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The Wrangell School Board held a special meeting Monday evening, Aug. 31, to review updated SMART Start plans for the upcoming school year. With the first day of school scheduled for Sept. 8, and the district planning for in-person classes, the SMART start plans are meant to act as a guide for how schools will respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the "medium risk" level the schools will open with, staff and students will be required to wear face masks, non-instructional gathering of more...
The community of Wrangell currently has three active cases of COVID-19, as of Tuesday, Sept. 1. The three most recent cases were discovered through routine employee testing programs, according to press releases from the City and Borough of Wrangell. All three cases have been reported to be asymptomatic, as well. This brings the total number of cases of the virus in Wrangell up to 18. The first of the currently active cases was discovered last Friday, Aug. 21. The second case came on Friday,...
Beginning on June 1st, small businesses were able to apply for AK CARES Act relief funding, which is Federal funds intended to help support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) and AIDEA have had difficulties getting the money to applicants; of the $290 million in relief funds allocated by the Legislature in May, only a small percentage of those funds have been distributed to local businesses. In...
Over the past eighteen months, Alaska’s ferry system faced unprecedented challenges: a reduced budget, a strike, unanticipated mechanical and structural issues with five aging ships, and a global pandemic. This spring, as the pandemic hit, AMHS had four of those ships scheduled to enter service, a workable budget in place, and expected sufficient revenue to provide reliable ferry service throughout the year. Due to the dramatic decline in revenue as commerce all but stopped, the financial impacts on AMHS have been severe. Because ticket s...
The City and Borough of Wrangell announced another confirmed case of COVID-19 this afternoon, Aug. 28. Like the previous case, the newest case is asymptomatic and was identified through an employee testing program. The patient is in isolation. This brings the total number of cases in Wrangell to 17, according to the press release. Of these, only two are considered active. Six of the cases have been found in non-locals, while the other 11 were Wrangell residents. The city’s press release also reports that, according to state documents, a...
The City and Borough of Wrangell announced a new case of COVID-19 was identified today, Aug. 31. This case, like the previous case identified on Aug. 28, was found via an employee testing program. The patient is asymptomatic and is in isolation. This is the 18th case Wrangell has seen, in total. Of these, 11 cases were Wrangell locals and the other seven were non-locals. Only three cases are considered active at this time....
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, Aug. 25. During this meeting, they reviewed an FY 2019 audit of the borough. This item was postponed from their meeting on Aug. 11, to wait for a representative from the auditing firm to be available to answer questions. According to the agenda packet, the fund balance for the city's governmental funds sits at $53.65 million, and approximately $54.31 million in the enterprise funds. Of these, unrestricted funds sit at about $9.16 million and $5....
The Wrangell School Board held a special meeting Monday, Aug. 24, to discuss recent travel and purchases made by the superintendent and school staff. Last week, Superintendent Debbe Lancaster and three other members of the school district traveled to Juneau for a shopping trip. This was to acquire some key items related to reopening the schools and COVID-19 mitigation, she said. There were several reasons this was a topic of discussion for the board, among them being a lack of communication...
Shea Siegert, campaign manager for Alaskans for Better Elections, recently spoke to the Wrangell Sentinel about their organization. With limited opportunities for in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, they are trying to get the word out about their campaign in any way they can. Their campaign, he said, is to make some big changes to the way elections are run in the state of Alaska. "These are really important for Alaskans because we are facing some big problems with our...
Snacks that are good for people and the planet now come in the form of crispy chips that are made from Bristol Bay sockeye salmon skins. The new, flash fried snack was spawned by a Los Angeles-based company called Goodfish, which aims to “propel sustainable seafood into our mass-market consumer culture.” It is the second venture for partners Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud, a well-financed duo who are committed to trailblazing brands that have “higher standards of sourcing, manufacturing, and social ethos.” A decade ago they co-foun...
Staff at Evergreen Elementary School held a "welcome back" event to greet students for the upcoming school year. Maintaining social distance, due to COVID-19, families were invited to drive by the school, say hello to the teachers, and pick up a back-to-school packet and some popsicles. Pictured is teacher Mikki Angerman greeting Fiona and Duncan Scambler, kindergarten and second grade respectively....
The City and Borough of Wrangell announced that a new case of COVID-19 was confirmed this evening, Aug. 21. The announcement came in a press release from the city at 5:10 p.m. The new case, No. 16 in the community’s total case count, was reportedly discovered in a routine employee testing program. The patient is asymptomatic, the press release reads, and they are in isolation. Of Wrangell’s total cases, 10 have been locals and the other 6 have been non-locals. The press release also reminds readers that free asymptomatic testing is ava...
