From Principal Kuhlmann's Desk on March 1, 2010

Already in February we have begun our forecast process.  By the date of the site council meeting, we will have completed our course preference nights for rising seniors and juniors.  Tomorrow we are inviting the middle school students from Floyd Dryden and Dzantiki’ Heeni to visit JHDS and by March 10 they will be selecting the high school of their choice.  In late March we will complete the course preference process for rising sophomores and by Mid-April those middle school students who selected JDHS will also have completed their forecast process.

We are excited to share information about our academic program including the endorsements.  Work has been completed to revise the honors and humanities endorsements.  Each endorsement is open to all students and, once an endorsement is selected, students may change their endorsement preference and pick courses from within other endorsements. 

We still must continue our work to connect endorsements and develop learning communities.  Additionally, as the school progresses, our faculty is discussing how to better connect with our students during the Advisory period.  Each student is linked to a teacher as an advisor and meets once a week with other students assigned to that teacher during a thirty-minute advisory period.  Students become familiar with PowerSchool where they learn how to access their homework assignments and track their academic progress, complete projects, meet with their teachers when additional assistance is needed, receive guidance for selecting post-high school opportunities, and benefit from learning how to complete scholarship applications. 

Finally, I would like to recognize the accomplishments of JDHS students.  For the fourth year in a row, our students have taken first place in the Alaska Region National Ocean Sciences Bowl.  A second JDHS team took fifth place.  This year’s NOSB broke several new records with 22 teams form 15 high schools and a total of 105 students participating.   The winning team consisted of captain Andrew Gregovich, Sarah Donohoe, Seth Brickey, Sam Kurland, Martina Miller, and coach Ben Carney.  Seth was voted most valuable player on the team.   Congratulations to both teams.

JDHS was also well represented in the statewide FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics tournament.  Their challenge was to design and build a ball-shooting robot in autonomous and tele-operated modes with motors, sensors, gears, controllers, software, and Bluetooth communications. 

We are also sending an Academic Decathlon Team to the state tournament.  Our team has already competed in December and looks forward to a great state tournament. 

The school musical Evita benefited from over eighty student’s participating including actors, actresses, back stage support, and musicians.  Some sixty students were involved in the on-stage performance. 

It is truly a privilege to witness the talents of our youth.  Our students, whether in athletics or academic performances, are thoroughly prepared to do their best.  We are certainly proud of their choice to participate and of their accomplishments.

Contact Information

Juneau-Douglas High School
Phone: (907) 523-1500
Fax (907) 523-1616

Mailing Address

Email Addresses

Principal Jim Kuhlmann
jim_kuhlmann@jsd.k12.ak.us

Web Mistress Barb Kreher
kreherb@jsd.k12.ak.us