Board of Education picks new superintendent

  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Tuesday, March 3, 2015 5:20pm
  • News

Interim superintendent Sean Dusek will assume the superintendent of schools position on July 1, 2015.

The Board of Education voted unanimously to offer the job to the 22-year Kenai Peninsula Borough School District veteran following public interviews Tuesday.

“It is very humbling,” Dusek said. “I arrived in this district 24 years ago and never dreamed of being in this position.”

The school board also conducted an interview with Kimberly Bergey, who is currently fills the role of principal, teacher and test coordinator in the Iditarod Area School District, and was previously Superintendent of Schools in the Denali Borough School District.

Both candidates were given the same set of questions, which included two twenty-minute periods to answer eight “prompts.” They were then asked three questions given during the interviews by the school board with five minutes to answer each.

The school board received public feedback following the two interviews and also incorporated the results of a survey conducted by the school district that asked Kenai Peninsula community members to weigh in on what traits they want in a superintendent, said School board president Joe Arness.

The school board will sit down with Dusek during a to-be-scheduled work session to negotiate the terms of his contract, Arness said.

The salary will be between $140,000 and $165,000 annually, according to the application advertisement released by the school district.

Montana’s Eureka Public School District Superintendent James Mepham, Idaho’s McCall-Donnelly School District former Superintendent Glen Szymoniak were also selected by the school board as potential candidates for the position during a Feb. 16 meeting. 

“The district did not take any action and the other two candidates contacted the district independently and withdrew from the process,” said school district spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff.

During his interview Dusek discussed his long history with the school district. He has worked at the principal of Soldotna High School, which he called one the Kenai Peninsula’s “flagship schools,” and at the Director of Secondary Education before taking the position at Assistant Superintendent of Instruction in 2009.

Dusek has held the interim superintendent position with the school district for 75 days.

“I have been doing this job for a little while, and have been getting a good taste of it,” Dusek said.

There will be some immediate challenges to address as he remains interim superintendent and assumes the superintendent position, specifically the state’s fiscal climate, Dusek said.

“There are going to be some difficult decisions,” Dusek said.

Dusek said he is looking forward to working with the school district’s high quality faculty and staff. He said he hopes to live up to his predecessors including Dr. Steve Atwater who stepped down in December.

 

Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com

More in News

Samantha Springer, left, and Michelle Walker stand in the lobby of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Springer named new head of Kenai chamber

Springer, who was raised in Anchorage, said she’s lived on the Kenai Peninsula since 2021

Forever Dance performers rehearse “Storytellers” on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘Storytellers’ weave tales with their feet

Dance and literature intersect in latest Forever Dance showcase

Soldotna City Hall is photographed on Wednesday, June 24, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna OKs donation of portable shower, restroom facilities to homelessness coalition

The city purchased the portable restroom and shower trailer for about $182,000 in October 2020

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation building is seen in Juneau, Alaska, in March 2022. The deadline for the permanent fund dividend is coming up fast, landing on March 31, 2023. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
PFD application deadline is next week; state revenue forecasts lower than expected

Alaska North Slope crude oil was estimated to be about $71.62 per barrel on Monday

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
COVID-19: Cases jump in Kenai Peninsula Borough

No hospitalizations were reported in the Gulf Coast region

The Challenger Learning Center is seen in Kenai, Alaska, on Sept. 10, 2020. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Transportation gaps to be the focus of community meeting

The goal is to create a task force who can regularly meet and move forward on the issue

Bob Schroeder takes an electric chainsaw to a mock credit card during a protest outside the Wells Fargo in downtown Juneau at midday Tuesday. Schroeder cut up three mock credit cards representing three banks in Juneau protesters say are leading funders of fossil fuel development projects. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Protesters object to banks financing fossil fuel projects

Demonstrators used chain saw to cut up giant credit cards

The members of Sankofa Dance Theater Alaska perform for a crowd of students during an opening performance at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science in Kenai, Alaska on Monday, March 20, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Uniting through movement

Kaleidoscope students learn about western African dances and music with in-residence artists

A blizzard warning is issued for the Eastern Kenai Peninsula and beyond by the National Weather Service on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (Screenshot)
Blizzard warning issued for Seward, Turnagain Pass

Snow accumulation is predicted to be from 7 to 20 inches

Most Read