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The Petersburg School District’s financial future is still unknown, but it was looking bleak Monday evening. Governor Bill Walker announced Monday afternoon that he had vetoed parts of the budget packet that were unfunded, leaving Alaska’s schools funded at only 28 percent. The district’s budget for 2016 is at a “stopping point” until legislators finish the budget, Finance Director Karen Quitslund said, but fiscal year 2015 has already been impacted. The school board approved 2015 budget revisions during a special meeting Monday evening at the... Full story
March 20, 1915 – During the past week, 101 boxes of halibut were shipped from Petersburg, 55 boxes being taken on the Humboldt and 46 on the Spokane. There is also a considerable shipment of fish awaiting arrival of the Evans. March 22, 1940 – On Sunday afternoon, at 2 o'clock, the Petersburg Elks Lodge is holding its annual Easter Egg Hunt for local youngsters. The hunt takes place around the Hospital block, the eggs, which are dyed, being hidden in various places. Children finding certain specially marked eggs are the winners of the pri...
Activities Director Jaime Cabral gave a report to the board on how school districts around the state handle drug testing for students involved in sports and other activities. Around Southeast, Sitka, Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain and Ketchikan High Schools all have a random drug testing programs in place for students participating in activities sanctioned by the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA). Cabral said during his tenure in Sitka about five percent of students who were actively participating in activities were randomly...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Viking volleyball got a taste of the years to come on Nov. 4, when they had a friendly match with past and future rivals in Wrangell. The teams haven’t met on the courts for several years, as a higher student headcount kept Petersburg in the larger 3A districts – but now that the student body is shrinking again, the neighboring Wolves will be more often seen stalking the fields, taking the place of departing foes in Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe as the school changes to 2A. But if their recent spar is any measure of what’s to come, the Vikings will...
The beginning of the new school year has brought an old debate to the fore, of whether or not school nurses could provide pre-enrollment physical examinations for students. During the Petersburg School Board meeting on Tuesday, Board President Jean Ellis brought up the debate over who the state will allow to perform pre-enrollment physical examinations. According to Alaska State law, school districts require incoming students must receive physical examinations and parents, or guardians, are responsible for paying for the exams. The 61 year-old...
New Petersburg School District Superintendent Lisa Stroh has been in town for just more than a week and is busy picking up where previous PSD Superintendent Rob Thomason left off. "I talked with Dr. Thomason ahead of time so the transition is really smooth," Stroh said. "He left me with a list of unfinished things to do. The main things we need to do to move forward is the state mandated teacher evaluation system and curriculum alignment." District officials can choose from three evaluation... Full story
Despite fears this winter of dipping into its reserves, the Petersburg School Board unanimously approved a balanced budget for the 2014/2015 school year without spending from reserve funds. Petersburg School District Finance Director Karen Quitslund presented the budget to the school board last week. She outlined several budget considerations including recent legislation passed during this spring session that increased the base student allocation (BSA) by $150, which brings total funding per student to $5,830. Petersburg schools will have an an... Full story
Alaska's total salmon catch for 2014 is projected to be down by almost half of last year's record haul. State fishery managers are calling for an all species harvest of just under 133 million salmon, a 47% drop from last year's whopping 283 million fish. A pink catch of 95 million pushed the record last year and it is pinks that will bring the numbers down this summer. Pink salmon run in on/off year cycles and this year the catch is pegged at about 75 million, a 67% decrease from last summer's 2...
With some assembly members proposing cuts to school and mental health services funding, Petersburg School District (PSD) Superintendent Dr. Rob Thomason and Petersburg Mental Health Services (PMHS) Director Susan Ohmer each rallied against the potential cuts. Thomason explained that State and local funding has remained flat for the last four years. The State funds public school districts on a per pupil basis-an amount of $5,680 per child. Declining enrollment and increased operations and...
