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School board meetings slated

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. at 148 N. Binkley St. in Soldotna (unless otherwise noted).

For more information, call 714-8888 or visit www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/school_board.aspx/id.

* Today;

* Feb. 16;

* March 2 at Homer High School;

* April 13;

* May 4 at Seward High School;

* June 1; and

* June 2 (board planning meeting.)

KPBSD closures, end of quarter announced

Public schools in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will be closed: n Thursday and Friday -- for parent-teacher conferences check with your school for conference times;

* March 6 -- in-service and end of third quarter; and

* March 16-20 -- spring break.

District volcano policy

The District has an Emergency Action Plan that covers volcanic activity and earthquakes and will work with the Borough's Office of Emergency Management to respond to any incident. The timing and severity of such incidents will determine the response or responses to be taken.

* Eruption Outside of the School Day: A volcanic eruption outside of the normal school day could result in the cancellation of school across the entire district, or possibly in only some communities. The severity of eruption, wind speed and wind direction will be the primary factors in determining if cancellations occur.

* Eruption During the School Day: If a volcanic eruption occurs while students are at school, the district's primary contingency plan will be to institute an early release and transport students home as soon as possible after the event. First Student has placed their drivers on alert and believes they will be ready to transport within one half hour of the event. With normal route times, all students would be delivered within two (2) hours of route commencement. Severe winds could alter this plan.

Parents should monitor the district Web site and listen to the local radio stations for updates if an event occurs.

Information relevant to volcanic activity and preventive actions can be found on the web sites listed below:

* KPB Office of Emergency Management - Volcano Status Report

http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/emergency/default.htm; and

* KPB Office of Emergency Management - Informational Brochures

http://www.borough.kenai.ak.us/emergency/prepared/volcano.htm.

KPBSD budget forums slated

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will hold public budget forums to discuss the proposed FY10 school district budget at 7 p.m. at the following locations: March 3 at the Skyview High School library, March 10 at the Homer High School library and March 12 at the Seward High School library. For more information, call Lassie Nelson at 714-8838 or e-mail lassie@kpbsd.k12.ak.us.

Construction academy offered

The Kenai Peninsula School District has been provided a grant to deliver free basic construction skills training to high school students with the Kenai Peninsula after school construction program.

The training will be conducted at area high schools and the Workforce Development Center. Students from Razdolna, Voznesenka and Kachemak-Selo may participate in training that takes place at Homer High School. Nikolaevsk and Seward are offering academies at their high schools. Central peninsula students will have a choice of locations depending on what area of training they are interested in.

The academy will begin after winter break at the following locations: Homer High School -- construction/framing; Kenai Central High School -- welding; Nikiski Middle/High School -- basic framing and construction electrical; Nikolaesvk -- basic framing/construction; Seward High School -- welding; Skyview High School -- basic framing/construction electrical; Soldotna High School -- basic framing/construction and welding.

If students take and successfully complete two courses or 90 hours of training they will be eligible for a half practical arts credit. They also may participate in a 10-hour safety training course and receive a nationally recognized safety card upon completion.

The courses will teach several basic skills an employer will look for when hiring workers in entry-level positions.

To sign up or for more information, call Leanne Abendroth at 283-2145 or e-mail labendroth@kpbsd.k12.ak.us.

Local scholarships offered

The following scholarships are available to area students:

* The Kenai Peninsula Central Labor Council will offer four $500 scholarships to Kenai Peninsula high school graduates from union families. To be eligible, applicants must have significant improvement in grades, graduate in the 2008-09 school year and attend an accredited school. Applications must be postmarked no later than April 1 to be considered. Mail applications to Kenai Peninsula Central Labor Council, P.O. Box 1162, Kenai, AK 99611.

Murkowski seeks summer intern

Sen. Lisa Murkowski is accepting applications for her high school summer internship program. A total of 20 graduating high school seniors from all areas of Alaska will be selected to participate in one of two month-long internship sessions. The first session for the summer of 2009 will run from June 1 to June 26, and the second session will run from July 6 to July 31. High school students are encouraged to apply online in the Student Connection section at www.murkowski.senate.gov. Applications and internship information also will be made available to high school counseling offices. Applications are due March 13.

School Web sites available

Web sites for public schools in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District are available at www.kpbsd.k12.ak.us/. Click on the schools tab then choose the school.

Connections Home-school

Terra Nova testing for grades five and seven will be held from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Thursday at the Soldotna Sports Center. Students need to be there by 8:45 a.m. each day.

