Soldotna, April 18, 2019—At a special board of education meeting, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District school board voted 8-0 to amend and approve John O’Brien’s FY20 contract to officially place Mr. John O’Brien as the KPBSB Interim Superintendent on July 1, 2019 until June 30, 2020.
“I humbly accept this appointment as Interim Superintendent and am 100% committed to work on behalf of the entire Kenai Peninsula community to achieve positive educational outcomes for our students,” said Mr. O’Brien. “The Board of Education asked me to step up to help our school district through this challenging transition period in our state. I am committed to the students, parents, and staff of this District and will work with everyone to provide a high quality educational experience for our students through the continued implementation of our five-year strategic plan. We clearly have many difficult choices ahead of us as a District due to the fiscal uncertainty in our state. I am hopeful that by persistently working together we will emerge from this storm stronger, more resilient, and more cohesive.”
An educator since 1993, Mr. O’Brien began his career twenty-six years ago as a special education teacher in Maine. While an educator in Maine, he served schools as an athletic director, assistant principal, principal, and as Maine’s Distinguished Educator for Teacher Quality at the Maine Department of Education. In 2005, he and his family moved to Nikiski, Alaska, where he joined the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District as the educational and instructional leader of Nikiski Middle-High School. In 2011, he left the role of school principal to serve as the director of secondary education for the KPBSD, and in 2015 became the assistant superintendent of instruction. Mr. O’Brien holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education, and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership. In his free time he takes every opportunity he can to chase rainbow trout with a fly rod.
Board President Penny Vadla said, “I have every confidence that Interim Superintendent John O’Brien is committed to move our District forward through these challenging and demanding times. Superintendent O’Brien will work diligently to ensure our five year strategic plan and our vision are kept intact; and with the collaborative efforts of the District Leadership team and the Board of Education, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will continue our commitment to provide a quality educational experience for all KPBSD students.”
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“The mission of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is to empower all learners to positively shape their futures.”
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District graduates are creative problem-solvers, neighbors, business owners, teachers, parents, volunteers, innovators, doctors, and more. Your school district is a positive investment and validates its vision to, “inspire all learners to pursue their dreams in a rigorous, relevant and responsive environment.”
Every week KPBSD features a graduate, if you need some inspiration, click on one of the 2019 profiles you may have missed! (Click on the hyperlinked name to read the story.)
Scott Davis
Kenai Central High School, Class of 1977
Paul Ostrander
Soldotna High School, Class of 1986
Dean Carignan
Kenai Central High School, Class of 1987
Matthew Pyhala, DC
Homer High School, Class of 1993
Carlyn Nichols
Seward High School, Class of 1997
Kersten Gomez
Soldotna High School, Class of 1998
Katie Koester
Homer High School, Class of 1998
Stephanie Queen
Kenai Central High, Class of 2000
Kristin Bates
Seward High School, Class of 2004
Megan Mazurek
Nikiski Middle-High School, Class of 2005
Jeffrey Dolifka
Skyview High School, Class of 2006
Joel Isaak
Skyview High School, Class of 2007
Claire Neaton
Homer High School, Class of 2008
Emma Laukitis
Homer High School, Class of 2009
Nianiella Dorvall
Nikoleavsk School, Class of 2014
Do you have a story tip about a KPBSD graduate to profile in our Wednesday Inspiration? Kindly email Pegge Erkeneff, KPBSD communications liaison, Pegge@KPBSD.org.
Seward High School Principal, Trevan Walker, Seward Middle School Principal, Jenny Martin, William H. Seward Elementary School Principal, Alan Haskins, district administration, and the school board request your thoughts and input about potentially consolidating Seward Middle School (6-8) into Seward High School (9-12), and William H. Seward Elementary (6th). No decisions have been made, and your thoughts are valuable.
Exploring the difficult concept of school consolidations or closures is a challenging task. However, with fiscal uncertainty at the state and borough levels, it is an act of due diligence to have the conversations in order to learn community concerns and thoughts, and share with families and staff. In that light, KPBSD is being proactive to explore a number of possibilities to meet potentially significant funding cuts in all areas of our district, including southern, central, and eastern peninsula schools.
A community meeting for families, students, and staff will be April 11, 2019, at 6:30 PM, in the William H. Seward Elementary School. The meeting will be hosted by the school principals and Dr. Christine Ermold, KPBSD Director of Human Resources and Professional Development.
Seward Survey: Parent, student, and staff survey is open April 9 – 16, 2019 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/27PHGPS
Timing of any potential school consolidations in the Seward or Homer areas is unknown, and at this time, school closures or consolidations would be dependent upon funding from the state in FY20 and beyond. It is unlikely that school closures would occur in the Seward or Homer area as fast as the 2019-2020 school year, unless the Governor’s proposed budget stands.
Link: School consolidation discussions webpage and report
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Homer High School Principal Doug Waclawski, Homer Middle School Principal Kari Dendurent, district administration, and the school board request your thoughts and input about potentially consolidating Homer Middle School and Homer High School. No decisions have been made, and your thoughts are valuable.
Exploring the difficult concept of school consolidations or closures is a challenging task. However, with fiscal uncertainty at the state and borough levels, it is an act of due diligence to have the conversations in order to learn community concerns and thoughts, and share with families and staff. In that light, KPBSD is being proactive to explore a number of possibilities to meet potentially significant funding cuts in all areas of our district, including southern, central, and eastern peninsula schools.
