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After considering 11 projects submitted by community members and borough staff for Wrangell’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application, the assembly selected the Stikine Middle School roof replacement as its top priority at the Oct. 24 meeting. Most of the middle school roof hasn’t been replaced since 1995, and the roof’s substrate has begun to warp after 28 years of water absorption. The estimated cost is $1.475 million. The CDBG is a federal program that provides financial assistance for low- to moderate-income communities seeki...
Jackie Hanson, high school and middle school principal, is attempting to make improvements in student attendance before it becomes an issue this school year. According to the most recent Alaska Department of Education’s Report Card to the Public, school attendance in the Wrangell School District has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, remaining at 86.72% for the 2021-2022 school year, almost 9% below its attendance rate of 95.54% during the 2019-2020 school year. “Given the transitions associated in how educational services were del...
Normally, I would use this space to share my opinions with readers. That’s what newspaper columnists do: They give their opinions, the facts behind those views, and hope to educate, enlighten or at least entertain readers. But this week is different. I want to hear readers’ opinions. Actually, I need to hear from the Sentinel’s non-readers, which makes this column particularly difficult. I am writing this for people who won’t see it. Their choice, of course, but I want to understand why many people don’t read newspapers, the Sentinel in particu...
School district administrators have recommended using a collection of unspent accounts and general fund reserves to cover the $44,000 deficit in the travel account from past state competition, while acknowledging that does not address the funding problem for the current or future years. The school board will consider the staff recommendation for wiping out the negative balance in the state travel account at its Nov. 20 meeting, along with discussing options for covering travel costs for this...
After a yearlong public process, the U.S. Forest Service has announced eight potential cabin sites in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts. After considering the environmental impacts and accessibility of hundreds of sites suggested by members of the public or identified by staff, the district picked the ones that are most likely to see substantial traffic and compete for federal funding, and announced them in a draft decision published Thursday, Oct. 19. There are three sites in the...
Oct. 25, 1923 Volume 1, Number 1, Buy 1, of the School News of the Wrangell Public School is off the mimeograph. The publication is brim full of interesting reading pertaining to school life in general and the Wrangell school in particular. The School News, like every other publication that has appeared on the journalistic horizon during the past 300 years, “fills a long-felt want.” For the past quarter-century or more, there has been a class in English in the Wrangell school each year, with students eager for an opportunity to make use of the...
The school district plans to install three air quality sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, noise, carbon dioxide, pollution — and even vape smoke. The district can use the data it collects from the monitors in its request for state funding to repair and improve parts of the decades-old school buildings, including new windows, insulation, roofing, heating and ventilation systems. The district received the sensors at no cost with a year of free monitoring under a program with the Alaska Department of Education and the sensors’ man...
Clint Kolarich, who served as Wrangell's district ranger since June 2019, has moved to Ketchikan to work as one of the Tongass National Forest's two deputy forest supervisors. He officially stepped into the new job on Sept. 13. District employee Austin O'Brien will step in as his interim replacement for the next 120 days. In the Wrangell district, Kolarich was responsible for the management of the area's natural resources. "It's all the folks in the district that do the work," he said. "The dist...
HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2023-2024 school year: - Paraprofessional: This is a part-time, 9-month classified position, working 5.75 hours per day. Salary placement is in Column A of the Classified Salary Schedule. Job duties include but are not limited to working with students individually and in small group settings in Special Education. A High School Diploma or equivalent and an associate degree or the ability to pass the ParaPro Assessment is required. Start date: ASAP....
As high school wrestling coach Jack Carney prepares for the season, many of his wrestlers are wrapping up competing in another sport. "Most of my kids are on cross-country (running). They're looking to win a state title," he said, predicting wins for Wrangell in regional and state cross-country competitions. The first wrestling tournament is only a week after the cross-country season ends on Saturday, Oct. 7. The coach said participating in multiple sports helps his wrestlers in the long run....
The school district overspent its student travel budget the past two years and is considering filling the gap with money from team fundraising accounts — the cash that athletes, their parents and supporters raise for equipment, uniforms and other extras not funded by the district. Pulling as much as $36,000 from what are known as “class and club” accounts is controversial, particularly since the district has fallen short of explaining the problem and the solution, said several high school team coaches who spoke at the school board meeting on Se...
The expense of sending student athletes to state competition the past couple of years exceeded the amount in the Wrangell school district budget. Auditors this summer discovered that the state travel account was overdrawn by about $36,000. The district needs to balance its books, which means it needs to transfer money from somewhere to cover that hole. One option under consideration by district officials is to take the funds from sports teams’ “class and club” accounts, which is where student activities deposit the money they collect from...
With high oil prices driving up state revenues, Southeast legislators say to expect a larger capital budget next year for public works projects, more money for deferred maintenance and another attempt to boost state funding for public schools. That’s assuming oil prices stay elevated as the state works its way through the fiscal year that will end on June 30 and remain high in the forecast for the next year. Lawmakers will return to work at the Capitol on Jan. 16. With oil prices last week 30% higher than assumed in this year’s spending pla...
