Homer students competed with others throughout the Kenai Peninsula in the school district’s Battle of the Books. The competitions took place via telephone or videoconference. The winners go on to state competition Feb. 22.
Students in different grade levels compete in four different categories: third and fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, middle school and high school. Students in the elementary school categories read 15 books, while the middle school and high school categories read 12 books.
Homer Middle School Mathletes competed in the MathCounts chapter meet Feb. 13. Eighth graders Jonathan Raymond, Marina Carroll, Ruby Allen and seventh grader Larry Dunn played on the official HMS team and took seventh place in the team round. Marina Carroll and Larry Dunn led the Homer team with the best individual scores.
The unofficial team consisted of seventh graders Parker Lowney, Ben Coble, Katlyn Vogl and Emmet Wilkinson.
All HMS students placed rank 50 or above.
Sixth graders in Kris Owen’s class at Fireweed Academy and Deadliest Catch star Captain Johnathan Hillstrand pose with a sign telling 8-year-old Dorian Murray of Rhode Island that he is famous in Homer, Alaska. Dorian Murray has battled rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of pediatric cancer, since age 4 and learned recently that his cancer was no longer treatable. He told his parents that he wanted to be famous before he died and a social media campaign that began in January has accomplished just that.
Raymond Marshall is leaving the principal post at West Homer Elementary School after the completion of the current school year. After spending six years in the position, Marshall is looking to pursue other opportunities outside of Alaska, he said.
Resigning earlier in the year gives the school district more time to fill the principal position, Marshall said. Likening it to the NFL draft, Marshall said that West Homer should attract the cream of the crop of applicants.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Public budget meeting
to address school funding
Feb. 23: Homer High School Library, 5:30 p.m.
Parents, staff, students, business partners, community members and elected officials are invited to attend the public meetings. The district budget perspective, expenditures and revenues will be discussed, and the public will be able to have questions answered.
Chapman School
Homer High School’s DDF (Drama, Debate and Forensics) team competed at Service High in Anchorage on Jan. 29-30 and placed in several categories. They will next compete at the state tournament in Anchorage on Feb. 18-20.
1st Place, Solo Acting: Lindsey Schneider
2nd Place, Duet Acting: Ciara Jones and Patrick Hannan
2nd Place, Duo Interpretation: Lindsey Schneider and Landon Bunting
2nd Place, Extemporaneous Commentary: Nolan Bunting
The annual Paul Banks Elementary School Bingo for Books was a fun evening for the 250-plus students, parents and staff who attended the event. It was the best-attended Bingo for Books in many years.
The majority of students left with at least four brand-new books. Bingo for Books’ focus is putting books in the hands of children and Paul Banks gave out more than 450 books at the event on Thursday, Jan. 28.
Chapman School
Feb. 4-5: Conferences, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m., no school.
Feb. 5: Wrestling at Homer, 10 a.m.
Feb. 8: 7th/8th grade Battle of the Books.
Connections
Feb. 1-12: First session swimming lessons: 10 lessons, 1-2 p.m., Mon. - Fri.
The 21 students representing Homer High School in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District 2016 Career and Technical Student Organization Conference showed off their skills and picked up awards in 10 out of the 15 categories.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Chapman School
Jan. 28: Volleyball at CIA, 4 p.m.
Jan. 30: Cabin Fever Variety Show at Anchor Point Public Library, 7 p.m.
Feb. 1: First Aid/CPR for 7th and 8th grades in Mr. Crocker’s room, 12:20-2:15 p.m.
Connections
Feb. 1-12: First session swimming lessons: 10 lessons, 1-2 p.m., Mon. - Fri.
The Jan. 21 school pages contained errors:
• In the story headlined “Superintendent, principal learn all about pie in the eye,” Brian Dusek was incorrectly identified. He is a student at Soldotna High School.
• In the Kenai Peninsula Youth Court story, not all of the students recently sworn in were from West Homer Elementary School. Alana Houlihan and Beatrix Strobel are Fireweed Academy students.
The Homer News regrets the errors.
JUNEAU — After almost four years of preparation and planning, plus millions of dollars in implementation, Alaska’s new standardized testing scheme appears bound for the garbage can less than two months before students take it the second time.
The next time the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District administrators and the support staff and teacher associations meet for negotiations will be in the presence of an advisory arbitrator.
A hearing with Gary Axon, an Oregon-based arbitrator jointly selected by the three teams, is scheduled for June 1-2. On that date it will be nearly 14 months since collective bargaining began for contracts that were supposed to take effect July 1, 2015.
Budget constraints might mean all but two of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s 44 schools will have more students and fewer teachers in the classroom next year.
Administrators are recommending the board of education raise the pupil-teacher ratio at all sites other than Kenai Alternative and Homer Flex high schools through the preliminary fiscal year 2017 budget, which Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones presented at the Jan. 11 board meeting.
Other factors would compound the changes.
Two Chapman School students covered the faces of Chapman School Principal Conrad Woodhead and Kenai Peninsula School District Superintendent Sean Dusek in whipped topping on Tuesday, January 19 — without being reprimanded.
Fourth-grader Harley Boon and second-grader Lynnzi Stout won the opportunity to stick pies in the educators’ faces in a random drawing during a school-wide celebration of a successful fundraiser.
Chapman School
Jan. 21: Volleyball at Homer Middle School, 4 p.m.
Jan. 26: Volleyball at Chapman v. Ninilchik, 3:45 p.m.
Jan. 27: 5th and 6th grades field trip, Challenger Center, all day.
Jan. 28: Volleyball at CIA, 4 p.m.
Connections
A group of students from West Homer Elementary School and Fireweed Academy were sworn in as lawyers and judges at West Homer Elementary School after passing the bar exam on Thursday, Jan. 14. Afterward, they celebrated with their parents over cake and punch.
Parents of Homer teens listened attentively, and some a little anxiously, as three teens and two adults broached the awkward topic of discussing sex with their kids.
The night’s goal, however, was to make this topic a lot less scary and uncomfortable for everyone.
Most Kenai Peninsula Borough Schools are not in session in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. day on Jan. 18.
Chapman School
Jan. 14: Quarter 2 awards, 2 p.m.
Jan. 19: Students of the quarter lunch at the Cheeky Moose, 11:30 a.m.
Jan. 19: Third and fourth grade class pie Principal Woodhead and Superintendent Dusek in the face, 2:45 p.m.
Jan. 15: Wrestling tournament, 4-7 p.m.
The students of Chapman School’s third and fourth grade class get to give Chapman Principal Conrad Woodhead and Kenai Borough School District Superintendent Sean Dusek pies in the face as a reward for raising the most money in the district in suppport of the Bethel School. The fundraiser ran Dec. 1-17, 2015.
Brian Dusek, the student representative on the school board who created the project, will be present as well.