The Unalaska City School District has announced its pick for the next principal of Eagle's View Elementary Achigaalux.
Chad Eichenlaub, who currently works as the high school's business education teacher, is poised to fill the position left by Joanna "JJ" Hinderberger.
She resigned last month.
Superintendent John Conwell said there were about 15 applications for the position.
"Hiring is hard at this time," he said. "We would have liked to have seen more applications. But due to the lateness of the school year, I think a lot of folks who are interested in principal positions have already secured those for the next year."
Conwell said he narrowed the applicant pool to two finalists. Then, he interviewed those candidates with help from two elementary teachers.
While it wasn't an easy decision, Conwell said Eichenlaub was the most desirable candidate.
"He has all the credentials," said Conwell. "He has his master's of education in educational leadership from the University of Montana. He's taught in our school district for two years and was a student teacher here back in 2012."
Eichenlaub does not have experience as an elementary school teacher or as a principal or assistant principal. But Conwell said it's becoming more common to hire principals without prior administrator experience.
"It's great to have a young, early-career administrator in the building," he said. "They bring a lot of new fresh ideas and a ton of energy. I think Mr. Eichenlaub, with his business education teaching background, will take Eagle's View Elementary to the next level with their instructional technology."
Eichenlaub will not be officially hired until his contract is approved by the school district's board of education. That's on the agenda for the May 23 board meeting.
Conwell said UCSD is still working to be fully staffed for the fall. The district is recruiting for a replacement business education teacher, as well as a fifth and sixth grade instructor and a maintenance worker.