Scholastic Book orders for this month are due in the office by Feb. 13.

Cook Inlet Academy

Students of the Week are Harley Dunn, Ashley Hammond, Michael Marks, Abby Hill, Ray Chumley, Robert Walsh, and Alana Houser.

The boys junior varsity basketball team will play at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the gym. The visiting team will be Kalskag.

Thursday and Friday will be mid-term parent-teacher conferences. Schedules are posted at school and on teh school's Web site. Call 262-5101 if an appointment needs to be rescheduled.

First round of the forensic competition will be Feb. 20. Grades four, five and six will compete in group and individual categories of poetry, prose, storytelling and interpretive reading. Winners will compete against students of other Kenai Peninsula Borough schools March 7 at Sterling Elementary School.

The school is recycling ink cartridges as a fundraiser. Parents are asked to deposit empty inkjet cartridges in the box located in the school's lobby near the fish tank.

Campbell's soup label collection box also is in the lobby.

The deadline for seniors wanting to apply for chamber scholarships is March 6 at the school's office.

Seniors' slide show pictures are due today.

In-service will be Feb. 9.

The school board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 17.

Parents are invited to the school's chapel services at 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays in the gym. The service is student led with singing, awards, announcements and special speakers from the community.

Grace Lutheran School

Eighth-grader Kenny Werth won Geography Bee and completed the written test to see if he qualifies for the state meet. Jay Wilford took second place.

The school spelling bee will be held Thursday. Third- through eighth-graders will participate.

The school needs pictures to update the school brochure. Pictures of sporting events and other extra-curricular activities may be e-mailed to the school office at grace.lutheranschool@acsalaska.net.

Volunteers are needed to help man the school's booth at the Reading Fair Saturday. Anyone who can donate an hour or two is asked to call the school office at 283-9551.

The school continues to collect Big G Box tops and proofs of purchase from Campbell's products. They may be deposited in the box in the school entryway.

The next aluminum can collection date is Feb. 21. Cans may be brought to the school at any time.

Enrollment for 3- and 4-year-old preschool continues. For more information, call Joanne Love at 283-9551.

Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science

The deadline for submitting an enrollment application is March 6. Siblings also must have an application on file. Parents new to the school need to attend one informational meeting. Meetings will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10, 1 p.m. Feb. 14 and at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16. School tours are offered at 10:45 a.m. Feb. 11, 18 and 25. The lottery will be held the last week of March.

Friday is the 100th day of school. A re-enrollment letter for the next school year was mailed out to parents last week and are due back by Feb. 20. A prompt return of this letter will secure your child's slot for the next school year.

Sibling enrollment applications are available in the office.

Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Parents are asked to check their child's backpack for their scheduled time.

This week the fifth-graders are scheduled to take the Terra Nova tests and the fourth-graders will participate in the NAEP testing Tuesday.

The APC will hold a work session Feb. 9 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the school's five-year plan. A regular meeting will follow at 4 p.m.

The PTA will hold a Winter Carnival on Feb. 13 and seeks volunteers. Interested families may let a PTA officer or the KSAS office know if you are willing to help.

Kenai Central High

The school will be on an assembly schedule on Tuesday. The assembly will be at 1:40 p.m. in the auditorium to honor the hockey and crosscountry ski teams. Parents are invited to attend but please check in at the office before heading to the auditorium.

The districtwide battle of the books will be held at the school Wednesday in the library. For more information, call Karla Barkman at 283-2116.

Parent/teacher conferences will be held from noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Call Alan Fields at 283-2105 for more information.

Winter sports offered at the school are basketball, hockey, skiing and wrestling. To see the complete schedule online at

http://www.highschoolsports.net/defaultcal.cfm?ct=m&schoo8023&spt=-1&lvl=-1&division=-1&timeoffset=540.

Home games this week are:

* Tuesday -- JV Girls Bball vs Port Lions at 4:30 p.m. at the Rec Center; and

* Friday -- C basketball teams vs Homer at 3 and 4:30 p.m.

Kenai Middle

Carissa Bible who won the school's spelling bee. Desmond Ticknor came in second place. Bible will travel to Anchorage for the statewide competition in March.

