Wrangell Sentinel -

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an ultimatum to state legislators on Tuesday, saying he will veto a multipart education funding bill unless lawmakers pass separate legislation that contains his education priorities. Speaking from his office in Anchorage,... Full story

Borough officials are concerned that Wrangell continues to lose population, while those who stay in town grow older and leave the workforce. As a whole, the state has lost more residents than it has gained in new arrivals every year since 2013, with...

HELP WANTED Petersburg Indian Association is accepting applications for a full-time Tribal Administrator. Position will be responsible for general oversight of operations and staff at PIA. Job description and application available at the PIA office... Full story

Jackie Hanson has resigned as principal of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School, effective at the end of the school year. Hanson started with the Wrangell district in August. She was the third principal for the schools in the past three yea...

Supporters of education funding crowded a legislative committee room on Feb. 5, advocating for a permanent increase in the state funding formula for public schools. Though the advocates were unified in their message to a joint meeting of House and Se... Full story

HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions: - Secondary School Principal for the 2024-2025 school year: The principal will provide leadership to ensure high standards are met and oversee compliance with...

Robb Arnold has withdrawn his candidacy to represent Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla in the state House. Arnold wrote in a statement to the Ketchikan Daily News on Thursday, Feb. 1, that he had ended his campaign. Under state law, Arnold could...

I am Robb Arnold and I plan to run for the District 1 seat (Ketchikan, Metlakatla and Wrangell) in the Alaska House of Representatives. I came to Alaska in the early 1990s to work with my dad at a logging camp on Kuiu Island, near Sitka. Rowan Bay...

After almost six years, Josh Blatchley is resigning as facilities and maintenance director for the Wrangell School District. He submitted his resignation the first week of January, effective at the end of April. The job opening is being advertised....

HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2023-2024 school year: - Paraprofessional: This is a part-time position working with students in Grades 6 through 12, 5.75 hours per day in the Special...

The Wrangell school district will have to do without federal pandemic-era grants for the next school year, creating a sizable gap in revenues and requiring spending cuts and/or pulling money out of savings to balance the budget. At a work session Jan...

Pick your cliché: Push comes to shove; between a rock and a hard place; money is tight; living within your means; don’t spend more than you can afford. Children need a quality education to succeed in life. Just because the cliches flow easily, don’t...

The Alaska Legislature failed on Jan. 18 to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $87 million in one-time additional state funding for the 2024-2025 school year. The vote was 33-26 and did not fall along party or political caucus lines. Forty-five v... Full story

Juneau school administrators are facing a severe budget shortfall partly related to flat state funding and declining enrollment. But much of the crisis comes from accounting errors that “drastically” undercounted staffing costs. The city’s schoo...

HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions: - Facilities and Maintenance Director. The primary function of the Facilities and Maintenance Director is to plan, organize, direct, and participate in the...

It’s been eight years since the state last increased its per-student funding formula for public schools — a 0.5% nudge that year — and years of stagnant funding have caught up with districts statewide, including Wrangell. “We have to count on fund...

Wrangell is No. 16 on the statewide priority list and unlikely to receive any school repair money this year from the state’s Major Maintenance Grant Fund. The list, prepared each year by the Alaska Department of Education after reviewing e...

The school district is advancing funds to cover student travel to state competition this school year, with the account at an estimated $52,000 deficit. The district is looking to the community and the newly created Wrangell Athletic Club to repay the...

The school board has offered a three-year contract extension to Schools Superintendent Bill Burr, effective July 1, 2024, pending further negotiations. “We just wanted him to know that we want him to stay,” said David Wilson, school board pre...

The primary election for the Alaska House of Representatives is more than nine months away and already five-term incumbent Rep. Dan Ortiz has at least two challengers for the District 1 seat that represents Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla. Robb...

The school district has pulled money from reserves and other accounts to cover a $46,000 accumulated deficit in the account that pays for students to travel to state competition. Covering this school year’s state travel expenses and future years i...

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said education is among his top priorities in the coming fiscal year but did not include an increase to the state’s per-student funding formula, known as the base student allocation, in his proposed budget. The budget includes abou...

HELP WANTED Wrangell Public Schools is accepting applications for the following positions for the 2023-2024 school year: - Paraprofessional: This is a part-time position working with students in Grades 6 through 12, at 5.75 hours per day in the Speci... Full story