Summer vacation is over for Unalaska students. Teachers and some staff returned at the beginning of the week and students joined them Wednesday.
There are seven new teachers this year and a new middle and high school principal, Mark Alston.
Alston said he’s excited for the new academic year.
“We're going to kick it off in the morning with about a 20 minute assembly,” Alston said. “[I’m] going to introduce myself, introduce some new teachers, introduce the staff.”
Alston was most recently employed with the Bering Strait School District where he worked as the program coordinator for a vocational training center in Nome. Prior to that, he held the principal position for the Martin L. Olsen School in Golovin for a year.
He was chosen among three other top candidates this spring, and is replacing former principal Carly Morris, who held the position for just one year. Morris cited the island’s high cost of living as a reason for her departure.
As for Eagle’s View Elementary School Achigaalux̂, it’s mostly business as usual. But Principal Riley Spetz said there are a few changes.
“The big thing that we have going on at the elementary this year is that our third through fifth are going to have a new dismissal time,” Spetz said.
The third through fifth graders will start at 8:30 a.m. and end their day at 3 p.m. The younger students will also start at 8:30, but finish half an hour earlier, at 2:30 p.m.
Spetz said they’re also starting a new monthly assembly with the entire school to help students connect with each other. That’ll be open to the community as well.
“We're just kind of going to use that to build a positive school climate and to get kids to know each other a little more,” he said.
The first assembly will take place on Friday, Aug. 29 and will start around 9:10 a.m. They will be held on every second Friday of the month.
Superintendent Kim Hanisch encouraged all parents and guardians to stop by the office and make sure their children are officially registered with the school.
The district will host its back-to-school barbecue and open house on Aug. 26 at 5 p.m. at the elementary school. And the Unalaska school board will hold its first meeting of the new school year Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. at the high school library.
