the mainstream papers and blogs and spend just a little bit of time on social media these days, you will see, read, and be told that the education sky is falling. The people promoting this narrative might be right, but not just because of funding. Education in Alaska needs reform. I’ve been very transparent in my conversations with the Legislature, school district administrators, the education lobby establishment, and the public. My message – yes, there needs to be additional funding for education, but we also need some changes to...
Unfortunately, the campaign for increased funding for public education has reached an impasse with the governor’s insistence on reforming the charter school approval process. This reform would allow charter schools to bypass the approval of local school districts and instead go directly to the State Board of Education. It is the first and most significant step in a plan to reduce the power of local authorities and provide opportunities for private and religious schools to access public funds. AASB strongly opposes this reform through its r...
The state government risks losing millions of dollars in federal funding because it did not comply with requirements for pandemic relief funds, according to a letter from the United States Department of Education. The state’s education department disputes the claim. The result is a federal “high risk” designation that could cost the state grant funding. Members of the Senate Majority caucus said the state could lose more than $400 million. “Without a plan and quick action, our local schools could be out additional federal resources, and the... Full story
When Carol Mooers came to Alaska to teach, she was not compensated for all of her previous teaching experience in Maine and Texas. That is because state law allows only six to eight years of out-of-state teaching experience to be counted when calculating salaries. She is still a school counselor in the Bering Strait region, but said Alaska would be more attractive to teachers like her younger self if that limit did not exist. Mooers testified in support of a new proposal that would allow... Full story
