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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...
The learning experience for Wrangell students continues to get more technological, with new devices and programs hitting local schools this year. Technology director Matt Gore gave the Sentinel a run-through of some of these developments Tuesday. It started with “tech time in the morning,” an informal zero-hour period where students are encouraged to undertake various technological projects. For instance, that morning found senior JD Barratt soldering together components for a lighting setup, while Kellan Eagle put together the frame for a hom...
November 22, 1917: The Wrangell chapter of the Red Cross raised $104 for Christmas packets for soldiers. By Christmas the United States will have 1 million men under arms. The Red Cross has, in addition to its many other labors in humanitarian work, undertaken the task of sending each American soldier a Christmas packet filled with good things and good will. It was possible to have Christmas packets made up for $41 each. When the Wrangell chapter received notice of the undertaking, the time was so limited that it had to hurry and transmit the...
At last week’s Park Board meeting, the department head reported the lack of qualified lifeguarding staff has been causing problems. Parks and Recreation director Kate Thomas explained last Wednesday that Wrangell’s public pool operates 63 hours per week, requiring 105 lifeguard hours to operate. While 10 available staffers would be ideal, the department currently only has four to try and cover shifts. Both herself and the assistant director have been spending up to half their time filling in at the pool. The pool is the most heavily used ame...
Wrangell delegates returned from last month's annual conference for the Alaska Federation of Natives at Anchorage's Dena'ina Center. AFN is the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, representing 151 federally recognized tribes, 150 village corporations, 12 regional corporations, and various nonprofit and tribal consortiums. Its annual October conference, this year held between the 19th and 21st, provides AFN membership the opportunity to put forward resolutions as well as to discuss...
Longtime Wrangell resident Harry S. Sundberg died September 16, 2017 in Bellingham, WA, as a result of a fall at his assisted living facility. He was 95. Harry was born June 27, 1922 in Hemnesberg, Norway. He was the second child of Jens and Hanna Sundberg. The family emigrated to the US in 1925 and in 1928 settled in Wrangell, where Jens had procured a job building gillnet boats for the Stikine River fishery. Harry helped his father build the family home on Case Avenue in which he resided for t...
A statewide assessment of grade schoolers taken this spring has suggested education has some room for improvement. The Performance Evaluation for Alaska’s Schools (PEAKS) exam was administered for the first time to students between third and 10th grade, testing for proficiency in mathematics, English language arts and science. Mirroring standards used in the widely-used National Assessment of Educational Progress, PEAKS provides a snapshot of student performance in relation to grade-level standards. Overall, schools across the state did not a...
Wrangell Public School District has been trying something new for lunch this year, enlisting local kitchens to keep students at the middle and high schools fed. Five private food services have staked out days of the week to provide meals: J&W's Fast Foods, the delis at Bobs' IGA and City Market, Notsofamous Pizza, and the Stikine Restaurant. Secondary schools principal Bill Schwan explained the arrangement had developed in response to an in-house menu attempted last year. At the end of the...
Richard William Larson, 77, of Wrangell, Alaska, passed away on September 4, 2017 after a short bout with cancer. He died in a Las Vegas hospital after being airlifted from Arizona. He was born in Wenatchee, Washington on November 17, 1939 to Arthur Wm. and Lillian Marie Larson. When he was six, they moved to Prescott, Arizona, along with his younger sister. He grew up there fishing, hunting, and riding his horse. He even delivered newspapers on horseback. He loved telling the "story" that in...
Jessica Rooney Running unopposed for a three-year term on the Wrangell Public School Board Age: 36 About the candidate: "I moved here in 2002 from Florida, I married Jason Rooney and we have four children together, ages 14, 11, 8 and 5. I am currently a member of Wrangell Early Prevention Coalition and the Secondary Advisory Committee for the school. I have previously worked for the school district as an aide in the middle school office." Why do you want to serve on the school board? "I am...
Summer may be at its peak, but for students it’s quickly beginning to wind down. The new year begins for them on August 28, and several new things are in store. At Evergreen Elementary School, Gail Taylor will be settling in as its new principal. Offered the job in June and starting later this month, she was previously the elementary principal at Haworth School District in Haworth, Oklahoma. For students at Stikine Middle and Wrangell High schools, secondary principal Bill Schwan explained a new guidance counselor will be starting soon. The r...
August 2, 1917: At the last meeting of the Civic Improvement Club it was decided to purchase from Mrs. Minnie Rosenthal of Seattle the lot adjoining the school property on the southeast. This lot is to be used as a children’s playground, and will be deeded to the town. The price paid for the lot was $400. It has a frontage of 39 1/3 feet, and extends from Second Street back to Cassiar Street. The mere purchase of a lot for $400 is a small matter when considered solely was a business transaction. But this purchase of a playground for the s...
It was out of the workplace and into the streets for many Wrangell city staff last Thursday, as two dozen unionized workers began a strike over prolonged contract negotiations. The City and Borough has been negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 since the summer of 2014, when the previous CBA expired. The process has at times been tumultuous, with court proceedings through the fall of 2016 being settled prejudicia...
