The Unalaska City School District is looking for a new middle school and high school principal.
Newcomer Principal Carly Morris notified the district in January that she would be resigning at the end of this school year, according to Unalaska Superintendent Kim Hanisch.
“Basically, the cost of living with a family of five — [she’s] just finding it very challenging to be able to make ends meet here, as well as the realization of the cost of airfare and how that limits their ability to travel and be able to see family in other parts of the United States — those are her primary reasons,” Hanisch said.
The school district chose Morris to fill the vacant middle and high school principal position last February. She’s been with the district for less than a year.
Now, a group of school board members, staff and students are tasked with finding a replacement for her.
“It is a lengthy process, even just the preparation for making sure we have the right interview questions — we have all agreed what we're looking for in the candidate and how they might answer the question to demonstrate those qualities,” Hanisch said.
Once the seven-person committee makes a decision, she said they have to act fast.
“There's a definite sense of urgency,” Hanisch said. “The pool is so small that if we aren't ready to act right away, they're likely going to say yes to somebody else.”
Currently, the district has nearly 10 vacancies for administrators and teaching staff, including the school counselor position. More than half of those are for high school teachers.
The remote school district has historically had issues with teacher retention. High costs of living, exorbitant airfare costs and cuts in the number of ferry trips to the island have made it hard to keep staff around. Similarly, while the city generally grants the school district its full funding request, flat state funding has made it difficult to maintain competitive salaries.
School board members and Hanisch are meeting with legislators in Juneau this year to advocate for increases in education funding. She said that would boost teacher salaries and hopefully improve retention.
While it’s unsettling to get the resignations, Hanisch said receiving them earlier in the year gives the district a better chance of finding more qualified candidates.
She said they are arranging interviews for the principal position now, and hope to speak with the top three candidates in the pool. They have two candidates confirmed so far.
For teachers, Hanisch said they do interviews as soon as they get applications from qualified candidates.
