Robert Woolsey, KCAW, Author at KCAW

Bill offers relief for Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s maintenance backlog

A bill that could improve Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s chances at winning major maintenance funding – and possibly building new dorms and teacher housing – had a first hearing in the capitol Friday morning (4-4-25).

Sitka School Board expands its tuition-based preschool program

Sitka’s preschoolers will have another option next year. The Sitka School Board (on Wednesday 4-2-25) approved an expansion of a small pre-K program that piloted within the district this spring. Unlike the rest of public education in Sitka, the new pre-K program charges tuition, but parents told the board that the program was worth it.

In congressional testimony, NPR chief cites KCAW’s role during internet outage

Sitka’s community radio station KCAW got a shoutout during a tense congressional hearing in Washington D.C. on Wednesday (3-26-25). Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, North Carolina, was also mentioned.

Administrator update: Construction of Sitka’s new hospital on track despite federal funding uncertainty

The administrator of Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center says the new, $200-million-dollar facility under construction in Sitka will still have only 25 beds, but in almost every other way it will be an improvement over the current hospital. Bill Spivey gave an update on the progress of construction, and SEARHC’s plans for the future at a meeting of the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday (3-5-25).

Sitka Schools to cook meals ‘in house’ beginning next year

The board’s decision to switch to in-house cooking was inspired in part by the success of...

Funding shortfall may force Mt. Edgecumbe to cut half its teachers next year

Without a major boost in state education funding, Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka is facing a likely 50-percent reduction in its teaching staff next year. Mt. Edgecumbe is one of Alaska’s oldest boarding schools, and has been serving students from across the state for almost eight decades. The news about the prospective cutbacks was delivered to the school’s Advisory Board late last month.

Sitka School Board: ‘Let’s hold on to our schools’

The Sitka School Board is feeling hopeful about a possible increase in education funding next year that could eliminate the need for the drastic staff cuts the district experienced last year. At a recent budget work session (2-19-25), the board also set aside any further discussion of closing or consolidating schools in the community.

Seine gear allowed in Redoubt Bay subsistence sockeye fishery beginning this summer

Participants in a popular subsistence fishery near Sitka will have an edge in coming seasons. The Alaska Board of Fish last week approved new regulations allowing the use of seine gear and gillnets in Redoubt Bay when at least 40,000 sockeye have cleared the falls and made it into the lake.

Board of Fish rejects proposal to cut SE hatchery production of chum by 25-percent

Hatchery production of chum and pink salmon will continue as usual this year in Southeast. After many tense hours of testimony and deliberation at its annual meeting in Ketchikan, the Alaska Board of Fisheries rejected yet another attempt to curb the size of hatchery releases of chum and pink salmon into the wild.

Board boosts sport king allocation to (hopefully) benefit resident harvesters

Southeast sport anglers should be able to harvest king salmon all season this year, under new regulations adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries (February 4) at its annual meeting in Ketchikan. But nonresident anglers – and commercial trollers – may have to give up some fish to make that happen.