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The school board has adopted a budget for the next school year that relies heavily on funds from two different reserve accounts to balance revenue with expenses. By withdrawing $976,000 from its operating reserves — just about emptying the longstanding account — and transferring $250,000 from its capital improvement projects reserves, the school district is able to cover its $5.98 million operating budget. The 2025-2026 spending plan includes two fewer full-time teaching positions than this year. Any increase in state funding for schools would...
The chamber still needs volunteers - and sponsors - to run events at the town's multiday Fourth of July celebration. And there's just one big, bright, sparkly unknown. "The only worry is the fireworks," said Tracey Martin, executive director of the chamber of commerce, which organizes the holiday extravaganza. Wrangell no longer has a certified pyrotechnician to take charge of the fireworks. "Someone in the fire department is working on passing their state-proctored test so that they can do the...
How do you take an hour's worth of interviews and additional video footage and shape them into a three- to eight-minute film? That's the cinematic goal of the Stikine Stories Film Festival presented by Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School students on Monday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the Nolan Center. The event is free to the public. The short films cover a wide range of topics, including hooligan fishing, totem carving, the pride and trauma of serving in the military, and bowling....
For the third time in two years, the Alaska Legislature has approved a bill to increase long-term state funding for the state's K-12 public schools. On April 30, the state Senate voted 17-3 and the House voted 31-8 to approve House Bill 57, which would permanently increase the base student allocation, the core of the state's per-student funding formula, by $700 per student, almost 12%, at a cost to the state of $183 million for the 2025-2026 school year. The increase would send more than...
Wrangell may see a return of track and field for high school athletes. The effort is starting small. Wrangell junior Boomchain Loucks, a standout cross-country runner, competed Saturday, May 3, at the South Sound Classic at Puyallup High School east of Tacoma, Washington. Loucks, who had started practicing in mid-April, was the only Wrangell athlete with enough practices under his feet to qualify for the meet, explained Mason Villarma, who is volunteering as track and field coach this year. “My goal for this year is to get it off the ground,” s...
Janet Buness, 78, passed away on Oct. 8, 2024. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Presbyterian Church. A reception will follow at the Nolan Center, with a dessert bar, coffee and soft drinks. Dessert donations are welcome. Graveside services will be private. Janet was born Nov. 25, 1945, in Willits, California, to Rex and Marian Lamm. She joined an older sister, Patricia. After her father died, the family moved to Brookings, Oregon. Janet attended grade school and graduated...
JOB ANNONUCEMENT Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the 2025-2026 school year for a K-12 School Counselor. The counselor is responsible for data collection related to social, emotional and personal counseling and guidance for students assigned. Valid Alaska Type C Special Services Certificate required, with an endorsement as Counselor. Alaska Type A Teaching Certificate preferred. At least one year of demonstrated successful educational counseling experience preferred. Anticipated start date: August 18, 2025. For more...
The Legislature appears to have reached a deal on an education bill. The Senate passed the measure with a $700 increase in per-student funding, almost a 12% boost, on a 19-1 vote at midday Monday, April 28. The House was expected to take up the bill on Wednesday. House approval would send the bill to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for his approval or veto, though the wide margin of legislative approval indicates lawmakers could have enough votes to override a veto. House Bill 57 started three months ago as a measure to place limits on student cellphone...
MILK RUN MUSIC FESTIVAL Friday and Saturday, May 2-3, in front of City Dock (or the Nolan Center, if the weather is lousy). Music, vendor booths, corn hole competition, open mic, standup comedy. Followed by more music both nights at Rayme’s Bar. Check out the full schedule on the Milk Run Music Festival Facebook page or milkrunmusicfest.org/schedule. FAMILY RESILIENCE FAIR 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Nolan Center. Learn how multiple community services can help your family. Prizes, games and resources to learn about. Contact B...
When our family resided in Wrangell from 1963-66, the community had two major payrolls: the Wrangell Mill located in town, and six miles south a mill owned by Alaska Lumber and Pulp Corp., which later acquired the downtown mill. In addition to the sawmill jobs, there were longshore jobs, numerous tugboats and, of course, loggers in the woods harvesting the timber. The recent release by the Trump administration’s report outlining “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” included development of the timber resources of Southea...
Ann Hegney, who started work last September as the only counselor at Wrangell schools, has resigned and will leave after the end of the school year. Hegney is the school district’s third counselor since 2021. “The staff and students are great. I am leaving because my father is in decline and needs help caring for my sister, who has Down Syndrome,” Hegney said in a text last week. “It’s actually the best job I ever had,” she said of her work in Wrangell. Hegney came to Alaska from New York state with 36 years of experience as a teacher and...
Legislation passed April 16 by the Alaska House of Representatives would require school districts to adopt policies that restrict the use of cellphones by students during school hours. House Bill 57, which advanced to the Senate after a 34-6 vote, does not require districts to ban students’ cellphones but does require them to regulate students’ use of phones during regular school hours, including during lunch and the time between classes. Wrangell’s middle school already bans cellphones on the premises during school hours. The high schoo...
