The Haines school board reviewed a “bleak” 2018 budget draft for the first time at a workshop Tuesday. Next year’s budget appears to be about $487,000 in the hole, including a $370,000 anticipated reduction in state funding, said school board president Anne Marie Palmieri. The district will save about $100,000 through the retirement of assistant principal and curriculum coordinator […]
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School board appoints Kitayama to fill vacant seat
Longtime teacher Jeanne Kitayama was unanimously appointed to fill an open seat on the Haines school board Jan. 10. “Joining the school board for me is not having any agenda. It’s that we’ve benefitted a lot from this community…I can give back,” Kitayama said. Kitayama, who has lived in Haines since the 1980s, is a retired Haines School teacher. […]
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Firefighters elect Clay to lead department
The Haines Volunteer Fire Department this month elected Brian Clay as its new chief in a close vote between two veteran finalists. Clay defeated opponent Darwin Feakes in a vote of 32 fire department members. The winner prevailed by two votes. Clay, who assumes his new post on Jan. 9, inherits ongoing state budget cuts […]
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Year in Review: Art, public projects dominated Haines news
Advances in the arts and public projects marked much of the news in 2016, and combined, for some novel exchanges. At a Sept. 8 Haines Borough Planning Commission meeting dominated by critics of the proposed harbor expansion project, commission chair Rob Goldberg suggested a 630-foot steel wall breakwater planned for Portage Cove might someday be an attraction. […]
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Student saved from choking
When a Haines High School student called for help as he began to choke at school Monday, Natalie Benassi’s instincts kicked in. “This is not only a student; this is someone’s child,” Benassi said. She works as a paraprofessional at the school. Benassi was walking to class with a student just after 10 a.m. Monday […]
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Students and seniors to share lunch at school
A new pilot program for seniors to join elementary school students for lunches in the school cafeteria will be put to the test in January. The organization Volunteer Haines proposed the plan to fulfill its priority of offering seniors a low-cost lunch on Fridays. The Senior Center only provides a midday meal Monday through Thursday. […]
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Fire department looks at 2 chief candidates
The Haines Volunteer Fire Department this month will elect a new chief from among two veteran finalists. The victor will inherit ongoing state budget cuts that could impact services and internal fractures over recent controversial personnel moves. On Dec. 12, the two volunteers – Brian Clay and Darwin Feakes – will face a vote of […]
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Sex education to entail more than saying ‘no’
For Haines High School students, sex education will be more than just learning to say no. In an eight-minute-long special meeting Tuesday, the Haines school board unanimously approved additional sex education materials that will go beyond abstinence and include birth control and gender identity. At the Nov. 1 meeting, board members said they didn’t think the abstinence-only teachings […]
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Wilson resigns school board seat
Haines school board member Mike Wilson will vacate his seat on the board after the Dec. 13 meeting. Wilson made the announcement at Tuesday’s special meeting that he is moving to Arizona to be closer to family. He will have served about two years of a three-year term. President Anne Marie Palmieri said the board will advertise for the […]
Posted inNews, School Board
School board looks at sex education
Haines’ school board thinks that the district’s health text book falls short on sex education. Specifically, the text does not tackle contraception beyond abstinence. And it is silent on gender identity matters. “I was concerned when I read that textbook, because that’s an abstinence-only textbook,” said board member Sara Chapell at Tuesday’s school board meeting. Meanwhile, board members and […]