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The Wrangell School Board met last Friday for a short meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to accept the resignation of school board president Georgianna Buhler. Buhler has been on the school board for almost 10 years, she said, from 2002 to 2010, and again from 2016 to 2018. She decided to resign her position so she could pursue a new position as the school district’s business manager. “There are a number of things that are going on, I did not take this lightly,” Buhler said. “But at the end of the day I have a responsibility to be a finan...
Registration for Evergreen Elementary, Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will be held Thurs., Aug. 16, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm and 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm. at Wrangell High School Gym/Commons. New students will need to come in to complete a paper registration packet. Returning students can complete registration online via Powerschool which will be available Mon., Aug. 13. Contact the following to reset a Powerschool login or to schedule a different time for registration: WHS - 874-3395; SMS - 874-3393; EES - 8741-2321. Credit cards can be...
In his 32nd year of teaching, David Macri has a lot of experience behind him. He said that he has worked as an industrial arts teacher, a 5th-12th grade principal, a school business manager, and district business manager. He also said he has worked as a superintendent for schools in the Middle East and Asia. Before coming to Wrangell, he worked for two years in Tuluksak as a principal. Macri said that part of the reason he came to work as the principal of the middle school and high school in...
July 8, 1918 D.Y. Yelf who has been Canadian Customs Collector at the Boundary for the past two months was a southbound passenger on the Spokane Monday. Mr. Yelf was succeeded by C. A. Tervo, who will be remembered by Wrangell people as having held the same position at the Boundary a number of years ago. Mr. Tervo was accompanied by his son, Albert, when he went through Wrangell on his way up the river. July 2, 1943 Old phonograph records are being sought for use of the armed forces. The American Legion Post has taken charge of the roundup...
After 30 years on the bench, Wrangell's district magistrate will conclude her legal career today. Chris Ellis has served as a magistrate judge for First District Court in Wrangell for 14 of those years, with most of her preceding tenure spent in Craig. When she graduated with her bachelor's degree in 1973, law hadn't been on her mind, but Alaska was. "Basically I studied anthropology with a specialty in archaeology, and my goal was to come to Alaska," she said. Ellis found herself drawn to the V...
Legislative session has ended, and now that I’m back in the district, I’d like to give you a brief overview of this year’s legislative actions that will impact Wrangell. As your state representative, I sponsored and passed three bills – “Commercial Fishing Loans,” “Mari-culture Revolving Loan Fund,” and “Dive Fishery Assessments” – that will support and enhance our fishing and mari-culture industries. HB 128, “Shellfish Enhancement Projects” was a fourth mari-culture industry related bill. It passed the House 37-2 and made it through Senate Fi...
With the legislative season at an end and no special sessions left in sight, candidates for Alaska’s primaries and general elections have already put themselves forward for voters’ consideration. By the end of the June 1 filing deadline, House District 36 – an area of representation encompassing Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Saxman and other outlying communities – had three candidates for voters to choose between in the coming election. Two of them will be running unopposed in their prospective primaries against the incumbent, the politic...
Next week the Wrangell Assembly is scheduled to parse over its line items and budget figures for the coming fiscal year. Bound drafts were handed out to members at their Tuesday evening meeting, to digest before a pair of sessions set for May 1 and 2. As it stands now, the biggest change to come from the upcoming budget effective July 1 will be consolidation of maintenance and facilities services under a new capital facilities department. Separated from Public Works, the new department would also manage major projects and grant implementation....
Wrangell Public School District learned last week its secondary school principal, Bill Schwan, will be departing after the current academic year ends. His departure is the latest among the district’s top administrators. At Evergreen Elementary, school principal Gail Taylor tendered notice in January. She took off for Oklahoma earlier than expected, departing this week on Tuesday. Faculty member Therese Pempek will helm the school through the year’s end. After a search for Taylor’s replacement, the district announced it will be hiring Virgi...
April 18, 1943 The concentration of Alaska’s salmon canning industry is running smoothly and there is every indication that in the season, which begins next month, the industry will be able to increase its pack over last year. The coordination order, announced early in March, will concentrate canning in 74 of the most modern plants rather than in the 120 previously used. This concentration will save manpower, equipment, and transportation to a large extent. The armed services and the War Shipping Administration have co-operated as far as they c...
The presses were on hold early Wednesday morning as Wrangell Public School District announced its decision regarding the next superintendent. The WPSD Board has selected candidate Debbe Lancaster for the position, who will begin July 1. The board arrived at its decision after a series of interviews and consultation with a selection committee. That committee, representing district staff, a parent and student, also had the opportunity to meet and interview the candidates. Lancaster has reportedly accepted the district’s offer, agreeing to a t...
Three finalists for the Wrangell Public School District superintendent position made a joint visit to the island earlier this week. Patricia Hutcherson, Debbe Lancaster and Bill Schildbach were the top three of eight candidates submitted for consideration by the Association of Alaska School Boards. AASB had been contracted by the Wrangell School Board to help hire a replacement to current superintendent, Patrick Mayer, who will conclude his time in the position at the end of the school year....