Facing a gap of several hundred thousand dollars between available funds and its draft spending plan, the school board will hold a special meeting Wednesday, April 30, to adopt a final budget — which could include spending cuts. The latest draft budget presented to the board at its regular monthly meeting on April 14 showed about $6 million in spending versus just $4.7 million in projected revenue from state, municipal and federal sources for the 2025-2026 school year. The district expects to start the next school year with $990,000 left in its...
School Board President Dave Wilson on April 14 named 10 people to a special committee to assist the board in developing a long-term budget plan. The district has been drawing on its dwindling savings the past few years to cover spending, and it doesn’t look likely that any combination of state, municipal or federal money is going to rescue the district from spending cuts. “The budget situation is extremely dire,” Ryan Howe, a 16-year teacher in the district, said at the school board’s April 14 meeting. “There’s no calvary coming.” Wi...
More than five dozen high school students from around Southeast, along with their art teachers, will be busy painting, inking, printing, beading, knitting and more during Artfest, a four-day series of workshops in Wrangell this week. Artfest will run Thursday through Sunday, April 24-27, at the high school, with an art show open to the public from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday, said Tawney Crowley, the Wrangell School District’s art teacher. The festival for Southeast students started in 1997 when Wrangell art teacher Kirk Garbisch helped organize t...
DADDY-DAUGHTER DANCE 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the community center multi-purpose room. Tiaras, dessert and backdrop for pictures come with the $40 entry fee. Purchase tickets at the door via cash or Venmo. Hosted by Wrangell Burial Assistance. PADDLER’S POTLUCK 6 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Shoemaker Bay recreation shelter. For anyone who canoes or kayaks, has a raft or rowboat or paddleboard; likes to explore the waterways; or just wants to start up. Come out and meet folks who share your interests while enjoying stories of trips old and...
More than likely, the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy will strike a deal next month to increase state funding for K-12 education in Alaska. That’s the big checkbook fight as lawmakers face a May 21 constitutional deadline to finish their work. The increase in state aid will not be enough to solve all the money problems at school districts across Alaska, but it will be enough to prevent the worst of the crisis from hitting students, teachers and parents for the 2025-2026 school year. In Wrangell’s case, it probably will be enough money to...
Along with announcing his veto of an education funding bill on April 17, Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced new legislation with less of an increase in the state’s per-student funding formula, along with additional funding and policy items to benefit charter schools and homeschool programs. At a news conference in the state Capitol, the governor said there were two reasons for his veto. “One of the reasons is that the (state) revenue situation has deteriorated a lot” in recent months, Dunleavy said. “And the second reason for the veto is there’s...
Members of the high school band, jazz band and choir spent three days in Juneau earlier this month for the 51st annual Southeast Music Festival. “There are no winners or losers at Music Fest,” and no trophies, said Tasha Morse, who is in her 17th year teaching music at Wrangell schools. “It is a learning experience. … It’s kind of like a master class,” with guest musicians, called adjudicators, listening and coaching the students one-on-one and in small ensembles. Music Fest was held April 10-12 at Juneau-Douglas High School, with morning and...
Graduating senior Kyan Stead, who was selected by the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches for this year's all-star game in Anchorage, wished the game had lasted just a little longer. Stead's team lost in double overtime in the April 12 contest, 84-82, in a high-scoring game that he described as fast-paced. "I was hoping for a third overtime," he said. Cordova's John Itliong sank the winning basket for the Gold team. Stead played on the Blue team in the Division 1A/2A all-star matchup of...
The Alaska House of Representatives on April 16 approved a $6.2 billion draft state operating budget, putting Alaska on track for a deficit of as much as several hundred million dollars in the fiscal year that begins July 1. If the House version of the operating budget is added to the capital budget passed a day earlier by the Senate — and counting a planned supplemental budget needed to fill holes in this fiscal year’s spending plan — total general-purpose spending this legislative session would come in near $6.6 billion. The Alaska Depar...
Bill Burr has submitted his resignation as Wrangell schools superintendent, effective June 30. The school board was scheduled to accept his resignation at its monthly meeting Monday, April 14, and then move into executive session to discuss its options for the job. Burr started with the Wrangell schools in the summer of 2021, coming to work from the Delta/Greely School District in Alaska’s Interior, where he had been assistant superintendent since 2014. He had also served as director of technology and as a fill-in principal in the district. T...
The Alaska Legislature last week passed a major increase in the state’s per-pupil base funding formula for schools, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he will veto the measure because it lacks any of the provisions he wants such as more state support for homeschooling. The formula change passed the Senate and the House with no votes to spare — 11 votes in the 20-member Senate and 21 votes in the 40-member House. Assuming the governor makes good on his veto pledge — he called the legislation “a joke” last week — it would take a supermajori...
