Sorted by date Results 601 - 625 of 812
Building on an idea fielded during last month’s meeting, on Monday members of the Wrangell Public School Board decided they will begin participating in “coffee meetings” held with the public. Scheduled for a half hour before their regular business, the sessions would give parents, teachers and other community members the opportunity to discuss educational issues, trends and problems with the board in an informal atmosphere. While no actions would be taken as a result of these sessions, they would open up discourse in ways currently unava...
Accustomed to their students scoring highly on standardized tests, Wrangell parents may be unsure what to make of results for the new Alaska Measures of Progress (AMP) exam, due for release before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. First administered in schools across the state earlier this spring, AMP was selected by the Legislature in 2012 to replace its previous Standards Based Assessments test. The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (EED) reports around 72,300 students took part in last year’s examination. The AMP is a...
The North End Ferry Authority Board of Directors announced its local three-stop ferry service will resume tomorrow, after its lander underwent engine repairs in Wrangell. The Rainforest Islander departed on Nov. 5, after repairs to an engine and its port-side transmission were completed. Based in Coffman Cove, the ferry service was planned to be a low-cost service connecting communities on Wrangell, Mitkof and Prince of Wales islands. The ferry will begin operating at its reduced winter schedule, traveling Fridays and Sundays only. On both...
Students are getting a technological edge in the Wrangell Public School District, as emphasis is placed on enhancing or else expanding the use of technology in the classroom. To meet the district's information technology (IT) needs, this year two new full-time positions have been established. Cyni Waddington has been hired as the technology coordinator, and Matt Gore began as the school's technology director. Together they improve technical support for the district, fixing issues in-house and...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. October 28, 1915: Work was started this morning on the new tug to be built by the Willson-Sylvester mill company to take place of the Alaska, which was condemned at the recent inspection. The new tug will be 64 feet, 6 inches in length, with a 20 foot beam and will draw 9 feet of water. The plans for the vessel were drawn by Mr. Wm. Reade, who also has charge of building on the boat. The boat will be built on what is known as a skip-jack model, a very popular model on tugs on the Great Lakes, and...
At its Monday evening meeting, Wrangell’s Public School Board approved an amended strategic plan for the next three years. The meeting was the first held since the Oct. 6 elections, where board members Tammy Groshong and Aleisha Mollen were reelected to their seats. Pam McCloskey was also picked by voters to serve an unexpired one-year term, though she was unable to attend Monday. The board elected Susan Eagle to continue as its president, Howell as vice-president, and Groshong as board s...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. October 14, 1915: The big stern wheeler Tyconda, which made two trips up the Stikine River earlier this year, caught fire and was totally destroyed recently at Anchorage on Cook Inlet. The vessel left here last May after proving unsatisfactory on the river on account of not having sufficient power to forge the rapids on the Stikine. L.C. Berg and Chris Wedo came in town this afternoon from mining property at Aaron’s Creek on the mainland about twenty miles from Wrangell. The work for the season h...
To the Editor: I am not an active member of the Wrangell Landless, having stepped away in the year 1996. On August 1, 2015, I formally submitted my Letter of Resignation as an Officer of Wrangell Landless, as apparently I was incorrectly listed as such in 1996. Carol Snoddy To the Editor: It has been a great autumn in Wrangell. The change in the leaves represents a movement from summer into fall and an associated extracurricular activity movement out of cross-country season into wrestling and basketball. This also represents an example of seaso...
After Tuesday's polls closed, unofficial results for Wrangell's regular municipal elections were in. Three-hundred twenty-six votes were cast at the Nolan Center, slightly more than the 312 cast last year. Several seats were in contest this year, and on the ballot were two ballot propositions to draw voters. Incumbents David Powell and Becky Rooney both appear to have won reelection to three-year seats on the City and Borough Assembly. Challenger Christie Jamieson ran a write-in campaign, but the number of write-in votes tallied for the...
Polls will open for Wrangell’s regular municipal elections this Tuesday. Candidates have filed for all available seats, with several positions in contest. Among those open to the polls this year are two three-year seats on the City and Borough Assembly. Incumbents David Powell and Becky Rooney have both filed to run again, and Christie Jamieson last week announced her intention to run as a write-in candidate. Jamieson had previously served as Wrangell’s City Clerk from 1997 to 2012. Rooney has been on the Assembly since her election to an une...
At their Tuesday night meeting, members of the Wrangell Borough Assembly learned the former Byford salvage yard will be cleaned up after all. Earlier in the summer the 2.5-mile site tested positive for considerable contamination from lead and other hazardous metals. Oversight for the investigation has been jointly provided by the Alaska Department of Conservation (DEC) and the Environmental Protection Agency. Cleanup funding was previously to have come from EPA’s Superfund, but was earlier this month delayed after agency resources were d...
Tamara Groshong, running for re-election to one of two open seats on the School Board Occupation: New account representative, First Bank Why would you like to run for the Board? "I believe that education impacts the lives of our students. Children are the future and we need to see that they have the best possible chance to be successful in carrying out their dreams and making an impact in the world. I have volunteered my time with various local youth organizations and would like to continue...
Summer vacation for students and faculty ended on Aug. 27, and it was back to the old grind for the Wrangell School Board as well, which had its first monthly meeting of the new year on Sept. 9. Board members reviewed the new district crisis plan, which was drawn up and adopted by the school’s safety committee last month. The plan outlines responses for a host of emergency situations, ranging from fires, hazardous material spills and allergic reactions to bioterrorism and hostile intrusions. Additional input for the plan came from emergency p...
