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Perhaps no school staff member has as much contact with parents and the public as do secretaries. And the public and parents have three new secretaries to get to know as the school year starts Thursday. As of last week, all three secretary positions at the elementary, middle and high school were filled after resignations at the end of last school year left the crucial roles open. Kendra McDougall, Jennifer Stewart and Marsha McCay have been hired as the secretaries of Evergreen Elementary, Stiki...
As students start school on Aug. 25, two new administrators will be joining them. Ann Hilburn is the new principal for Evergreen Elementary and Bob Burkhart is new the principal for Wrangell High and Stikine Middle school. Hilburn was previously the special education teacher at the high school and middle school, while Burkhart was working as a principal in Missoula, Montana, after having been retired. Leadership positions at the schools opened after Bob Davis retired from the high school and...
Two of Wrangell's lead educators are closing the books on their lesson plans and graduating to retirement. In June, Bob Davis, assistant principal of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School, and Jenn Miller-Yancey, assistant principal of Evergreen Elementary School, will say farewell after more than 30 years each in education. Davis, 64, who was raised in Alaska and came up through the public school system, swore as a young man that he would never set foot into a school again after...
"A River Runs Through Us" is the theme chosen for this year's Fourth of July celebration in Wrangell, prompting event organizers to hold a first-ever art contest, with the winner's work being featured on posters and other swag. Plus, there's a chance to win $1,000. Entries can come from anyone and can be hard copies or digital. The piece should capture the theme of the contest, which refers to the Stikine River. The deadline is Friday by 4 p.m. "It's a connection that everybody from here...
The school board on April 18 voted to hire a former Alaskan as the new principal for Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle school. Robert Burkhart will begin as principal for the secondary schools on Aug. 8. He applied for the position after another candidate was chosen and had withdrawn her application. The district received more than 30 applications for the position, which is a one-year contract. It will be paid with federal funds from an American Rescue Plan Act grant. The school board approved the contract for a new principal at...
With energy usually reserved for sports competitions, middle school students cheered and clapped for their classmates embroiled in a battle of words. That is, how to spell them correctly. Stikine Middle School held its first spelling bee in three years on April 12 in the high school gym. At stake were bragging rights and a $50 gift certificate for J&W's Fast Food. All that stood between students and glory were words like fiesta, shingles, normality and battlement. The rules were simple....
Stikine Middle School wrestlers ended the season on a high note with the most pins made in the past four years. This year's squad consisted of 22 wrestlers. Each one was able to have at least one match where they pinned their opponent and won. Out of 337 matches, 167 ended with a pin for the wrestlers. Coach Jack Carney reported it was the highest number of pins in the past four years. Though the young grapplers faced plenty of tough competition, the biggest challenge may have been caused by...
The anticipated return of visitors means that Wrangell business owners are readying themselves for customers to reserve lodging, stop into their shops and book tours on the waters of the Inside Passage and the Stikine River. Of the more than dozen bed and breakfasts and other rentals in town, one is in its second life. Tyla Nelson and Jimmy Nelson live at 2.9 Mile. Tyla works at the post office and Jimmy works for the Forest Service. Jimmy bought the decommissioned Binkley Slough Forest Service...
What’s being labeled as a social-emotional fair is aiming to give kids skills that will be useful to them in life after school. On April 5, Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School will host an event that involves various organizations throughout the community to help students learn everything from stress-reduction skills to how to balance a checkbook. “We’ve been struggling ever since COVID, or even before that with the social-emotional situation with our kids,” said Bob Davis, the assistant principal of both schools. “Krissy Smith ove...
Stikine Middle School wrestlers traveled to Ketchikan last weekend to compete in the Schoenbar Regional Championships. The squad came away with 19 top placements. There were nine first place wins, six second place wins and four third place wins by Wrangell wrestlers. The team placed first with the most pins in the least time. Overall, the team placed second behind Juneau’s Floyd Dryden Middle School in points. The wrestlers who took first place in their weight classes were Katelyn Gillen, Christina Johnson, Kourtney Barnes, Hailey Cook, A...
Elizabeth Peratrovich Day is Feb. 16, honoring Native rights activist Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich of the Tlingit Nation who championed equal rights and whose testimony paved the way for the Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act passed by the territorial Legislature in 1945. In Wrangell, Tlingit storyteller and language expert Virginia Oliver is teaching schoolchildren at Evergreen Elementary, Stikine Middle and Wrangell High School about Peratrovich, who was born in Petersburg in 1911, and lived part of her life in Angoon. “Alaska Native children...
The number of students enrolled in Wrangell Public Schools has dropped by nearly half in the past 30 years. According to data from the Alaska Department of Education, enrollment for the 1991-92 school year totaled 527. The 2021-22 school year enrollment totaled 257 in the fall count. So where have the children gone? “I came in ’94 and the mill was still running,” said Bob Davis, assistant principal for Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School. “The mill went down about a year later and things have been rough ever since. When COVID h...
