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Sarah Day

Reporter: City and Education
News
sarah.day@juneauempire.com

Hi! I'm Sarah. I moved here from the cornfields of Southern Minnesota in August of 2010. It took me about 3.5 seconds after getting off the ferry to realize I love Juneau. I have my bachelor of arts in journalism and German. The part of journalism I enjoy most is telling stories about unique people doing fascinating things.

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JSD budget moves along

The proposed budget for Juneau School District is moving along to the board, with a general consensus of add-backs and adjustments.

The Budget Committee met for its last session on Tuesday night, hearing public testimony in favor of retaining .5 Full Time Equivalent elementary specialist positions, the truancy officer and a few other positions. The committee spent about an hour and a half of its remaining time hearing member proposals on what to keep, what to cut, and what to switch around as a priority for an add-back if additional funding becomes available.

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Harborview celebrates civil rights

Harborview Elementary School students filed into their gymnasium Thursday morning adorned in hand-crafted sashes with phrases that represented Elizabeth Peratrovich’s battle for civil rights.

The felt sashes — in shades of blue, brown and white — were bedecked with paint, marker or iridescent buttons with words in English and Tlingit saying: “Freedom,” “leadership,” “respect,” “humor,” “kind,” “loyal,” “brave,” “intelligence,” “friendly” and others.

“We are all here for a very special celebration of our civil rights,” said Harborview principal Dave Stoltenburg.

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Survey says: cut community development, admin

The results are in from a McDowell Group survey on how Juneau residents feel about planning for the 2013-2014 budget and its projected $7.5 million deficit.

McDowell took three approaches to the survey to get the responses the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly and staff want as they take a look at how to cut $7.5 million over the next two fiscal years.

One was to ask if people preferred raising fees and taxes to increase revenue or make cuts.

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School funding talks continue on local, state levels

With all the feedback the Juneau School District got on the proposal to change six of 10 school nurses to “health assistants” the administration ditched the idea on Tuesday.

Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich presented the budget committee — comprised of board members, citizens and education union representatives — with a revised budget proposal prepared by the cabinet.

Assembly keeps Wildflower Court rebonding

Wildflower Court is again able to proceed with rebonding its debt after the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly declined to repeal a previous ordinance.

City Attorney John Hartle asked for the repeal to be brought to the Assembly on Monday night because there was an “appearance of conflict of interest.” The conflict is a familial relationship between Wildflower Court’s administrator and the city finance director. Two items were on Monday’s agenda regarding the topic — repeal of the old ordinance and approval of a new one following an independent review.

Assembly committee hears housing options for homeless inebriate population

The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly’s Human Resources Committee heard options and opinions on housing models for Juneau’s — and Southeast Alaska’s — chronic homeless inebriate population as it was updated on several aspects of the issue.

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Local care from a long distance

In 2010, 238 patients were transported to another medical facility from Bartlett Regional Hospital from January to November. The hospital has implemented a new program in its Critical Care Unit which would have allowed its staff to treat 37 of those patients locally.

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City could repeal Wildflower Court rebonding

The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly is slated to repeal an ordinance it passed last month, where it approved the rebonding of the Wildflower Court, because there is an appearance of a conflict of interest in the deal.

The Assembly could also decline the repeal, or repeal but not reapprove the rebonding.

The City Attorney has recommended the repeal and independent review of the merits of the proposal. Staff is recommending a “no” vote on the repeal, as well as a “no” vote on the subsequent reapproval.

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State English standards grow

The newly proposed English language arts standards by the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development expands upon current standards for literacy and increases complexity for students.

Karen Melin, literacy specialist for EED, moderated a department webinar on Wednesday explaining the proposed regulations for English Language Arts.

She said the department estimates the new regulations will be ready for implementation starting the fall of this year, with the first testing based upon these standards in 2016.

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Proposed state math standards shift some skills to earlier grades

Newly proposed state math standards shift a lot of what’s taught in grades 6-8 down to grades 3-5 — which would require the learning of core algebraic concepts earlier.

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development is proposing new mathematics and English language arts standards — which are up for public comment through March. The state anticipates new standards being ready for classroom use as early as this fall, with first testing based on the new requirements in 2016.

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