As August begins, wild berries start to ripen, the fishing season slows and children, parents, educators and others gear for the school year. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s communications liaison, Pegge Erkeneff, said there are some new things in store for the 2018-2019 school year.

Several schools in the area have new principals. Michael Allen is the new principal and teacher at Tebughna School in Tyonek. Charles “Michael” Crain stepped in as the new principal and a teacher at Nanwalek School on the south side of Kachemak Bay. Dawn Grimm will serve as principal at Kenai’s Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science. Gregory Melvin is the newest teacher and principal at Razdolna School east of Homer. There have also been reassignments of current administrators: Michael Wojciak will now be a regional principal at Kachemak-Selo and Voznesenka schools and Joshua Hinds will now be a regional principal over Seldovia’s Susan B. English and Port Graham schools.

Launching this week, the district is offering an online tool to help students register for their classes. The program is for students returning to the district and includes eForms with eSignatures for back to school paperwork. Erkeneff said the new filing system will make it easier for parents who have multiple students in the district, simplifying paperwork processes. Instructions and step-by-step videos on how to access the online registration can be found on the district’s YouTube channel.

Parents, guardians and students are still able to sign up for the SchoolMessenger system, which will deliver text messages regarding important events like, school closures, safety alerts and more, straight to any cell phone. To activate the text service, text “Y” or “Yes” to #67587.

“Thousands of people have opted-in, but thousands haven’t but are still able to,” Erkeneff said.

Speaking of mobile devices, three years ago the district launched its mobile app, which is continually updated with district and school news, sports scores and schedules, a master calendar, school maps, directories for teachers and staff and other school-related information and alerts. The district also just launched an Instagram page, @kenaipeninsulaschools.

School supply lists are available on each school’s individual website. Start and stop times for various schools are available on the school district’s website.

Reach Victoria Petersen at vpetersen@peninsulaclarion.com.