A community meeting for families, students, and staff will be April 15, 2019, 6:00 p.m., Homer High School Commons. The meeting will be hosted by the school principals and Mr. John Pothast, KPBSD Director of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Homer Survey: Parent, student, and staff survey is open April 9 – 16, 2019
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2TJG85C
Timing of any potential school consolidations in the Seward or Homer areas is unknown, and at this time, school closures or consolidations would be dependent upon funding from the state in FY20 and beyond. It is unlikely that school closures would occur in the Seward or Homer area as fast as the 2019-2020 school year, unless the Governor’s proposed budget stands.
Link: School consolidation discussions webpage and report
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News Release:
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District:
Superintendent of Schools leadership position
Soldotna, April 5, 2019—On April 5, 2019, after five hours of executive session, Board of Education Vice-President Zen Kelly moved to authorize President Vadla to offer the position of interim superintendent of schools and negotiate a contract with assistant superintendent of instruction, Mr. John O’Brien. Clerk Dan Castimore seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
President Vadla said,
“On behalf of the Board, I extend a sincere thank you to the candidates, and to the individuals who provided public input during this process.”
Link:
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education webpage
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Soldotna High School Principal Graham, Soldotna Prep Principal Schmidt, district administration, and the school board request your thoughts and input about consolidating Soldotna Prep School (9th grade) and Soldotna High School (10th-12th grade) beginning with the school year beginning August 20, 2019.
Current reality
Enrollment is declining at Soldotna Prep and Soldotna High School, so both schools will lose teaching staff in the 2019-2020 school year. In addition to declining enrollment, the current state budget deficit in Alaska will require the KPBSD to adjust high school staffing formulas—raise the Pupil-to-Teacher Ratio (PTR)—which will increase class sizes and reduce teaching staff at both schools.
Academic offerings
To retain essential elective offerings for 9th-12th grade students in Soldotna, and ease the teaching position reductions, Principal Schmidt and Principal Graham believe that now is time to move Soldotna ninth grade students into Soldotna High School. This move would create an economy of scale that will lessen the amount of staff reductions and allow for more core and elective offerings for Soldotna 9th – 12th grade students.
Savings to budget
Moving Soldotna Prep 9th grade students into Soldotna High School, relocating River City Academy (RCA), and closing the building that houses Soldotna Prep and RCA will result in an approximate $630,000 overall annual savings to the district budget expenditures. This savings would come from reduced building operations and personnel costs to operate the current building housing two schools.
Soldotna High School and Soldotna Prep School consolidation meeting
April 11, 2019, meeting, 6:00 PM,
Soldotna High School Auditorium
A community meeting for Soldotna High School, Soldotna Prep School, incoming 9th grade students for the school year beginning in August, and community members, families, and staff will be April 11, 2019, at 6:00 p.m. in the Soldotna High School auditorium. The meeting will be hosted by the school principals and John O’Brien, KPBSD assistant superintendent of instruction.
Survey: Parent, student, and staff survey is open from April 4 – 12, 2019
Kindly participate in the survey to share your thoughts, and participate in the potential fast-track action that will benefit the educational opportunity for our Soldotna area teens.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZVY7YLR
Tony Graham, Soldotna High School principal:
“We want to provide the best experiences and most opportunities for the students. With the likelihood of an increase to high school pupil-to-teacher ratio and loss of staffing, it will hinder our ability to provide a 10th -12th grade quality education. However, because of economy of scale and staffing formulas, a consolidation with Soldotna Prep 9th grade house would allow us to maintain offerings for 9th -12th grade students that will give them the ability to have a full and rich high school experience preparing them for their future.”
Curt Schmidt, Soldotna Prep School principal:
“Research tells us that ninth grade is the most critical point to intervene and prevent students from losing motivation, failing, and-or dropping out of school. At Soldotna Prep (and through partnership with Soldotna High School) we have done an excellent job to create a school that consistently leads to increasing graduation rates for ninth graders. However, faced with the near certainty of reduced staffing (due to declining enrollment and a loss of state and local funding) our community may be facing a scenario where our school district can no longer support Soldotna Prep in a standalone environment. Under these unfortunate circumstances, we have reached a tipping point that requires us to examine consolidation with Soldotna High School if we are to continue to offer education programming that includes a broad variety of electives, effective intervention programs, and utilizes proven strategies that we know motivate and encourage 9th grade student success.”
Sarge Truesdell, Skyview Middle School principal:
“At Skyview Middle School we created a high school academic schedule with a middle school climate. We use this two-year transition from elementary to high school as a learning experience in preparation for the demands and the rigor of the high school. Over the past five years, the ninth grade Soldotna Prep School has helped our students by intervening during this critical first year of high school. The data has shown that Soldotna Prep School has helped raise graduation rates and success for ninth grade students in the Soldotna area. With the uncertainty of the state budget and declining enrollment, the school district may no longer be able to provide this standalone ninth grade school. If consolidating the Prep School into Soldotna High School is necessary to broaden the elective, intervention, and advanced options for our ninth graders, then I am confident Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Graham, and their teachers will use the strategies and successful ninth grade model to make sure our students are successful in a 9th – 12th grade high school.”
Dawn Edwards-Smith, River City Academy (RCA) principal:
“I’ve discussed with our students and parents the possible closure of the Soldotna Prep building, and the potential need for RCA to move. The district is working to find us a location, should we need it. In the eleven years I have been at RCA, we have moved a number of times. In each of those new spaces, we have built positive partnerships and used the opportunity to evolve. At RCA, we value improving our work through revision or iteration cycles. Changing location or changing space is just one more way to iterate how we do business. With each move, we have maintained our central mission, core values, positive school climate and family atmosphere.”
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