St. Frances Animal Rescue is beginning plans to relocate. The shelter was first established in 2009 by Rick and Dolores Klinke according to a PSA from the organization. Joan Sargent, lead shelter volunteer and adoption/foster coordinator, said in the PSA that the animal rescue was created in response to a feral cat problem in Wrangell. For years since the rescue shelter was first established, the Klinke family and other volunteers have worked to care for and find homes for cats, dogs, and...
For several years, the Wrangell School District has had its transportation needs met by the Etolin Bus Company. However, earlier this year company owner Greg McCormack announced his plans to retire. He sold his bus company to John Taylor, who took over the bus company and plans to keep it running. Now under the name Taylor Transportation, the company is preparing to serve the school district in its upcoming school year. "We bought it the day before COVID," John said, further clarifying that the...
In March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first began to impact Alaska, many local businesses and organizations in Wrangell shut down. While many groups saw the time as an opportunity to wait and see how the pandemic would change things in the community, the Wrangell Salvation Army took the opportunity to renovate and upgrade. Now that they and other local groups are as close to business-as-usual as they can be in this time, the Salvation Army wanted to remind people struggling through the pandemic...
With a SMART Start plan in place, and a beginning to the year scheduled for Sept. 8, the Wrangell School District is now working to decide what risk level they should operate at for the upcoming school year. While the SMART Start plan on the district's website lists "medium risk" as the starting level for next year, a recent announcement by Superintendent Debbe Lancaster made the public aware this might not be the case. "The district will determine whether the schools will open at a medium or...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly met Tuesday evening, Aug. 11. During this meeting, they appointed Bob Dalrymple to fill a vacant seat on the assembly. A seat was left empty after the resignation of Mya DeLong in June. Dalrymple was the only one to submit a letter of interest in the term, which expires this October. "I would like to be more involved in public service and I think my abilities and experience would complement the current Assembly," Dalrymple wrote in his letter of interest. During...
To the Editor: The controversy rages on how to start school. Some schools are virtual learning only; some favor face-to-face as if things were normal, and some favor a combination of normal contact with masks and distancing. I favor the choice of virtual learning only with no face-to-face contact. I lean that way for several reasons. Number one is I have not heard of any kid who died of lack of socialization but I have of Covid 19. Lack of normal contact does cause mental and physician issues...
The Wrangell Borough Assembly held a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4. The only item on the agenda that evening was a discussion of a potential mandate requiring the public wear face masks. No formal action was taken in the meeting, as this was only a discussion item. The general consensus among the assembly was, while they strongly recommend and encourage the public to wear masks, they do not want to go all the way to mandating it. This discussion was brought up at the request of the Emergency...
Three new cases of COVID-19 were recently announced by city officials, bringing the total number of cases Wrangell has seen up to 15. Of these, six cases are considered active as of Aug. 3. The other nine are considered recovered. According to the city press release, nine cases are Wrangell locals, while the other six are non-locals. The first of these most recent cases was announced on Friday, July 31. This was followed by two other cases that were announced on Aug. 1. All three cases were...
The Wrangell Public School District recently published their SMART Start plan for next year. These are the guidelines the schools will be following to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spreading amongst the student body and school staff. The plans differ school-to-school, and can also change depending on the level of risk of COVID-19. Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School will begin the year at "medium risk," according to the plan. This will have a regular seven-period day Monday through...
The Wrangell School board unanimously approved of a new calendar for the next school year, during a special meeting on Aug. 3. The primary difference between this new calendar and last year is a later start date. The 2020-2021 school calendar will have students' first day of school on Sept. 8. Last year's calendar had students returning to class on Aug. 27, 2019. The extra days before students begin the year will be inservice days and teacher work days, according to the calendar, followed by Lab...
A new case of COVID-19 was announced Friday afternoon, July 31. According to a press release from the city, this case was a close contact from a previous case that was announced last week. The press release also states that the new case is a local resident. This brings the total number of cases in Wrangell up to 13. Only four are currently considered active....
Two new cases of COVID-19 were announced in Wrangell today, Aug. 1. This brings the total number of cases Wrangell has seen up to 15, and the number of active cases up to 6. The first case was announced in a press release from the city early this morning, at 8:27 a.m. This individual is a Wrangell local, and according to the press release is a close contact of a previous case that was announced last week. The second case was announced later in the afternoon, around 1:05 p.m. Just like the previous case, this person is a Wrangell local and a...
Three new cases of COVID-19 were announced in Wrangell over a period of four days this past week. This has brought the total number of cases of the virus in town up to 12. The first case in this string, case no. 10, was announced Friday, July 24. During the initial announcement, it was not known if this case was from a local or a nonresident. This information was updated the next day, July 25, with the announcement of case no. 11. Both cases 10 and 11 were confirmed to be Wrangell residents, as...