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Classes were disrupted by an unexpected alarm at Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School the morning of Monday, Feb. 4. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said that alarms were triggered at 9:50 a.m. According to a press release from the school district, the alarms were triggered after one of the school’s heaters malfunctioned due to a water leak. As this was not a planned drill, Lancaster said, the schools were evacuated. Everybody waited in the gym of Evergreen Elementary for the all-clear signal. The fire and police departments checked th...
The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce held a luncheon at the Stikine Inn to introduce the chamber to new people, network with current members, and discuss future events. Several local organizations were represented at the lunch, including the school district, the city, BRAVE, the rod and gun club, and several others. Some of the topics discussed at the meeting included future fishing derbies, the Fourth of July, and the Mariner's Memorial....
The Wrangell School District held a staff meeting in the high school commons on Jan. 23. Budget season is beginning to loom, and the district is starting to put together a proposed budget for the next school year. Georgianna Buhler, business manager for the school district, said that they did not have any projections for what the budget would look like yet, but they are in the process of getting that information. Staff and teachers from the elementary, middle, and high school were all invited...
The Wrangell school board held a meeting on Monday, Jan. 21, to meet with the district’s new maintenance director. Josh Blatchley came before the board to introduce himself, and to relate to the board some of the things he feels need attention, in regard to school maintenance. In general, he said, all of the buildings in the Wrangell school district are old, but are fairly sturdy. There are roofs that need patching in some places, but are generally in good shape. Heating and air conditioning in all the buildings are in good shape, as well. S...
April The Department of Transportation is finally able to get started on a major Wrangell road repaving project. Perforated by potholes, the borough’s Evergreen Avenue will be resurfaced and repaired, with pedestrian improvements and other fixes. The major project has been on hold for half a decade, surviving rounds of budget cuts to capital funding elsewhere in the state along the way. Two local right of way issues which had lately been holding up the project were wrapped up in February, allowing the project to move along. Speaking at a p...
In an 8 ½ hour meeting Tuesday, Jan. 8, the Wrangell School Board upheld the firing of first year art teacher Shanna Mall. Starting at 4 p.m., the school board held a public hearing on the potential termination of a high school art teacher well past midnight. Shanna Mall, was hired by the Wrangell school district this school year. However, she was put on paid administrative leave and received a termination notice last November, before the end of her first semester teaching. According to Allen Clendaniel, a lawyer representing the school distric...
The past year has been a busy one for the community of Wrangell, and also one full of changes. Elections have come and gone, the school district saw a new superintendent and two new principals, a high school swimming and diving team was organized, and a new reporter came to town. A new organization was formed, BRAVE, to help bring people together to enhance life in the community for Wrangell’s younger population. Other organizations like the Senior Center and Nolan Center saw new faces, as well. There were lots of physical changes to W...
With snow falling all through town, the last day of school for the Wrangell school district was made just that much more special. After a long semester starting last August, students in elementary, middle, and high school now have a few weeks to relax, spend time with family, and enjoy winter break. The last day of class was made into a celebration across all the schools. Students at Evergreen Elementary got to leave class early to take a trip to the Nolan Center. There, they were treated to a special showing of “The Grinch.” The middle sch...
A "readathon" was held at the Evergreen Elementary School library last Wednesday evening. The event, explained teacher Ryan Howe, was a great opportunity for Wrangell families to spend an evening reading with their children, having some snacks, and enjoying each other's company. "This is a great time of year to do family-oriented, fun events like this," he said. "The teachers wanted to offer something that demonstrated a commitment to student learning but was also fun, and in the spirit of the...
December 5, 1918 British Day, December 7, will be properly celebrated in Wrangell on Saturday evening by entertainment and a dance. On Wednesday evening of last week Mayor Matheson called a special meeting on the town council to consider the matter of a local observance of British day. The council were in favor of the day being observed in Wrangell, and did not believe that its celebration would be inconsistent with the public health. There will be three patriotic songs by a young ladies’ quartet. There will be several other numbers by pupils o...
The Wrangell school board met last Thursday, Nov. 15 to discuss various policy updates and to hear reports from various board members and staff about a school health and wellbeing summit in Anchorage, which was held this past September. The conference covered the topics of health, safety, and wellness in Alaskan schools, and brought together educators, board members, and policy makers from across the state. Some of the attendees took the opportunity to share some of their thoughts on what was covered in the conference. Josh Blatchley,...
Students at Evergreen Elementary School have spent the past few days making Christmas ornaments. Some students drew pictures of Alaskan wildlife, others made miniature wreaths, and another class made poinsettias. All these ornaments are not only fun projects for students to work on. They will be travelling up to Juneau in the coming weeks to hang on the governor's Christmas tree. Tory Houser, with the Forest Service, said that the Wrangell district of the Tongass National Forest has also been...
According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), new designations and grades have been given to schools across the state. This is meant to provide information to parents about the quality of their schools, and to help school officials know where they are succeeding and where there is room for improvement. This new rating system is a part of the ESSA, or Every Student Succeeds Act, which was passed in December 2015. “There are three types of school designations: Comprehensive Support and I...