Two superintendent applicants toured Mitkof Island, Petersburg and visited with various community members including district staff and administrators on Wednesday. Virginia Jewell Jewell grew up in New England and has spent more than five years of her educational career building start-up American schools in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. "Interestingly enough, overseas, you get a lot of non-Americans who want to have an American education," Jewell said. She is currently working at a start-up school... Full story
Gov. Sean Parnell came to town last Monday and heard from Petersburg School District teachers and administrators about his education reform bill along with other issues in the education arena. Sue Hardin, district teacher, was concerned about Senate Joint Resolution 9-a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase state funding for private and religious schools. "Because in our way of looking at it, all it's doing is taking public money and putting into schools that don't take all... Full story
Ketchikan Gateway Borough officials are again requesting Petersburg’s, along with more than 30 other municipal government’s, assistance with its lawsuit against the state of Alaska. Ketchikan is moving forward with its lawsuit over the ‘mandatory local contribution’ component of the state’s education funding formula that requires municipal districts to provide revenue back into its schools. Regional Educational Attendance Areas—education areas in the Unorganized Borough—aren’t required to make such payments. In a letter from Ketchikan Mayor...
Decreased enrollment numbers in Petersburg schools is playing a big role in how district staff prepare next year’s budget. Student enrollment has steadily dropped for more than a decade. During the 2004-2005 school year enrollment was up to 630 students. Next year though, the district’s numbers are approaching a low enough number—424 students—that would change its classification in a state funding equation called the ‘foundation formula’. According to state guidelines, school districts receive funding based on enrollment and the student cou...
Petersburg district school enrollment numbers have decreased by 44 percent since 1997—almost double that of Wrangell and Sitka. It’s a number that Petersburg Superintendent Rob Thomason has been concerned about for some time. “It’s been a concern in the back of my mind ever since I’ve been here,” Thomason said. “The whole staff knows we’re always looking at the idea that this year does not preclude what it will look like next year. We always have to rethink that.” The district has seen about a two percent decrease in student enrollment each y...
The Petersburg School board prepared a resolution Wednesday to send to the Alaska Association of School Boards, or AASB, urging the state legislature to clarify a statute that makes school districts responsible for paying for physical examinations of incoming students. School districts across Alaska require incoming students to receive physical examinations and parents or caregivers are responsible for paying for the exams. But after several Petersburg parents questioned the requirement, the school board had its attorney, Allen Clendaniel,...
Every school district in Alaska requires new or incoming students to receive physicals before starting school and most, if not all, don’t cover those costs. Most school districts in Alaska might be in violation of state statute. That’s if Petersburg School District’s attorney Allen Clendaniel’s interpretation of Alaska Statue 14.30.070 is correct. In part, it states, “The governing body of each school district shall provide for and require a physical examination of every child attending school in the district.” “If you look at the literal l...
Schools are scrambling To the Editor: Back to school is always an exciting time. In Alaska, every one of our 53 school districts and school staffs have diligently prepared so the new school year will be one of deep learning and strong emotional growth for all of Alaska's students. As educators, nothing pleases us more than welcoming back students to launch a new academic year. This year, like none other in recent memory, school districts across the country, including every district in Alaska are scrambling. Districts are feeling the negative ef...
The Tonka Timber Sales Logging Project was contracted in September 2012 and the work commenced on two projects in Feb. 2013. “Two different projects came from the original notice of intent in 2008,” United States Forest Service District Ranger Jason Anderson said. “These projects were the sort yard and the actual timber sale contract.” The sort yard project is an area for upland log storage above the existing ramp and dock at Tonka. This contract was finished in late April. As that project was ending the timber sale contract began and continu...
WRANGELL — With the 2012 school shootings in Connecticut and California still fresh in our collective memory, a proposal from an Anchorage lawmaker would allow for teachers or other permanent school employees to carry concealed weapons on campus “for defensive use” in the State of Alaska. House Bill 55, from Republican Rep. Bob Lynn, would allow public districts and private schools to adopt written policies spelling out the circumstances under which firearms could be possessed and used. The proposal, which was released on Jan. 11, would allow...
Petersburg City School District, along with Kenai Borough Peninsula Elementary Schools are the first two Alaskan School Districts to receive national recognition for supporting the health of children and communities through the Healthier US School Challenge. As part of their efforts in this challenge, the districts feature healthy items on their school menus and emphasize physical education and activity. “Kenai had four elementary schools to meet this challenge,” Petersburg City Schools Superintendent Rob Thomason said. “But Petersburg was r...
Petersburg High School was recently ranked by the publication US News and World Report, receiving a Bronze award for academic achievement and college preparedness. US News and World Report and the Washington D.C.-based American Institute compiled the high schools rankings for Research. More than U.S. 21,000 high schools were analyzed based on how well the school served the students, not only those who are college-bound, but also students who showed measurable academic progress across a wide...
