The school board and hiring committee have announced that Jay Thomas will replace Rich Rhodes as superintendent of schools.

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Jay Thomas comes to Wrangell from Unalakleet. He currently works as the Assistant Superintendent of the Bering Strait school district. He’s also worked as a principal and teacher in the same district.

Before that, he taught in in Akutan, in the Aleutians and in St. Mary’s School District in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta region of Western Alaska. Outside of Alaska, he’s worked as a teacher in Union, Oregon.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Eastern Oregon University and has a Masters of Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

He will take over from Rich Rhodes as superintendent of Wrangell schools at the start of the 2014-2015 school year.