Education

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board Member Debbie Cary speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Cary also served on the borough’s reapportionment board. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

School board president receives award for meritorious service

Debbie Cary, of Ninilchik, is the Alaska Superintendent Association’s 2024 recipient of the Don MacKinnon Excellence in Education Award

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board Member Debbie Cary speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Cary also served on the borough’s reapportionment board. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Lyndsey Bertoldo, Penny Vadla and Jason Tauriainen participate in a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Lyndsey Bertoldo, Penny Vadla and Jason Tauriainen participate in a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education candidate forum at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Sidewalk chalk drawings cover the outside of corroding insulation at Soldotna Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Sidewalk chalk drawings cover the outside of corroding insulation at Soldotna Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

KPBSD to use grant funds for elementary counselor positions

The district budgeted about $626,000 for elementary school counselors for the current fiscal year

The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Open house to kick off KPC semester

Classes start for the fall semester at Kenai Peninsula College on Aug. 28

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
LaDawn Druce asks Sen. Jesse Bjorkman a question during a town hall event on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Druce returns as head of teachers union

The special election followed the firing of former president Nathan Erfurth, who was arrested in May on charges of sexual abuse of a minor

LaDawn Druce asks Sen. Jesse Bjorkman a question during a town hall event on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Mountain View Elementary School students use their hands to build works using methodology from the University of Florida Literacy Institute during a board of education meeting on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

New reading curriculum to cover Alaska history, culture instead of religion

The change comes after some teachers and community members questioned whether some of the proposed topics, specifically Judaism, Christianity and Islam, were age-appropriate

Mountain View Elementary School students use their hands to build works using methodology from the University of Florida Literacy Institute during a board of education meeting on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A sign opposing the participation of trans girls in girls sports is propped against a fire hydrant outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. The Alaska Board of Education met in the building to discuss a resolution that would ban trans girls from girls high school sports. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Peninsula residents protest trans girls in sports at state school board meeting

The Alaska Board of Education last week met at the George A. Navarre Kenai Peninsula Borough Administration Building in Soldotna

A sign opposing the participation of trans girls in girls sports is propped against a fire hydrant outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. The Alaska Board of Education met in the building to discuss a resolution that would ban trans girls from girls high school sports. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Robert Summer sits at a desk in his classroom at Kenai Middle School in Kenai, Alaska, in April 1997. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion)
Robert Summer sits at a desk in his classroom at Kenai Middle School in Kenai, Alaska, in April 1997. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion)
Protest signs hang on the entryway wall at the Kenai Peninsula Education Association office on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Voting underway to determine next head of teachers union

The election follows the firing of former president Nathan Erfurth, who was arrested in May on charges of sexual abuse of a minor

Protest signs hang on the entryway wall at the Kenai Peninsula Education Association office on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Education Association President Nathan Erfurth speaks from the bed of his truck in support of Kenai Peninsula Borough School District teachers and support staff outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Erfurth was removed this week as president of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s teachers union, days after he was arrested Saturday on two charges of sexual abuse of a minor. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Education Association President Nathan Erfurth speaks from the bed of his truck in support of Kenai Peninsula Borough School District teachers and support staff outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Erfurth was removed this week as president of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s teachers union, days after he was arrested Saturday on two charges of sexual abuse of a minor. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Connections Homeschool students prepare to enter the auditorium ahead of the Connections Homeschool graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Connections Homeschool students prepare to enter the auditorium ahead of the Connections Homeschool graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 18, 2023, at Soldotna High School in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School graduates prepare to enter the auditorium for their graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Central High School graduates prepare to enter the auditorium for their graduation ceremony on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland
Graduates walk in to a ceremony at Soldotna High School on Monday, May 15, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

‘You have been set up for success’

Soldotna High School graduates more than 120 at Monday night ceremony

Graduates walk in to a ceremony at Soldotna High School on Monday, May 15, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Alternative High School graduates deliver roses to their supporters during a graduation ceremony on Monday, May 15, 2023, at Kenai Alternative High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Alternative High School graduates deliver roses to their supporters during a graduation ceremony on Monday, May 15, 2023, at Kenai Alternative High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula College graduates proceed into the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium for Kenai Peninsula College’s 53rd annual commencement on Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Celebrating ‘a milestone’

Kenai Peninsula College graduates honored at commencement ceremony

Kenai Peninsula College graduates proceed into the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium for Kenai Peninsula College’s 53rd annual commencement on Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Elementary students prepare to stock rainbow trout in Johnson Lake during Salmon Celebration on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Johnson Lake in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kids gather for annual Salmon Celebration at Johnson Lake

They stocked rainbow trout in the lake and visited dozens of booths to learn about fish, wildlife, habitat and regulations

Elementary students prepare to stock rainbow trout in Johnson Lake during Salmon Celebration on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Johnson Lake in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

School board considers capital improvement plan

Of the 13 projects included on the district’s priority list, eight are being funded through the school maintenance bond

Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A trombone player in the robes of a jedi warms up during Pops in the Parking Lot at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, May 4, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai bands take annual concert outside

“Pops in the Parking Lot” stood in for Kenai Central High School’s year-end band concert

A trombone player in the robes of a jedi warms up during Pops in the Parking Lot at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, May 4, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)