After beginning the school year with no applicants, the school board has hired an activities director.

The board on Sept. 15 approved a contract with Heather (Kaminsky) Armstrong to serve as activities director for the 2025-26 school year. The role had been temporarily filled since school started last month by High School Principal Greg Clark while the board waited to permanently fill the contract position, which pays $10,000 a year.

“I’m not the type of person who will try to fix something if it’s not broken,” Armstrong said. “I just want to learn what I can about the district and what areas need attention. Hopefully, I can help improve anything that needs it.”

The activities director handles travel arrangements, schedules and coordinates student participation in all activities — sports, music, art, academic.

Armstrong said she brings experience from working with athletic programs in Everett and Lynnwood, Washington, as well as with that state’s Department of Social and Health Services at a residential rehabilitation center. She believes that mix will serve students and coaches well.

“I do commercial fishing during the summer months, and when I got back into town I was basically catching up on the news, and I thought I might make a good activities director,” she said. “I think this is a really awesome way to get to know the community and give back to it, too.”

The position has seen turnover in recent years, with five directors since the 2021-22 school year. Armstrong said she understands heavy demands on their time may have been a factor in that the job requires a lot of hours.

“I think that my job in commercial fishing allows me to be able to maybe devote a little more time to the position during the school year,” she said. “Professionally, I’m in a unique position to do the activities director job.”

Armstrong has commercially fished in the area since 2022; she moved to Wrangell in May 2024. She has two children — one in second grade and one in fifth grade — and said she has a personal stake in seeing the role succeed.

“I’m open to exploring ways to best assist each program in whatever way necessary,” she said. “I like to think that I’m a really good communicator and I really believe the students should be able to showcase their different abilities when they get the chance. I want to help make that possible.”