With the resignation of David Macri late last school year, and a brief run by Jack Carney as interim principal, Wrangell's secondary schools were left without a principal. The position is now filled, however. This next school year, local teacher Bob Davis will serve as the assistant principal/lead teacher of Wrangell High School and Stikine Middle School.
Davis has served as a teacher in the Wrangell School District since 1994, he said. He has taught English and history over the years mostly in the middle school but some in the high school. He had not really planned to take a principal role in the district, he said, but he applied for the job during the confusion of trying to figure out who would come after Carney stepped down as interim principal.
"During all that confusion, there were conversations going on and somehow during the middle of those conversations I found myself applying for the job," Davis said. "I'm not quite sure it was planned on anybody's part, it just kind of came up during the conversation."
Davis will be taking on a similar role to that of Jennifer Miller-Yancey, the assistant principal/lead teacher of Evergreen Elementary School. She has done a very good job serving as both a teacher and taking on some of the responsibilities of a principal, Davis said, and the district decided to try a similar model in the secondary schools.
There are several advantages to taking this position, Davis said, but some disadvantages. As a longtime teacher, he said he understands the needs of teachers in the district and is familiar with how the district is run. He is taking this new position with a lot of experience already. However, he said that he does not have as much formal training as a full principal would. There is going to be a learning curve, but he said he feels his on-the-job experience will help him through that.
"I've been in this school district for 25 years, 26 years, so I kind of know the players," he said. "I know where a lot of the rocks and reefs are hidden."
Davis said his immediate goals for the future are to keep students and staff as safe as possible through the COVID-19 pandemic. The school district posted their finalized SMART Start plan on their website earlier this week, after multiple workshops and receiving community input. This can be found at http://www.wpsd.us. Davis said he likes the plans outlined by the district, but he recognizes that nobody can predict the future. Flexibility will be important for the foreseeable future, he said, as plans may need to change to keep everyone safe.
Looking long term, Davis said he does have some ideas of what he hopes to accomplish as the assistant principal/lead teacher. He wants to work to make the middle school and high school a more inviting and comfortable place for students. Changing the schools' environment to improve it for the student body will be a priority, he said. Another goal of his will be to increase support for staff members. The schools have some amazing teachers and staff members, he said, and he wants to help them do their jobs as much as possible. Lastly, he said that he wants to be open and available to public input.
Davis said he can be reached at (907) 305-0333. "I just want to make sure that everybody knows that my door is open, my phone is available," Davis said. "I want parents and kids, whoever, to feel free to come in and talk and whatnot. I think that's important. My goal is to be as flexible and as amenable to people's needs and concerns as possible."
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