The uptick in COVID-19 cases after the holiday season has caused businesses to alter hours or close for days at a time, borough government to reinstate safety protocols, and schools to postpone sporting events. As of Wednesday morning, the borough had reported 114 cases since Dec. 30, a one-month record for the community and one-third of all the infections tallied in the almost 2-year-old pandemic. Close contact with active COVID-19 cases for Brittani Robbins, executive director of the chamber o...
JOB ANNOUNCEMENTS Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the multiple positions. All positions are open until filled. Migrant/Library Paraprofessional: This is a full-time, nine-month position with benefits, working with students one-on-one or in small groups at Stikine Middle School/Wrangell High School. Salary placement is Column B on the nine-month classified salary schedule. The successful applicant must have an associate degree or equivalent (or higher) or the ability to pass the para-pro assessment (administered by the...
Rather than grumbling about face masks or grousing about politics, many of Wrangell’s students are working to improve the school, the community and the world. They are thinking about their life in the future and the life of others today. Good for them, and good for everyone. The high school students in BASE — Building a Supportive Environment — are working to help feed other students, recognize staff for their good work, support students who are having trouble, and even contribute to a microloan program that helps people in need around the w...
The first rule of Tech Club is talk about Tech Club. Science teacher Heather Howe wants the students who attend Wrangell High's newly formed program to share what they're learning and doing to interest more kids in attending. The T3 Alliance -often referred to as Tech Club - is a program designed to supplement the U.S. Department of Education's Upward Bound program, which helps students increase their ability to complete a secondary education, whether college or a technical school. Not all membe...
The Lower 48 TikTok craziness continues. September’s challenge was to vandalize school bathrooms. Wrangell schools got off lightly — a few messes in the bathrooms and small items like soap dispensers and toilet paper were stolen. Overall, nothing too serious. In fact, I was feeling fairly confident that we had gotten ahead of this trend, and that we could focus on better and more important things. Unfortunately, there is now a “devious licks” challenge for each month of the school year. October’s challenge is “Smack a Teacher;” December’s ch...
I used to believe that living on our island isolated us from all of the craziness of the Lower 48. I've often bragged about how in Wrangell we still lived the white-picket-fence, kids-playing-in-the-streets life of the 1950s. Unfortunately, that is no longer something I can say. Social media is pumping all sorts of Lower 48 craziness into our town. You can find the latest craziness by going to #deviouslicks on TikTok. There you will find hundreds of short videos from all over the country...
Community members, local organizations and mariners gathered together at the Wrangell Mariners' Memorial last Sunday afternoon for a blessing of the fleet. The blessing is a tradition in seaside towns around the world, praying for safety and bountiful harvests as fishing fleets begin heading out for the season. The blessing is a longstanding tradition for Wrangell, said Jenn Miller-Yancey, with the mariners' memorial board, but recent events have become more collaborative. "I don't know how...
Wrangell children need an OCS worker stationed here Because it often takes days for the state Office of Children's Services to send an investigator to Wrangell, I was forced to send a frightened kid to a home where she had recently experienced serious domestic violence. I cannot describe my anger and frustration. I cannot describe my anger and frustration at hearing a student say, "Why bother? They never do anything," when I told her I was referring her situation to OCS. I cannot describe the an...
Wrangell tallied nine COVID-19 cases between last Thursday and late Tuesday afternoon, as the community is dealing with a spike in infections. "Health officials have found evidence of community transmission of COVID-19 in Wrangell,"the city reported Tuesday. The latest case "is a household member/close contact"to another case reported earlier in the day, the city reported Tuesday afternoon. "The individual is a local resident and is in isolation." Three cases were reported by the city last...
Students at Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will attend class remotely at least through Friday after a staff member at the secondary schools tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. Remote learning started the next day, as both schools closed. The shutdown has not affected classes at Evergreen Elementary School, the school district reported Monday. "This individual ... is asymptomatic and is now in isolation," the city announced Monday afternoon. It was Wrangell's second reported...
The city announced a new COVID-19 case Monday afternoon. “This individual is a local resident, is asymptomatic, and is now in isolation. There is no other information available at this time,” the city announcement said. Of the 36 cases Wrangell has seen since the start of the pandemic, 25 have been locals, eight non-locals, two residents who were not in town at the time and one residency unknown. The city continues to advise that people “keep close interactions to a very small group of people, ideally just within your household,” and staying si...
Stikine Middle School students explained to a statewide audience how they are using technology to cope with the pandemic-induced changes in their education. Members of the sixth grade class spoke at the Alaska Society of Technology in Education virtual conference Feb. 16, talking about ways technology has helped them learn throughout the year. The organization promotes access to technology information resources for Alaska students. Laura Davies, teacher for the sixth grade class, said she and...
Due to a shortage of players this season, the Lady Wolves received a waiver from the state school sports association and accepted two eighth graders into the team. Adeline Andrews and Aubrey Wynne attend Stikine Middle School but will be playing with the high school basketball team. Both have past experience playing basketball, and joined the team for the challenges. Andrews said she has played basketball for the middle school and with the Amateur Athletic Union for several years. Wynne has also...