Long-time Air Force facilities manager hired for schools job

Kevin McCallister is the new facilities and maintenance director for the school district. He arrived with his family on March 25 and started work April 1.

Outgoing maintenance director Josh Blatchley will stay on until the end of April to help with training his replacement.

While McCallister is just getting started, he hasn't "really dug into the meat and potatoes of everything yet." He's already been made aware of some of the larger projects coming over the next few years, such as the replacement of the middle school's 30-year-old roof, as well as smaller projects including energy-saving solutions like switching over to LED lighting.

Based on what he's learned thus far, he said, "the schools, overall, are in fairly decent shape."

"My last job was fairly large," he said. "I was entrusted with the maintenance of an entire Air Force base." McCallister worked for a property management company that supplies housing for Air Force bases across the country. At Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, he served as the maintenance manager for the privatized housing department, overseeing upkeep of 910 homes and 474 mechanical rooms.

He has worked in facility and maintenance management for more than five years. He had also worked in construction for more than 20 years, and a plumber for 13 years.

It was the size and location of Wrangell that drew him and his wife to the town when the opportunity arose, as they felt that a smaller, more family-oriented community nestled amid the ocean and mountains would be better suited for their four children, ages 1, 3, 5 and 6. "My wife, she wanted to come back to the ocean pretty bad."

Originally from Bethlehem, Georgia, which is 30 miles outside of Athens, McCallister had always dreamed of moving to Alaska from a very young age. "It was a childhood dream," he said. "I was about 7 years old. I told my dad that I was going to move to Alaska and he told me to let me know when I do because he was going to go with me."

For now, he just wants to learn about the school system and staff, as well as the town itself, and learn to be efficient in his new job. "I should keep pretty busy," he said.