Ann Hegney, who started work last September as the only counselor at Wrangell schools, has resigned and will leave after the end of the school year.

Hegney is the school district’s third counselor since 2021.

“The staff and students are great. I am leaving because my father is in decline and needs help caring for my sister, who has Down Syndrome,” Hegney said in a text last week.

“It’s actually the best job I ever had,” she said of her work in Wrangell.

Hegney came to Alaska from New York state with 36 years of experience as a teacher and counselor.

The school board accepted her resignation without comment at its April 14 meeting.

The district is advertising for a full-time K-12 school counselor to start the job in August, before the opening of the 2025-2026 school year.

The school board in the spring of 2024 considered contracting for remote counseling services for the district’s 260 students, but dropped the idea after strong pushback from the community and teachers.