The Sitka School Board on Monday night adopted a new English Language Arts curriculum for the district, beginning next school year. The so-called ELA is designed to prepare students to meet new standards developed by the state Department of Education. Alaska’s standards are closely aligned with national standards adopted by 45 other states, and usually referred to as “Common Core.”
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One of Southeast’s most prominent environmental organizations has started a marketing campaign – for timber. The Sitka Conservation Society recently printed a glossy brochure selling the virtues of second-growth Tongass timber for projects from furniture to housing. The only problem is: There’s no way – yet – to economically harvest and process second growth.
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Last night’s Assembly meeting also included a topic no one could have foreseen when the agenda was released Friday. Officials say they learned a lot when the community evacuated in response to a tsunami warning.
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Officials have cancelled a tsunami warning issued early Saturday morning for coastal areas of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia.
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Teenage years are filled with change, and navigating relationships among peers is a big part of everyday life. Bullying and violence are just some of the pressures they face. In Sitka, a group of teens is pushing back against this norm by practicing open and honest communication.
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There’s a baby boom going on with Alaska’s humpback whales. Slow-but-steady population growth is good news for the species, as well as whale-watchers. But it could be bad news for boaters, hatcheries and the herring fleet.
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What’s it look like inside an octopus? You probably don’t want to know, at least first-hand. That’s unless you’re a student dissecting one during this month’s Sitka WhaleFest.
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A two-year project is underway in Sitka Sound this summer to study the rhinoceros auklet. Unlike much of the biological research in the state, the work on this particular seabird is not about unraveling the mystery of its decline. The “rhino,” as scientists call it for short, is actually thriving, and a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is going to spend most of her waking hours over the next two summers trying to learn why.
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Assembly member Terry Blake moving from Sitka, will resign seat this summer. Assembly appropriates $5.9 million for schools. Redesign of Pacific High (with pitched roof) gets warm reception. Full turnout for Sitka airport disaster drill. Troopers find missing sportsfisherman alive and well on Prince of Wales.
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Alaska First Lady Sandy Parnell was in Sitka yesterday to honor a program that offers local fish lunches to students. The Fish to Schools Program grew out of a health summit in Sitka two years ago when someone suggested serving local fish in school cafeterias.
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