The Petersburg School Board is meeting Tuesday night to vote on opening negotiations with the teacher’s union, Associated Teachers of Petersburg. The union has requested opening negotiations this month, through a letter from Co-Presidents Jo Ann Day and Ginger Evens. The school district is employing 44 teachers this school year. There is also 34 classified personnel, two principals and five people in administration. That’s a total of 85 district employees.
The school board will be recognizing Finance Director, Karen Morrison, who was selected by the group, Alaska Association of School Business Officials (ALASBO), as their 2020-2021 Business Official of the Year. At the meeting, Morrison will be presenting the school board with budget revisions for this fiscal year.
The school board will vote on approving sex education instructors and curriculum for the school year. The district is required to make the approvals every year, according to state law.
The school board will also hear administrative reports from the superintendent, the principals, the activities director, and the maintenance director.
The elementary school has 206 students enrolled this year, including 47 special education students. Swimming class starts this week for K-5th graders. Because of the different COVID schedule this year, students will swim twice a week instead of everyday. Samantha Marifern will be the swim coach. Ginger Evens will start teaching P.E. to the elementary at the end of the month.
Secondary Principal Rick Dormer is expected to talk about the results of the second survey students completed in December and comparing the results to the first survey done in October. The majority of students in both surveys said they preferred this year’s schedule of four classes a day to last year’s schedule of seven classes per day.
The maintenance department has made the restrooms in the elementary school touchless, which could prevent the spread of germs. They also ordered basketball backboards and rims for the covered area outside the school.
The regular school board meeting starts at 6 p.m. via Ring Central video conferencing. KFSK will be broadcasting the meeting live.
To listen to the meeting, you can stream it online at KFSK.org. The public can participate in the meeting during comments from the audience. Email the district office before the meeting to get the password for the videoconference. Those email addresses are: exec@pcsd.us or supt@pcsd.us. Or call the office at (877)-526-7656.
Also, tune in to KFSK today at 12:30 for Campus Connection, a call-in with school district officials about tonight’s meeting.
