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At the first board meeting of the academic year last week, the Petersburg School District board decided that school meal prices will increase by at least $0.25 this school year. This decision was approved in order to maintain the financial sustainability of the school food service program and comply with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Paid Lunch Equity Policy. The policy says that schools serving lunch need to have enough money to pay for meals that students buy at the regular price, not the discounted price; some s...
Students in Petersburg School District are set to start the school year on August 29, alongside several upcoming additions to faculty staff. New to the district is Thomas Hambley, who will teach fourth grade at Stedman Elementary this fall. "I am excited about joining the team at Stedman Elementary and becoming part of the Petersburg community," he shared. Hambley moved to Petersburg earlier this summer from Glennallen, where he taught fourth grade. He specializes in elementary level teaching...
Jolie Norman, the new first-grade teacher at Stedman Elementary, and fellow first-grade teacher Erin Hofacre pushed a lot of furniture around Ms. Norman's classroom yesterday, and they have more to do before school starts. "In a week, you won't recognize this place. I'm looking forward to making it my own," promised Norman. And in making it her own, she's excited to make it a place kids want to be and a place they want to learn. In addition to her longtime calling to work with kids, Norman...
*To register a new student, please stop by the office at 303 Dolphin Street by August 25th *You will need to bring current immunization record and birth certificate (legible copy ok) *If you have any questions, please call the office at 907-302-2385 or 877-526-7656 ext. 400 Mrs. Willis Kindergarten Adalynd Birchell, Talon Caulum, Konrad Connor, Tess Crump, Kaeson Doril, Everly Gacchina, Raymond Gillen, Charlie Gudgel, Jon Hammer, Emily Martin, Isabelle Martin, Branson McIntosh, Ryland Newman, Elliott Popp, David Randrup, Oliver Reid, Kai...
Petersburg residents will have one ballot proposition to decide on when they go to vote in this year's municipal election on Oct. 3. Proposition #1 will ask if the borough charter should be amended to allow borough employees to serve on boards or commissions, except for those that directly administer their employment. The change, for instance, would allow a Petersburg School District employee to run for borough assembly or the hospital board but not the school board. The proposed amendment was...
Gus Pennington will return to Stedman Elementary School this fall as the new fifth grade teacher. However, Pennington is no stranger to the Petersburg School District. His new teaching role comes on the heels of experience in the district as a substitute and student teacher - and as a pupil in Petersburg, himself. Pennington graduated from Petersburg High School with the class of 2019 and left for college at University of Alaska Southeast. He returned to town later that fall - just before...
Sharon Paulson moved her family from Juneau to Petersburg in July and will teach fourth grade at Stedman Elementary School this fall as one of several new additions to the Petersburg School District's roster of educators. This will be her fourth teaching position in Alaska, where her entire career as an educator has taken place. Paulson attended undergrad at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia before moving back to her home town of Wakarusa, Indiana, where she wrote for the local...
The K-5th grade library program at Stedman Elementary School will welcome home a former Petersburg resident and long-time friend to the community, Debi Tice. One of several new hires to Petersburg School District, Tice now holds the title of Elementary Librarian and Intervention - the latter half reflecting a measure of the Alaska Reads Act. Tice started teaching in Petersburg in 1998, leaving and returning a few times, then ultimately taking her teaching career abroad to Brazil, China, and...
The St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church caught fire last Thursday, leaving much of the building in ruins and covering Petersburg in smoke. According to a statement from Fire Marshal Ryan Welde, the fire has been ruled accidental in nature and was a result of maintenance work. The fire originated at ground level on the exterior of the building facing Dolphin Street. It then traveled up the wall via rigid foam insulation located behind the vinyl siding and continued to spread into the eaves... Full story
The St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church caught fire Thursday afternoon, leaving much of the building in ruins and covering Petersburg in smoke. There were no serious injuries reported and the fire did not spread to the surrounding buildings, however smoke from the blaze caused the Petersburg Medical Center and multiple businesses downtown to close. According to Fr. Jose Thomas, the parish priest at St. Catherine of Siena, a few people were attending a prayer service in the chapel when they... Full story
The Alaska Marine Highway System, which five months ago embarked on improving its hiring process to address chronic crew shortages, is unable to say how many new employees it has hired since then. The push started after a consultant’s report in January determined the state had hired just four out of 250 job applicants the over prior 12 months. The crew shortage forced the state to pull the Kennicott, the second-largest operable ship in the fleet, off this summer’s schedule and keep it tied up at the dock in Ketchikan. Asked how many new emp...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an ordinance in its first reading that would rezone 43 undeveloped lots located at the planned site of the new hospital during its meeting on Monday. The assembly voted 5-1 in favor with Assembly Member Donna Marsh opposed and Mayor Mark Jensen excused from the meeting. The 43 lots are currently zoned as single-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, and open space-recreational, but would have to be rezoned to public use ahead of the...
