Counselor leaves after two years; tells school board turnover is a problem

Julie Williams will step down as school counselor for the district at the end of the school term, after two years in the job.

It's the latest in several recent high-profile turnovers of key school district personnel.

Secondary school principal Jackie Hanson announced her decision in February not to renew her contract for the new school year, after one year on the job. She was the district's third middle/high school principal in the past three years.

Elementary school principal Ann Hilburn announced she is leaving the district after two years as principal and a year as special education teacher for the high school and middle school.

Williams read a prepared statement at the April 15 school board meeting about her concerns regarding staff retention and the high turnover rate, explaining how she deliberated for a month over whether to accept a contract for a third year.

"When a colleague said to me, 'The adults are not going to change, your work with the students in your own classroom will have to be enough,' that was the moment I reached the tipping point in my decision-making process," she said. "Because schools that create quality educational outcomes do not simply accept a cultural norm that each teacher is in the building in their own silo."

Williams said, particularly as a school counselor, one "must work as an interdependent member of a coordinated team that maximizes our effectiveness."

While she lauded the school principals she has worked with in Wrangell as "visionary, ethically grounded and dedicated leaders," she noted that staff have come to expect that such new arrivals will likely leave in a year or two. "This is not helpful in boosting staff morale," she said, leading her to recommend that such high turnover should be carefully evaluated.

"The district needs to accept that this turnover rate is unacceptable - yet not preventable - unless the needs are studied and addressed," she said.

Board members did not respond to her comments at the meeting.

In an interview on April 18, Schools Superintendent Bill Burr said, "We've gone through a lot of administrators while I've been here and before I got here ... quite often for all different reasons," citing examples like secondary school principal Bob Burkhart, secondary school assistant principal Bob Davis and elementary school assistant principal Jenn Miller-Yancey, who retired after decades in the field of education.

Secondary school principal Hanson is stepping up to a position as superintendent for the Craig City School District, where most of her family live, while elementary principal Hilburn is leaving to return to her chosen field of special education in an Interior Alaska district.

Burr said it takes time for any new arrivals to develop a rapport with their co-workers and residents, while adjusting to Wrangell's unique, rural island environment. "Long-term staff are more likely to stay because they're settled," he said. "They have the community ... they're connected. But we can't get new staff to become long-term staff. There's a big divide."

He also said there is a growing shortage of newcomers to the field of education. "There's a huge drop-off in people going to college and becoming educators or even second careers going into education," he said, noting that, increasingly, people in the teaching profession are being asked to do more and more with less.

The district is advertising for a new full-time counselor for K-12 schools.

Williams said she hasn't determined her future plans.