The Wrangell school district’s business manager and information technology director have both resigned from their positions.
Bob Russell, the IT director, will finish out his contract and leave the district at the end of the school year. Tammy Stromberg, the business manager, will leave at the end of February, though her last official day is the end of March.
“Staffing changes in administrative positions are always difficult,” said Schools Superintendent Bill Burr. “Finding people to come to a small district or work with a small district is harder. Our pay is not as competitive as some districts can do.”
Stromberg was hired at the end of 2021 from an applicant pool of about 10 people, taking the job because it allowed her to work remotely from her home in Anchorage. She has been instrumental in upgrading the school’s accounting software and seeing it through a couple of fiscal years.
“I was heavily recruited by the North Slope Borough School District,” Stromberg said. “I need my high three years for retirement.”
Public-employee retirements in Alaska are based on an average of workers’ three highest years of wages over their career, and the North Slope district pays higher wages. (The state abolished the retirement system for municipal, state and school district employees hired after July 2006 to save on employer retirement system costs.)
Deciding to accept the North Slope job wasn’t easy for Stromberg.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” she said. “I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in Wrangell and really like the community. I bought a house here, so I will definitely be seen on the streets of Wrangell in the future.”
Stromberg said she’s most proud of her work to provide the community with good financial information and modernizing the accounting system to operate more efficiently and to be less time-consuming for district staff.
Russell opted not to renew his contract for next school year. He began with the district in July of 2021.
When he started with the district, the IT and software systems were varied, and “sometimes they were competing with each other and he made it much more universal,” Burr said. “It was more of, ‘This is how the network is going to operate. This is how the wireless is going to be run.’ More of the standardization.”
Burr added that Russell also expanded the district’s streaming capabilities and how Chromebooks connect with Apple technology that’s been in use for longer. “A lot of it is taking a lot of ideas and making one pathway, which is difficult. I give him credit for that.”
Russell came from an educational background, which is a hard thing to find in the IT world, Burr said.
“Alaska used to have a big advantage in that most of the tech departments were teachers or had been teachers and moved into instructional technology,” Burr said. “That isn’t happening as much. The tech demand is high. It’s harder to find (those with educational technology backgrounds) due to pay, experience and the differences between business IT and educational IT.”
“My wife and I are returning to Tennessee to be closer to family,” Russell said. “I have really enjoyed living in Wrangell and will miss seeing the beautiful scenery every day. I particularly enjoy taking our dog down to Pats Lake for exercise and driving along the shoreline. The people of Wrangell have been great and really are a positive for anyone thinking of moving here to work.”
Russell said he will continue to work in the information technology field after relocating.
Burr said they began recruiting efforts for both positions after the resignations were submitted. Along with the two administrative positions, the district also has two open jobs for paraprofessionals.
“The process to find somebody, which we started right away, is more difficult, and the ability to find somebody full time on-site that isn’t already here is very difficult,” Burr said. He added that the district will look at remote positions as it did when hiring Stromberg. “That’s today’s work life.”
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