Mrs. Howard, the school nurse, will do an adolescent class with the sixth grade students through their physical education classes. Boys and girls are separately shown the movie "Who Am I Now?" which discusses body changes during puberty. Mrs. Howard follows up with a discussion on hygiene. She doesn't go into sexuality, but encourages parents to do so at this time with their child. Also there will be a unit for the seventh grade students on P.S.I. integrated with the science class. Some of the discussions will require students to be separated by groups of boys and girls. For more information, call Pam Howard at 283-4896.

Yearbooks are on sale at the office for $35. For more information, call 283-4896.

Dates to remember:

* Today -- competitive volleyball begins, practice ends at 4:30 p.m.;

* Thursday and Friday -- parent-teacher conferences;

* Saturday -- volleyball at 10 a.m.;

* Feb. 10 -- volleyball at 3 p.m.; and

* Feb. 13 -- wrestling at 3 p.m.

Second quarter honor roll

* 4.0 grade point average -- sixth grade: Alexandria Bergholtz, Jake Eubank, Amand Fischer, Hevyn Hoff, Kirsten Nyquist and Hetta Quade; seventh grade: Josephine Jones, Raquelle Reynolds, Courtney Stroh, Ashley Thornton and Erica Tofte; and eighth grade: Austin Daly, Jacob Gilman, Makenzi Magiera, Collin Morse, Ericka Reynolds, Daniel Schaeffer, Sasha Thompson, Joy Wannamaker and Madison Westover.

* 3.5 GPA -- sixth grade: Celestina Castro, Jacob Dye, Richard Han, Jonathan Pedginski, Thomas Phillips, Mariah Schloeman, Marley Smith and Tanner Wortham; seventh grade: Carissa Bible, Alexi Camp-bravo, Jodi Cook, Garrett Dominick, Austin Frederic, Ariana Gabriel, Makayla George, Vladislav Glushkov, Matthew Goffena, Bradley Hamilton, Derek Hansen, Kathryn Knackstedt, Mickey Mahan-hamill, Alyson Quartly, Cheyenne Rodriguez, Vienna Schmitter-schrier, Dacia Shier and Caitlin Steinbeck; and eighth grade: Alexander Agosti, Brittney Boyes, Jenna Calhoun, Addison Cheek, Tierra Cloud; Tamara Dotson, Krystal Duran, Lee Benson Kempf, Gretta Kennedy, Kaitlyn Louthan, Alexandria Navarro, Lindsey Pabst, Josette Renken, Hector Rivera, Cassie Ross, Leah Sandahl, Darian Schaffner, Robert Spalding and Yvonne Waskey.

* 3.0 GPA -- sixth grade: Amanda Anglebrandt, Victoria Askin, Cruz Bravo, Nicasio Castro, Alexander Chipman, Timothy (Zoda) Douglas, John Engen, Mackenzie Evenson, Trey Feagin, Denali Fitt, Kyle Foree, Sierra Hall, Kayla Heinrich, Megan Kissee, Victoria Link, Kyle Millington, Leah Nacca, Clark Olsen, Chelsea Roberts, Kathleen Smith, Makai-lynn Smith, Dakota Sorrels, Lorin Thompson, Presley Upton, Joseph Vicere and Isabella Zulkanycz; seventh grade: Louis Adams, Merick Ahlberg, Chance Allen, William Ashwell, Kyra Bodnar, Sam Bousley, Gabriel Boyle, Tyler Brown, Caleb Caldwell, Brian Clifford, Kirsten Duran, Shannon Engebretson, Destany Feik, Austin Goffena, Hanah Hoff, Keir Johnson, Miles Jones, Patrick King, Courtney Mccauley, Falon Mcgahan, Dallas Pierren, Blake Riley, Breonna Rude, Nolan Scarlett, Whitni Stockton, Kia Youngren-brown and Nathan Tyler Zorbas; and eighth grade: Johndavid Ahlberg, Katarina Anderson, Misty Bondy, Delainey Bowman, Joseph Bressler, Duncan Brewer, Tyler Chenault, Chelsea Chess, Ruscia-lea Colton, Katelynn Craig, Madison Cunningham, Rebecca Elliott, Wyatt Fitt, Sierra Glonek, Krysta Hamman, Sage Klauder, Chelsy Loveland, Byron Mauck, Matthew Morse, Mason Mount, Katherine O'reilly, Ethan Oliver, Shelby Palacios, Mary Pellegrom, Ashley Perry, Rose Price, Sarah Rawson, Duane Reitter, Thaddaeus Rodriguez and Kelsey Williams.

