The school board has invited to town the finalists for superintendent to meet with the community, answer questions and sit down for interviews with board members.

The community meeting, which is open to the public, is scheduled to run from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the high school commons.

The finalists are Joshua Garrett, currently the director of a private, nonprofit school in Kazakhstan; Frank Oakes, a former principal who now works as a high school physics teacher in Texas; and Casey Robinson, a former principal at Schoenbar Middle School in Ketchikan who left Alaska in 2020 to take a job as a middle school principal in Wyoming.

The board selected Garrett and Oakes as finalists on May 7, along with Grant Lee, and then added Robinson to the list at a May 12 meeting after Lee withdrew his application.

Bill Burr, who has served as superintendent the past four years, is leaving the job at the end of June. The board wants to have a replacement at work by July 1.

The board considered the applicants in executive sessions on May 7 and 12, then convened back into public session to vote on the finalists. There was no discussion of the finalists’ qualifications during the public sessions at either meeting.

Board President Dave Wilson on May 13 declined comment on the candidates. “I don’t have anything to offer.”

The board solicited written questions from the public in advance to ask of the candidates at the May 22 community meeting, though they acknowledged there would not be time to ask all of them at the event.

“We will do our best to cover popular questions, and there will be opportunity to visit with candidates one-on-one during the reception,” according to the district’s announcement.

“During the reception, there will be an opportunity to provide positive, written input to the school board regarding the candidates,” the announcement said.

The five-member school board will interview the finalists on Friday, May 23, at Evergreen Elementary School. The interviews will be conducted in executive session.

Oakes and Robinson are expected in Wrangell this week for the meetings and to tour the community. Kazakhstan-based Garrett, who is almost two days of flying away from Wrangell, will participate via Zoom, Wilson said.

Garrett was born and raised in Derby, Kansas. “My wife and I have been living in the different countries since 2003,” he said in a personal essay posted online. “Before moving to Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan), I ran a school in Skopje, North Macedonia. And even earlier I lived in Turkey, China, Azerbaijan and Georgia (the country at the intersection of Europe and Asia).”

He is director of QSI International School of Astana, where he has worked since 2021. The school has more than 300 students and a budget of $7.5 million, according to his resume, both similar numbers to Wrangell.

The nonprofit QSI runs schools in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South and North America. The school in Kazakhstan teaches preschool through high school.

Garrett has a doctorate degree in education from the University of Kentucky.

“His focus is on creating inclusive, engaging learning environments that support both academic achievement and student well-being,” according to the Wrangell district’s announcement.

Oakes has spent his educational career in southern Texas. He is currently working as a high school physics teacher in Luling, Texas.

“He has been a principal for 12 years at three different drop-out recovery schools,” the district announcement said.

His resume lists work as special projects coordinator with the Texans Can Academies, a public charter district with 13 high school campuses across five Texas cities. He served as principal at the Austin (Texas) Can Academy 2011-2018, according to his resume.

He was named educator of the year in 2008 at the Gary Job Corps Center in San Marcos, Texas. The center is part of a U.S. Department of Labor program.

Oakes has a bachelor’s degree in health, physical education and sociology from Trinity University, in Texas, and a master’s degree in education administration from Our Lady of the Lake University, in San Antonio, Texas. He’s also coached high school baseball.

Robinson has 24 years of experience as a principal or school superintendent in Alaska, Wyoming and Kansas.

His most recent job was superintendent for the Palco School District in Kansas from 2021 to 2024. The district has about 100 students. Before that, he was superintendent of another rural school district in Kansas, with about 130 students.

He worked as principal at Schoenbar Middle School in Ketchikan for seven years, according to the Wrangell district’s announcement. He left in 2016 for a job as a middle school principal in Riverton, Wyoming.

“Wrangell was the first town he ever visited in Alaska,” the Wrangell district reported.

Robinson has a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and a master’s in educational administration from Fort Hays State University, in Kansas. He has coached high school football, basketball, track and golf.