Jessica Rettinger this week said her family will be accepting donations to raise about $1,200 to take son Jayden to the state spelling bee in Anchorage March 1. They have raised about $60, she said at press time this week. Rettinger said a fund-raiser set for March 1 was cancelled due to a misunderstanding about […]
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School tightening security measures
Haines School administrators have tightened security measures and are taking other precautions in the wake of school shootings elsewhere in the country. Some of the measures were under way before the massacre in Newtown, Conn., in December, but others – including keeping east-side doors to the building locked during the day – went into effect […]
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School briefs
Meal eligibility count met The Haines Borough School District is again eligible to receive federal funding for its after-school “sack supper” program. The program was at risk last fall when the number of families applying for meals dropped below a number equivalent to 50 percent of the student body. Following news coverage in November, the number rose […]
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Board asked to explain spending
Haines Borough Assembly members say they want more information on school board spending decisions following the board’s approval of $619,000 for district facilities and equipment at a December meeting. The December action came a few minutes after a joint assembly-school board meeting about borough support for funding school capital projects through the Alaska Legislature, including upgrades to the […]
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School expects enrollment to drop 11 percent
Haines Borough School District Superintendent Michael Byer is projecting an 11 percent drop in enrollment for the coming school year, but told the school board Tuesday an incoming kindergarten class in 2014 could stabilize those numbers. Combined with an 8 percent drop at the start of the current school year, Byer’s projection, if correct, would amount to […]
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2012: The Year in Review
The earth moved in 2012 and the shift wasn’t only the “slump” on the side of Mount Ripinsky that cleaved a house and split Lutak Road. Four-term incumbent state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, aiming to become Speaker of the House, lost his seat to Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a 23-year-old Sitkan seeking his first political office. Klukwan, Inc., once among the wealthiest Native […]
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Kreiss-Tomkins makes 4-day Haines visit
State representative-elect Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins visited Haines this week. His four-day visit included playing in community hockey games and meeting with interest groups. The 23-year-old Democrat arrived Monday afternoon with the goal of networking with local agencies and leaders to determine needs and priorities. Kreiss-Tomkins visited with borough and school board officials, spoke with senior center and pre-school […]
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Thomas’ ascent: From millhand to Alaska legislator
In 2006, a certified public accountant brought in to review the books of the Southeast Alaska State Fair determined the organization was bankrupt. A former executive director had allowed charges at local stores, federal tax bills, and associated penalties to pile up to a debt of more than $100,000. “We owed so much to the […]
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School spending on toddlers?
How far should the Haines Borough School District go in preparing children to enter kindergarten? That question was at the center of a school board discussion last week when the board voted 4-3 against participating in a grant request aimed at early childhood learning. The “Prime Time to Learn” grant would pay for a seven-month program, including classes and […]
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$619K for projects
A $50,000 lift for wrestling mats heads a $619,112 list of planned capital expenditures in a budget revision approved unanimously last week by the Haines Borough school board. The lift would hoist a $15,000 mat off the ground and into a special harness that would help extend its life over time, school officials said this week. Currently […]