Kenai Peninsula College

Kenai Peninsula College Fall dean's list announced:

3.5 Grade point average or higher -- Amy Alford, Olempiada Anfilofieff, Brandon Biddle, Krissel Calibo, Janine Carlough, Sara Conyers, Tyler Cooper-Brown, Katherine Cox, Amber Davis, David Derleth, Ashley Doremire, Randell Dudley, Karen Duffy, Kelsey Effenbeck, Ashley Engebretsen, Erika Fandel, Rachael Gaedeke, Misty Garner, Robin George, Bailey Glover, Jenna Grady, Krystin Habighorst, Ondrej Hess, Ryan Hobbs, Rodney Hobby, Eli Holt, Laramie Horn, Katrina Kearney, Tyler Kobelnyk, Nicoles Koerber, Brent Lee, Macie Manire, William Manuel, Callie Martin, Russell McDonald, Aimee McGahan, Taylor Moore, Crystal Olender, Melanie Parrett, Kelci Patton, Christian Pepper, Aleksandr Pfaffe, Vivian Ramsey, Brian Reith, Susan Richardson, Kelly Salisbury, Amber Sawyers, Iris Shangin, Julie Shockro, Mikala Smith, Tyler Smith, Robert Swan, Jennifer Tefft, Shauna Thornton, Trisha Whisman, Bonnie Whitefeather, Keven Windel, Melissa Windel, Ye Xie, Alexander Zarr and Caitlin Zipperer.

4.0 GPA -- Elaine Adkison, Travis Barnes, Michael Beer, Jeffrey Biermann, Dominique Bonaventure, Ryan Bowlin, Devin Boyle, Ashley Brandon, Justin Broyles, Eric Burton, Melody Cardwell, Robert Case, Elizabeth Chatham, Joireen Cohen, Tommy Collinson, Christine Conner, Curtis Conner, Devon Copple, Nathan Corr, Greta Danielson, Jessica Davis, Jeannie Devon, Catherine Dick, Terry Edmundson, Katherine Evans, David Evans IV, Richard Galley, Joshua Geibe, Christopher Goodrich, Ruth Greiss, Hannah Heath, Brandi Henry, Jason Herrmann, Richard Hubby, Allison Hulst, Angela Humphrey, Jordan Ikerd, Devin Johnson, Ruth Johnson, Craig Kantrud, Derek Kaufman, Mario Latona, Torrina Logan, Rachel Lowe, Jonathan Mann, Christa Martin, Judy McDonald, Laurence McKenna, Desiree Merculief, Jeff Newell, Charlotte Nicolet, Jesse Nims, Katarzyna Pacyna, Joseph Pazar Po, Danielle Pettijohn, Wesley Phelps, Jacob Pokryfki, Porter Pollard, Trent Semmens, Jessica Shields, Alison Simpson, William Skinner, Nicole Smith, Remy Spring, Elliott Tuttle, Catherine Umstead, Brett Weimer, Lucas Wilcox and Travis Wingster.

Mountain View Elementary

Parent-teacher conferences will be held Thursday and Friday.

Character Counts winners were Daniel Melvin, Anderson Kempf, Jordan Smith, Nathan Wynn, Tanner Swanner, Jonathan Herrmann, Charnchon Nammoon, Brandon Marcano, Jaden Kissee, Tieler Walker, Melanie Lee, Maliko Kaona and Chase Feagin.

Forensics for third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students will take place after school Tuesdays and Thursdays until Feb. 17 from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. in Mrs. Moon's classroom.

Nikiski North Star Elementary

A Scholastic Book Fair will be held today through Friday. Call the library at 776-2631 for more information.

Classrooms are collecting pennies for the Pennies for Peace fundraiser through March. Community members may send their pennies to the school to help those less fortunate in foreign countries. Call the school at 776-2600 for more information.

Character Counts! Students of the Week are Margy Cox and Ryker Dukowitz.

The top finalists in the class geography bees are: fourth place Evie Cox; third place Brady Hammond; second place Brady Malston; and first place Ross Halliday.

The top spellers who made it to the finals are: Alex Marshall, Tirzah Young, Brendan Harris, Ammon Padilla, Sarah Nash, Emma Carr, Savannah Bilyeu, Brittany Perry, Morgan Carmody, Brittney Cramer, Wyatt Edelen, Zack Tuttle, and Jamie Yerkes. The following are the finalists: fourth place (tie) Lochlan Quiner and Ross Halliday; third place Gregory Brown; second place Jeanelee Stock; and first place Dylan Jackson.

