Posted by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | Apr 15, 2021
Sitka Community Schools has scaled back during the pandemic, but it previously has had a large menu of activities not just for kids. “Is it community, or is it schools?” interim superintendent John Holst asked the school board.
The budget for the Community Schools program in Sitka will likely be zeroed out next year, while the school district and city decide who’s financially responsible for the afterschool activities program.
The Sitka School Board on Wednesday night (4-14-21) heard a presentation from the administration that recommended reallocating the Community Schools budget to the swimming pool.
Kreiss-Tomkins: Republican majorities will dip into Permanent Fund before reinstating income tax
Posted by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | Jan 27, 2021
Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D-Sitka) addresses the House in 2014. This year, the 20-20 split in the House means legislators have been unable to formally organize a majority organization, assign committees, and commence business. (KTOO digital services/Skip Gray)
The Alaska Senate pulled together a 13-member Republican majority on the first day of the new session (January 19, 2021).
Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman will once again co-chair the Senate Finance Committee. As of press time today (January 26), Sitka’s representative in the Alaska House, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, is still in organizational limbo.
Posted by Robert Woolsey, KCAW | Jan 15, 2021
According to interim Superintendent John Holst, around a dozen of Sitka’s senior teachers are eligible for early retirement, sevreral of whom work a the high school. (KCAW file photo)
The Sitka School District is considering an early retirement incentive for teachers, as a way of helping make ends meet next year.
At its last meeting earlier this month (1-6-21), the Sitka School Board authorized the interim superintendent to open negotiations with the local teachers union.
Early retirement is a tool that has been used before by the Sitka School District, as well as by other communities in the state. Alaska’s educators belong to a pension program called “TRS” or the Teachers’ Retirement System which mirrors the state’s program for municipal and government employees called “PERS” the Public Employees Retirement System.