During the budget process next year, the school district will need to cut about $500,000 from its current $5.1 million operating budget to maintain financial sustainability as it prepares for the end of federal pandemic relief funding. This could mean staffing cuts and major changes to school facilities and programs, unless new sources of money are found. Over the past three years, the district has relied on pandemic aid to help cover its costs, but this funding is ending soon. Those federal aid grants, which will run out in fall of 2024, curre...
The school district hopes to sign up a new activities director this week after the person handling the work moved on to another job in town. The activities director is a contract position — not a full-time or even part-time staff job — and handles travel and other arrangements for sports, music, art and other school-sponsored activities. Erik Scheib had been in the position just since the start of the school year when he accepted a job with the Public Works Department last week. “Mainly, getting into Wrangell, being new here, there’s been a lot...
Voters on Oct. 3 will choose between incumbent Esther Aaltséen Reese and challenger John DeRuyter for a three-year term on the school board. It is the only one of five school board seats on this year's ballot. Reese, tribal administrator for the Wrangell Cooperative Association, is finishing her first year on the board after winning election last October, when she was unopposed. DeRuyter, in his third year on the secondary school advisory committee, is making his first run for office in...
Two candidates will be running for two seats on the borough assembly in the municipal election Oct. 3 - Michael J. Ottesen and incumbent Anne Morrison. Barring a successful write-in campaign, both candidates will be elected for three-year terms. Ottesen, a captain and tour guide for Alaska Vistas, is running for public office for the first time to bolster youth engagement in municipal government and develop the town's economy. "I feel like we need a little bit more ... of the younger generation...
The community already does a good job of pitching in, helping out and coming up with money for school sports activities. But rather than just doing it one sport, one event at a time, there is a proposal to reestablish a booster club for all school sports. It’s been about 20 years since a booster club coordinated fundraising for youth athletics in Wrangell, and there are a lot of reasons why this is a good time to restart the effort. State funding for education in Alaska is inadequate, made even worse when Gov. Mike Dunleavy this year vetoed h...
About 20 years ago, a booster club helped raise money for the community’s youth athletics, but the organization has since shut down. Now, a new fundraising organization is about to step up to support student athletes — the Wrangell Athletic Club (WAC). The club will raise money for elementary, middle and high school sports and activities, independent of the school district, explained high school cross country coach Mason Villarma, who is leading the planning effort. Parents, coaches and community members who want to get involved can attend the...
RUMMAGE SALE First Presbyterian Church will hold a garage rummage sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 22 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 23 at the church. Accepting donations now. Call 907-874-3534 or text 907-660-7112 to coordinate donation pickup or drop-off. HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2023-2024 school year: - Long-term Substitute Elementary School Teacher: This position is anticipated to begin on Jan. 4 and run through March 4, 2024. An Alaska Type A Teaching...
The school district has submitted its application for a spot on the Alaska Department of Education’s list of schools in need of major repair and rebuilding grants. The department reviews and lists projects from across Alaska in order of priority, and then each year the Legislature and governor decide how much state money to commit — which has been only enough in recent years to cover less than 10% of the projects. The district is hoping for $6.5 million from the state to go along with $3.5 million from a bond issue approved by Wrangell vot...
Wrangell’s school buildings need a lot of expensive work, which is no surprise for 40- and 50-year-old structures with a lot of wood. Fixing everything will cost millions, and the school district and borough are hoping for state money to supplement $3.5 million in municipal spending approved by voters in 2022. The district’s No. 1 priority in its capital improvement plan is $10 million to cover a long list of repairs at the elementary, middle and high school buildings. The goal is that the state will come through with $6.5 million to add to...
The Wrangell School District has increased its annual state travel fee for student athletes from $350 to $400 to help cover the cost of travel to state meets. It also clarified its policy in which those funds, if not used by the end of the school year, would be deposited into an account to pay for future state travel. The fee increase was implemented for this school year in an effort to catch up with increasing costs, bolster the district’s overdrawn state travel account and shore up funds for future years. District representatives said the p...
The year’s only high school cross-country meet in town is set for Saturday, Sept. 9, with runners from nine Southeast schools scheduled to travel to Wrangell for the competition. Starting time for the 10-team meet is 1 p.m., said Wrangell coach Mason Villarma. The public is welcome to watch the runners in the 5K race at the Muskeg Meadows Golf Course as long as they pay attention to the flags that direct spectators to stay off the racers route — which is mostly on the golf cart path, Villarma said. The course will be closed to all golfers — d...
HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2023-2024 school year: - Activities Director: The Activities Director organizes and administers the district’s program of interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities including the development and support of school “spirit.” This is a contracted position with the district. The successful applicant should expect to work some evenings and weekends to support the activities program as needed and is expected to travel to regional event...
