FAMILY FUN – Crystal Johns holds her son Zayne , 2, as she follows her son Ezekiel, 4, up an inflatable slide Saturday at Xoots Elementary School during the annual Spring Carnival. The event included games, prizes, cotton candy, and karaoke. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Sentinel Staff Writer
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April 17
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Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
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At 8:07 a.m. a woman [ ... ]
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Sentinel Staff Writer
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
School Board Ups Rates For Ventures Program
By BRIELLE SCHAEFFER
Sentinel Staff Writer
Families who rely on the school district’s after-school childcare program Ventures are paying a little more, following the School Board’s approval of a rate hike.
The program fee has gone up by $35 per month for students who attend three, four and five days per week. The board also approved a new rate schedule for busing.
“We are the least expensive option in town, which causes Ventures to run a deficit,” Sitka School District business manager Cassee Olin told the board at last week’s meeting.
The district considered cutting the $40,000 Ventures program during budget talks last year, but community members spoke in support of keeping it.
“It’s just to help out the solvency of Ventures and the way it’s currently running in order to keep it in the black,” Olin said of the new rates.
The cost for a kindergartner to attend the program five days a week is now $445 instead of $410 per month, and for first- through fifth-graders it went from $375 to $410 for five days.
Bus fees for kindergartners also increased by amounts ranging from $5 to $25, depending on how many days the service is needed. It’s now $20 instead of $15 for busing one day per week and $110 for five days instead of $75.
Drop-in rates, which were $25 per day, are now $10 per hour.
Ventures Program Director Marjean Ragsdale said the increases are very reasonable.
She said when parents were told about the proposed increase, “They said they were fine with it.”
In other places parents are used to paying $1,000 for after-school programs, Ragsdale said.
“We’ve actually had people who came here from down south and said, ‘that’s per week?’ We said, ‘per month,’ and they said, ‘oh yeah, even better,’” she said.
The School Board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday for work session on absenteeism and attendance and to review policies proposed by the Association of Alaska School Boards.
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Photo caption: Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks with students in Karoline Bekeris’ fourth-grade class Thursday at the Westmark Shee Atika. From left are Murkowski, Kelsey Boussom, Laura Quinn and Memito Diaz.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
A medley of songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar” will highlight the morning worship service on Palm Sunday at the United Methodist Church. Musicians will be Paige Garwood and Karl Hartman on guitars; Dan Goodness on organ; and Gayle Erickson on drums.
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