The Petersburg School Board approved the district's FY24 budget at its last meeting of the school year on Tuesday. The uncertainties surrounding education funding in Alaska as well as rising inflation and utility costs have made the budget's development a long and winding road, but advocacy efforts by school officials on both the local and state level have helped ensure stability in the district for another year. "Honestly this is a much better scenario than what I had...predicted, so I mean...
I congratulate the Permanent Fund trustees for adopting Resolution 23-01 at their April 12 meeting to limit additional investment in the in-state investment program in which Barings and McKinley Capital Management have each been given $100 million to place in Alaska investments. The decision appears to have been made in part because of the dismal rate of return received from the in-state investments by the two managers. The decision was also made to see whether the poor performance improves over time. I fully support the trustees’ decisions not...
The day after Petersburg Middle School let out for summer, 7th grader Ari Warmack boarded a plane bound for New York City to perform with his guitar at the invitation of Kids Rock For Kids (KRFK), a Brooklyn-based nonprofit that raises money for kid-related charities by producing rock benefit shows featuring outstanding teen musicians from around the world. In March, Ari received a direct message on Instagram from KRFK inviting him to a zoom interview. He discussed it with his parents, Eliza...
The Planning Commission voted against recommending that the Petersburg Borough Assembly approve the Petersburg Medical Center's application to rezone 43 undeveloped lots on the proposed site for the new hospital facility at its meeting on Tuesday. The 43 lots are owned by the borough and are located north of Haugen Drive and behind the Elizabeth Peratrovich Building. They are currently zoned as single-family residential, multi-family residential, commercial, and open space-recreational, but the...
After 22 years of teaching at Stedman Elementary School, Gregg Kowalski is heading into a whole new world of learning-retirement. Kowalski could be found packing up his classroom last Monday morning, taking down inflatable planets and Tibetan prayer flags, moving well-used couches to other classrooms, and organizing shelves full of books that he will leave for the teacher taking his place next year. "It feels surreal. It's almost like I have to invent myself again, like being born again,...
May 18, 1923 – Assistant Forester E.A. Sherman has presented seventy-one volumes as a nucleus for a marine library to the Forest Service boats operating in this district, according to word received by C.H. Flory. The library will be known as the Sherman Marine Library. The books are now on the way to Alaska. They include works of high class fiction, travel, exploration and history. Following the plan suggested for the library, the headquarters will be on the Ranger Tahn and from that boat will be distributed throughout the Forest Service f...
A press release this week announced that Petersburg Medical Center Youth Programs will offer expanded summer programming to better meet the community's needs by providing additional options for childcare. Kinder Skog, the popular outdoor forest school, will expand to include a "Forest Kindy" program designed specifically for five and six year olds. Following a recommendation from the State of Alaska Childcare Program, Kinder Skog will transition from a licensed childcare program to a recreationa...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved an extensive resolution during its last meeting that will move the Petersburg Medical Center new facility project one step closer to shovel-ready status. The resolution, passed in a 6-1 vote with Assembly Member Donna Marsh against, approved the North Haugen site as the location of the future hospital and authorized the PMC board to proceed with a preconstruction services contract with Dawson Construction. The new facility project was made the borough's...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy told legislators in a pair of closed-door meetings last week that he will introduce a state sales tax as a component of a budget-balancing, long-term fiscal plan. But with just three weeks left in the legislative session, with no details about the governor’s tax bill as of Monday, and with strong opposition from lawmakers who represent communities with a local sales tax, the odds of passage this year are extremely low. If the governor goes ahead with a sales tax bill, it would join more than a dozen proposals offered by H...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance that would amend the charter to open participation on local boards to borough employees in its final reading. The amendment, which will have to be approved by voters later this year, would let borough staff run for boards except for those that directly administer their employment. That would mean a Petersburg Medical Center employee could run for the assembly or the school board but not the hospital board. A Petersburg...
If one member of a family is ill, the family is ill The the Editor: I submit the following letter, meant to be a holiday letter to friends and family. The following is an offering meant to enlighten our community regarding the trainwreck that is this dastardly disease of dementia that can hit an average family like ours. Her mind was clear and strong once, though some may have been uncertain when I was chosen, but she knew her way to love, and maybe I was in or maybe on her way. Sitting next to her in a 1962 college speech class was the...
The Alaska Legislature has passed a fast-track budget bill intended to immediately address problems with the state’s food-aid program for poor Alaskans and other immediate concerns. House Bill 79, proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is intended to address the food-aid problem. It transfers $3.1 million from the state’s Medicaid program to the Division of Public Assistance, which oversees the program. It also allows the division to use $3.7 million in additional federal funding available for food aid. The Alaska Senate voted 20-0 on Monday to app... Full story
