Wrangell Public School District has narrowed the field in its search for a new school superintendent.
Current superintendent Patrick Mayer informed the WPSD Board in February his intention to move on after finishing out the current academic year. Since then the district has been working with the Association of Alaska School Boards to find a replacement.
AASB had been the organization which had referred Mayer when he was hired in 2014. After working out a fee with the Wrangell district, the association put forward eight interested candidates for consideration.
Board president Georgianna Buhler explained the board had met last week to meet with an AASB representative and go through their options. Of the eight, they focused on three for final consideration, identified in a press release Friday.
They are:
Patricia Hutcherson, formerly director of curriculum and instruction for Northwest Arctic Borough School District in Kotzebue. She holds a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policies and a master’s in social work and communication organization, both from the University of Denver. She currently works as an educational consultant in Washington, where she holds a superintendent certification, and has completed the University of Alaska Southeast’s superintendent program.
Deborah “Debbe” Lancaster, currently the certified program administrator for the North Slope School District in Utqiagvik. She holds a doctorate from Texas Chiropractic
College and a master’s in educational leadership from the University of Alaska Southeast. Previously, Lancaster had worked as a principal and
lead teacher in the North Slope School District, and is due to receive her superintendent’s certification this summer.
William “Bill” Schildbach, currently is principal at Mt. Spurr Elementary School at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the Anchorage
School District. He holds a master’s of science in education from Portland State University in Oregon, and three bachelor’s degrees from Oregon State
University. He previously worked as director of assessment for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District in Kotzebue, and was principal at Emmonak School in the Lower Yukon School District. Schildbach holds a superintendent’s certificate earned at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
All three will be coming to Wrangell this weekend and interviews will be conducted early next week.
“The candidates are going to arrive here on Sunday and on Monday the board will meet with each of the candidates individually,” Buhler said.
A committee made of school stakeholders, with representatives from parental advisory committees, the Wrangell Teachers Association, administrative staff and a principal will then meet with the candidates for individual interviews.
The public will also have an opportunity to meet the prospective superintendents, with an open session scheduled for Monday evening at 5 p.m., at the high school commons. Parents and residents will have the opportunity to present questions, which the AASB representative will ask of the candidates. Afterward at 6:30, the school music program will hold a concert before it heads off to Spring Music Fest in Juneau that weekend.
The next morning, the board will meet with members of the hiring committee, speaking with each one individually for input. After deliberating amongst themselves, board members will then likely make their selection for the next superintendent.
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