Wrangell Public School District has narrowed the field in its search for a new school superintendent. Current superintendent Patrick Mayer informed the WPSD Board in February his intention to move on after finishing out the current academic year. Since then the district has been working with the Association of Alaska School Boards to find a replacement. AASB had been the organization which had referred Mayer when he was hired in 2014. After working out a fee with the Wrangell district, the association put forward eight interested candidates...
Safety was the watchword of last week’s meeting of the Public School Board, with parents and staff alike weighing in on security at Wrangell’s public schools. The crux of their concern was an incident involving a high school student on February 12, in which the student was recorded by peers during class discussing the setting off of fireworks or explosives at the school, with the intention of getting expelled. Faculty and the school administration had been alerted to the conversation by concerned students afterward. Superintendent Patrick May...
Residents and city employees sat in on some crisis response training sessions last week, outlining proactive responses to conflict. James Nelson, now working as an officer with Wrangell's Forest Service office, led the courses at the Nolan Center March 15 and 16. He used to serve on the Wrangell Police Department, a position he had first taken in 2008. With scheduling in the works since last fall, his presentations last week were being done on behalf of the city, primarily for the benefit of...
The Alaska House on Monday passed a concurrent resolution that would urge Gov. Bill Walker to declare a state of "linguistic emergency" for Native languages. HCR 19 passed by 34-4 and will be taken up by the Senate for consideration. If adopted there, it would encourage state agencies, the Legislature, Alaska Native organizations and others to prioritize and strengthen policies aimed at promoting the continued use of Alaska Native languages. The state has already been making steps in a more supp...
Ruby Ethel Taylor, 89, died on Feb. 17, 2018 in Wrangell, Alaska. She was born on Sept. 9, 1929 to Earl and Ethel Hannaford in San Francisco, California, the month before the Great Depression. Her father was a postal worker, and her mother a nurse. She grew up with a love of music, especially the fiddle tunes played at the old time dances that her parents and grandparents went to every weekend. After graduating from Palo Alto High, she married Frank Romerez and had her first child Francie,...
Wrangell Public Schools will begin searching for a new superintendent. Meeting Monday, the Public School Board approved moving forward with a search for candidates. Superintendent Patrick Mayer had since last month's meeting submitted his letter of resignation. Mayer has been in the post since 2014, and will finish out the 2018 school year. When asked about his decision or future plans after Wrangell, he declined to respond. However, a notice put out by Valdez City Schools last month listed Maye...
February 14, 1918: The Metlakatla basketball team was unable to give Wrangell a return game. When H. J. Murchison, the manager, announced a return game in the Rink the night of the game here he made the proviso, “If we have any bones left after playing Juneau.” At Thane the game was very rough and four of the Metlakatla boys were knocked out although they defeated Thane 44 to 17. The next night the Metlakatla boys played the Hoover boys of Juneau using substitutes for the four boys who were knocked out. This game resulted in a score of 20 to...
The committee responsible for organizing Wrangell's annual king salmon derby decided last week to alter its usual scheduling, in light of anticipated emergency orders limiting sport opportunity at the Stikine River. In its 66th year now, the 2018 Wrangell King Salmon Derby is an annual activity put on by the Chamber of Commerce. Its derby committee is a voluntary body filled by community members, currently chaired by Shawn Curley. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game intends to issue an...
Wrangell's public school system got encouraging marks for its special education provision, during a special report Monday evening. The Public School District board met with Bob Hadaway, a consultant who has been working with the school system's administration and special education staff since September in preparation for a districtwide monitoring this fall by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. Superintendent Patrick Mayer explained the review was routine oversight, perform...
School may be out for Wrangell students’ winter break, but the Public School Board still came together for its last meeting of the year on Monday. Board members were given a preview of a new disciplinary policy for students at Evergreen Elementary School. A committee of teachers, parents and even a student had developed the exhibit over the past semester. “We all had ideas on the table,” explained kindergarten teacher Mikki Angerman, one of the committee’s members. “We were all really happy with what the end result was.” The new disciplinary ma...
A Wrangell organization will this evening hold a storybook reading along with other communities across the country, to support transgender and non-binary youth. The book is I Am Jazz, a children's book written by transgender teen Jazz Jennings, an online and television personality and youth ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Her book's intent is to introduce the concept of gender identity to young audiences. "It's a good way to start the conversation, expose people to different...
Before the Assembly’s regularly-scheduled meeting Tuesday, members met to discuss legislative priorities for the coming year. City manager Lisa Von Bargen had prepared a draft list of items for their consideration, a summary of considerations and needs to be shared with Wrangell’s legislative delegation and its lobbyist in Juneau. “These are things that are most critical to the community, based on a number of issues we have dealt with around here,” she said at the start. With the Alaska Legislature scheduled to convene for its 2018 regular...
After being kept away for most of the year while a petition for residency was processed, the Balansag family returned to Wrangell earlier this month. The Balansags – Vincent, wife Lynn, and children Jade, Lee and Chrysalis – have been calling Wrangell home since January 2011. They first moved here from the Philippines – an island nation off the coast of East Asia – after Vincent found employment at the local hospital, where he still works as a medical technician. His three-year work visa ha...
