Wrangell’s School Board made an offer to Joshua Garrett to be the school district’s next superintendent. He has a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Kentucky.
“You guys do a great job selling your place,” he said. “I got to tell you, you really do.”
Garrett will be coming to Wrangell with his family from Astana, Kazakhstan where he is finishing up his role as the director of an international school for pre-K through high school at QSI International School of Astana.
Worked in education around the globe
He began his extensive experience in education almost 15 years ago, working around the globe with a variety of schools – in China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and North Macedonia.
Garrett said the stability of Wrangell’s community is appealing, considering that teachers frequently rotate at the international school he’s leaving.
“Forget the opportunity of the job,” he said. “From a family perspective, how many people have left and then come back? Says an awful lot about a place.”
During a meet and greet by video earlier this month, he emphasized the importance of community and teacher dedication over funding.
“there is no more money to put away for the rainy day”
Although he said he has lots of experience with grant writing, he wants to explore self-sustaining revenue streams to increase the district’s funding. He said this would be a solution to the current budgetary constraints that Alaska schools face.
During the COVID years, Alaska’s school districts were able to increase the amount of savings they were allowed to carry from year to year. But that drops back to a 10% cap at the end of June.
Garrett referred to that reserve as a rainy-day fund.
“Well, the rains happened, and it’s raining, and it’s not going to stop raining for four to five, ten years, probably,” he said. “And so there is no more money to put away for the rainy day, because it is raining, and we need to figure out how to build a proper shelter.”
He said he doesn’t know exactly how increasing local revenue will happen, but this would help sustain the school without relying solely on state and federal funds.
“It’s exciting to me,” Garrett said. “This is an opportunity to really consider school and education for the future. It having some ability to impact kind of the systemic elements of it is fun.”
Garrett said money is not the only thing that educates kids. He’s learned that by working all over the world, even in tiny-dirt floor school houses in Africa.
“Money is not the most important thing,” he said. “The community, the teachers (are). Now they need to be paid, obviously, right? Need to have enough. But that’s not, money’s not it. And I’ve been in some very well funded schools that don’t have the curiosity, don’t have this, the espirit de corps that seems Wrangell Public Schools do.”
He emphasized that being proactive, transparent and communicating through various methods is essential to building trust with community members.
Relocating to Wrangell will bring him closer to his daughter
Garrett said relocating to the states will also allow him to be closer to his daughter who’s attending a university in New Mexico.
Other finalists were Casey Robinson who previously served as a Ketchikan middle school principal and Frank Oakes, who teaches in Southern Texas. Oakes withdrew his application the day he was supposed to travel to Wrangell.
Garrett’s contract is for three years. His salary will start at $136,000 and will increase by four thousand dollars when he receives an Alaska Administrative Certificate. He starts his new position with Wrangell Public Schools on July 1.