Trevor Shaw moved to Alaska with his parents in 2001. He said that his father had always wanted to live in Alaska, and when his mother found a nursing job with the hospital in Ketchikan, they made a move. He integrated into life in Southeast Alaska quickly, and graduated from high school in 2014. While still a senior in high school, he was elected to the Ketchikan school board. He served there for five years, he said, with two terms as the school board president. He has also served on the...
October 31, 1918 The Common Council shall appoint a health officer, who will hold office during the pleasure of the Common Council. The health officer may, whenever he deems it necessary, examine all persons entering the Town of Wrangell, from any place when said officer has reason to believe there are any cases of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, or other contagious or infectious diseases. The health officer shall make it his duty to investigate all cases where it is alleged that cases of communicable, infections, or contagious diseases are sa...
Beyond giving students as good an education as possible, one of the highest priorities for many schools is safety. This is especially true at the Wrangell Public School District, where a new crisis strategy is being prepared for implementation. According to Superintendent Debbe Lancaster, preparing students and teachers for an emergency is the best way to keep everyone safe. "The committee has gone over the crisis plan that's in place and made some changes," she said. The school district's...
BRAVE, the Wrangell organization advocating for stronger community relationships, will be hosting a Family Resilience Fair on Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Nolan Center. According to volunteer Maleah Wenzel, the fair is meant to provide Wrangell families with information about what resources are available to them. She added that the event was originally going to be held at the high school commons, but it has outgrown the space and was moved to the Nolan Center. “Basically the purpose of this is to make sure people in town know what resources t...
The Wrangell school board met Monday evening. The board recently began a new program where “pages” from different classrooms would attend the board meetings to lead everyone in the pledge of allegiance, and a reading of the district’s mission and vision. This was the first evening of this program, and the pages were fifth-graders Reese Corn, Andrew Guggenbickler, Ben Houser, and Shailyn Nelson. The school board took time to recognize Tammy Groshong for six years of service on the board. Groshong is not seeking reelection this year, and Monday’s...
With the October election just around the corner, there are many residents of Wrangell seeking office. One of the most hotly contested races this year is for two open positions on the Wrangell school board. Eight members of the community are running for a seat on the school board, each with their own reasons to run. They are Aleisha Mollen, Aaron Angerman, Annya Ritchie, Brian Ashton, David Powell, Jennifer Bates, Karey Losinski, and Leeann Wiggins-Martin. Aleisha Mollen is an incumbent...
September 12, 1918 School opened Monday with a total enrollment of 73 pupils. Only two of the teachers engaged for the year were on hand to begin work, Miss Armstrong being ill with quinsy, and Miss Allender having missed boat connections. Miss Armstrong has recovered so far as to be able to take up her work this morning. During her absence, Mrs. J. W. Pritchett took charge of the intermediate grades. A plan is being worked out by which the work in the school will be more equally divided than heretofore. The high school program will be...
James P Haley, 60, of Wrangell, Alaska, passed away on Sept. 1, 2018 at Providence Hospital in Anchorage. He was born on July 22, 1958 in Pasadena, California, to the late Bernard and Marie Haley. Jim graduated from Verdugo Hills High School, located in the Tujunga community of Los Angeles, in 1977. He was a self-employed contractor, but he came to Wrangell to visit his brother Jerry, and fell in love with Alaska. He worked at the Wrangell Saw Mill until it closed in 1992 and recently retired...
The sounds of finding classrooms, opening lockers, and seeing friends filled the middle school and high school in Wrangell last Thursday morning. Another school year has started and both students and teachers were excited. David Macri, recently brought on as the new principal of the middle and high school, took the opportunity to introduce himself in a student assembly. He also took some time to lay out a few of his expectations of the student body for the year. Macri told the students that he...
August 29, 1918 School will open September ninth, a week later than usual this year owing to the repairs that are being made to the interior of the school building. These repairs were very necessary from a sanitary standpoint and will improve the arrangement greatly besides eliminating considerable wasted space. Besides the alterations, two rooms have been painted and new blackboards will be installed throughout the school. August 27, 1943 The Coast Guard’s widely heralded 35-piece band will play a concert in the ANB hall here on September 7...
Legal representation for the Wrangell school district was discussed in Monday night’s school board meeting. With the new school year beginning August 23, the board had several policy items to discuss. Among them was the potential hiring the law firm Sedor, Wendlandt, Evans, and Filippi for legal representation. The contract presented to the school, according to board member Aleisha Mollen, was fairly standard. Board member Dave Wilson, however, said that there was some wording in the contract he was concerned about. The portion of the c...
As summer draws to a close, Wrangell's schools prpare for another year of education. Families across the island are also preparing for the year by purchasing school supplies, getting new clothes, and registering their kids for school. Wrangell High School was open last Thursday for families to get their kids registered for the new school year. Representatives of Evergreen Elementary, Wrangell Middle School, and Wrangell High School were present to help people get through the registration...