Wrangell’s Parks and Recreation Department has wound down its summer programming, and its advisory board began looking ahead to off-season maintenance and future projects at its Sept. 2 meeting. Department head Kate Thomas reported 22 extra staffers were hired this summer to administer courses and programs including a pilot program for the adult swim club, the annual Summer Recreation Program, new yoga and fitness courses, and two sessions of the Learn-to-Swim program. Following a lengthy closure of the pool for repairs, Thomas reported a...
At its meeting on Aug. 25, the Wrangell City and Borough Assembly were updated on developments of a number of civil improvement projects just getting started or currently in progress. In his monthly report, Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch explained that the Alaska Department of Transportation’s (ADOT) work on Evergreen Avenue continues to progress slowly. Bidding was initially expected to begin last fall, but delays have pushed the project forward by a year. Jabusch explained the next step will be a community planning meeting, which will allow r...
Applications for candidacy in the Oct. 6 regular borough-wide election closed on Monday. Candidates have filed for all available seats, with those on the Wrangell School Board in contest. Among those open to the polls this year are two 3-year seats on the City and Borough Assembly. Incumbents David Powell and Becky Rooney have both filed to run again and are uncontested. Incumbents John Martin and Clay Hammer have also filed to retain two 3-year seats on the Port Commission. On the Wrangell Medical Center Board, Woody Wilson has filed to...
Dear Parents and Students of the Wrangell Public Schools, Welcome back to a new school year in the Wrangell Public School District! It seems as though our summer has flown by, but what a gorgeous one it has been. Over the summer we have hired several new faces within the Wrangell Public Schools. Kendall Benson is our principal at Stikine Middle School and Wrangell High School. Mr. Benson brings many years of experience as a former principal in the state of Utah. There will also be a new secretary at Wrangell High School, Megan Talburt. Ms....
The City and Borough of Wrangell is taking applications for this year’s borough-wide regular election, set for Oct. 6. Up for contest this year are two 3-year seats on the Assembly, currently held by Daniel Blake and Julie Decker. The two three-year Port Commission seats of John Martin and Clay Hammer will expire in October, as will the four-year terms of Dorothy Hunt-Sweat and Woody Wilson on the Wrangell Medical Center Board. Tammy Groshong’s three-year seat on the School Board expires in October, and there will be two other vacant sea...
Various members of the Wrangell community were invited to the high school library Monday afternoon to meet with technical preparation program staff for the University of Alaska Southeast. Earlier in the summer the program’s regional coordinator, Kim Szczatko, set up a permanent office at Wrangell High School, which will expand its scope in Wrangell and other island communities. Presenting with her was the associate dean for UAS Career Education Programs, Pete Traxler. The tech prep program is a partnership program between UAS and local s...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. July 29, 1915: The baseball fans of Wrangell were treated to another of those fun-provoking ball games last Sunday afternoon when Leo McCormack’s “Counter Jumpers” went down to defeat before Cash Coulter’s “Has Beens” to the tune of sixteen to one. Although the score was very one sided the game was good and Leo says the only reason his team lost is because Harry Gartley went fishing instead of coming and playing ball. The boys are figuring on another game next Sunday. After the Counter Jumpers and...
It was a sold-out show at the Nolan Center last Friday, as over 200 Wrangellites packed themselves in to watch the New Old Time Chautauqua, a vaudevillian group of performers based out of Washington. The traveling troupe is passing through Southeast Alaska on a summer tour – the "AKqua Chautauqua" – its first visit to the state since 1992. Nolan staff had only planned for a crowd of 160, but word-of-mouth and a pair of parades through town on Thursday and Friday had sparked considerable int...
Following recommendations made to the Wrangell Public School Board in April, the school district administration is pursuing a review of its current crisis response plans. Superintendent Patrick Mayer, administrative assistant Kim Powell, and maintenance director Fred Angerman met with emergency services personnel at the Fire Hall last Thursday for the second of several planning sessions. “We’re just collecting some baseline information,” Mayer said, something to build from at future meetings. By the end of the summer he hopes to have a comprehe...
Next year’s lunch program was the hottest item on the menu for Wrangell School Board’s final meeting before the summer on Monday. Previously at its May meeting the board voted to withdraw from its contract with NANA Management Services, which had supplied food and cafeteria services for the district last year. On Monday members elected to withdraw from the National School Lunch Program as well, releasing the district from its requirements to pursue its own supplemental lunch program. The plan put forward by school superintendent Patrick May...
In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago. June 10, 1915: One of the biggest deals that has ever been turned in Wrangell came to a close last Tuesday evening when a company of Seattle capitalists, represented by J.G. Galvin and Sam Silverman, purchased the property of the Stikine Mining Company at Devil's Elbow, about 100 miles up the Stikine River from Wrangell. The owners of the property were L. Dixon and John Bordel of Telegraph. This is the property which was inspected last month by Mr. Galvin and Silverman, who returned to Seattle and...
Bob Prunella Wrangell's own "master of ceremonies and auctioneer extraordinaire" has taken his final bow. After a brief, brave, intense bout with metastasized pancreatic cancer, Bob died May 26th 2015 at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA. He leaves behind a huge Alaskan wake of accomplishments, friendships, and remembrances. Bob brought his Eastern education (Penn State) to Wrangell in 1958, where he helped pioneer and steer our "willful" community towards bigger and better things. Bo...