Nikiski Middle-High

Parent-teacher conferences will be held from 8 a.m. to noon, 1 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

Bill Thompson is the recipient of the Golden Apple Award. "Bill is the model of a professional and holds students to high standards in academics, behavior and activities. He is not afraid to tackle the tougher issues and will brainstorm solutions to problems that arise in his classes and the school. He is the teacher that is always here, working behind the scenes to make the school a better place for all who come through the doors," said Margie Warner, school head secretary.

The middle school has wireless coverage as part of the school's receiving the Consortium for Digital Learning grant from the state that will bring more than 50 laptops to it. The school also has wireless access. District-provided laptops for staff and students will automatically be able to log on to the server through the district private wireless network. Students will in fact be able to bring their own wireless devices to school and connect to the wireless server. They will have to do is log on using their district e-number and password and the system will run their laptop through a security screen. If there are no virus' detected the student will be sent to the KPBSD wireless private server and have full access to their KPBSD documents folder, the internet, and printers within the school. If their laptop does not meet requirements they will be sent to the KPBSD public wireless network and still have access to the internet. Our Internet filtering system will be fully functional on the wireless network.

Dates to remember:

Today -- Basketball vs Kalsag at 4:30 p.m. at home;

Tuesday -- basketball vs Soldotna 3 p.m. at home; and

Wednesday -- high school Battle of the Books.

Redoubt Elementary

Parent conferences are Thursday and Friday. Parents who have not scheduled a conference should contact their child's teacher today.

Feb. 13 is the last day to order a yearbook. Cost is $15. Yearbooks will arrive in May.

February is Love of Reading Month. Reading activities are planned.

The school's goal is to collect 5,000 Big G Box Tops by the end of the school year. A prize drawing is held each week from box tops collected. Last week's winners were Seryn Sproul and Zach Ulrich.

Skyview High

The school apologizes for omitting Chad Oakes from its first and second quarter 3.99 to 3.50 honor roll.

In honor of National School Counseling Week the staff wishes to recognize its counselors Lisa Lybrand and Margaret Griffin for all the the work they do for their students.

Parent-teacher conferences will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday. The boys basketball teams will host the first Peninsula Jam Basketball Tournament at 4:30 and 6 p.m. daily, Thursday through Saturday. Participating teams will include Cook Inlet Academy, West Valley, Grace Christian and Skyview.

The school's complete sports schedule is available at www.edline.net/pages/Skyview_High, then click the "Skyview Sports Schedules" link for times.

Soldotna High

Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Mass choir will be held at Feb. 9 and 10 at the school.

The school will try to keep its Battle of the Books District title by competing with the other peninsula high schools Wednesday. Team members are Cora Chidester, Amandra Cobb, Beth Philips, Ryan Dahlgren and from last year's Golovin Battle Books team Josephine Daniels.

On Feb. 11, the Making it Count organization will meet with juniors and seniors to discuss life after high school. Presentations will be first period for juniors and second period for seniors. Parents are invited to attend the presentations.

For its fund raising efforts for the Side Out Foundation, the was awarded a Philanthropic Achievement Award for the volleyball team Dig Pink fundraiser. The event raised $6,108.59, which was the fifth highest event out of over 300 events nationwide. Overall the Side Out Foundation raised $373,725.61, which exceeded their goal of $350,000.00. The award includes a plaque and a letter of commendation.

Soldotna Middle

Competitive volleyball teams begin practice today.

Today the school will present at the school board meeting at 7 p.m. Students, staff, families and the community are invited to attend. Presentations take place in the first 15 minutes of the meeting.

Today through Wednesday will be Terra Nova Testing for seventh-graders.

On Wednesday, January Bingo will be held during eighth period.

Parent-teacher conferences from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday.

On Saturday the Soldotna Maroon volleyball team vs. Seward at 11 a.m. at home.

Tustumena Elementary

Dates to remember:

* Thursday and Friday -- Parent-teacher conferences;

* Feb. 12 -- Sitka Music Festival to visit the school;

* Feb. 13 -- winterfest carnival;

* Feb. 17 -- PTO will meet at 4 p.m.; and

* Feb. 23 -- site council will meet at 4 p.m.

Wings Christian Academy

Jared Wood won the most interesting fact contest this week.

Chase Miller won for the Office of the Week in the Upper Learning Center and Andrew Grant won for the Lower Learning Center.

Book-it reading goals for January will be due by Friday and students are encouraged to begin working on their goals for February.