Hundreds honor life of Superintendent Burnley

WASILLA — The main thing about Dr. Kenneth Stephen Burnley — heard over and over by hundreds gathered at Teeland Middle School Friday to celebrate his life — is that he never lost sight of the main thing: educating children.

From family members and school board members to state dignitaries and educators who’d known him for 30 years, the Detroit-raised son of an educator was hailed as a one-of-a-kind man who personally touched countless lives.

“Everyone mattered to him,” Burnley’s son, Trevor, said during the celebration.

Before ending his tribute, he asked everyone to stand and recite his father’s well-known mantra.

“He used to say you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing. But you can’t keep the main thing the main thing if you don’t know what the main thing is, and the main thing is the children. I will always carry that powerful message with me. Thank you, Pops.”

Although Burnley only served as Mat-Su Borough Schools Superintendent for one year before his sudden death July 2 after double knee replacement surgery, School Board President Michael Dunleavy told the crowd he and district staff added up at least 230 things Burnley accomplished in that year.

“When he first came in after being hired, I remember talking to him and him asking me what the board’s goals are for this district. When I told him we wanted to be the best school district in Alaska, he said, ‘That’s it? I think it can be the best district in the country,’” Dunleavy said.

The school board president said he also admired Burnley’s impeccable physical appearance in a place dominated by Carhartts and blue jeans.

“He was dead serious that we could have the best school system in the country,” Dunleavy said. “To him, it was a moral imperative to do what he could to make that happen. He always did the right thing for kids.”

From settling negotiations with employee unions and solving controversial boundary issues, to making sure school buses were safe and students were getting all the intervention services available, Burnley was worth the investment the district made to hire him after a nationwide search, Dunleavy said.

He said school board members knew the district needed the best leader it could get to turn the district around and they knew they’d found the best when they hired Burnley one year ago to fill the vacancy left by former superintendent George Troxel.

Anchorage Schools Superintendent Carol Comeau told those gathered in Teeland’s multi-purpose room that she’d admired Burnley’s work for many years and had hoped ASD would hire him to lead that district when he’d applied there in 1987.

“I was very excited by the prospect of him coming to Anchorage then,” said Comeau, who was working as an ASD administrator then when the school board decided not to hire him. “He went on to Colorado Springs then. I wished they’d hired Ken Burnley in 1987, because we would have benefitted from him greatly. When I heard he was coming back to Alaska to lead Mat-Su last year, it was wonderful to see his enthusiasm for the position.”

Retired Alaska Commissioner of Education Rick Cross said he’d known Burnley since his days as CEO of tumultuous Detroit Public Schools and had heard recently he was finally taking it easy by serving as Senior Resident Fellow at the University of Michigan.

When he found out his longtime friend and colleague had accepted the position at MSBSD, he said he thought he was crazy.

But as soon as he got on the phone with him, he knew there was no chance of changing his mind.

“I had never heard anyone so excited about a new job,” said Cross, who worked for Burnley in the early 1980s when he ran the North Star School District in Fairbanks and somehow convinced his wife to live in a place known for dipping well below zero in the winter. “He talked of all the possibilities and the potential of the district. It was like talking to a kid who’d just gotten his first job. I was in awe that he could keep that sort of enthusiasm after all those years working in education in some tough places. I will never forget him.”

Another longtime colleague hit hard by Burnley’s sudden death was Assistant Superintendent Ken Forrest, who worked for Burnley in both Colorado Springs and Detroit. Forrest was out of the state on a business trip when he heard the news.

He said he could sum up his feelings for his friend in one word, admiration. It was that admiration that led him to join Burnley’s team in Alaska

“Dr. Burnley had a high degree of personal honor. He was completely loyal to his organization,” Forrest said. “He was one of those extraordinary individuals who earned respect from thousands. He was the absolute model of grace under pressure.”

While highlighting Burnley’s long list of professional accomplishments in Colorado Springs and Detroit, it seems he was already well on his way to similar achievements in Mat-Su — whether dealing with a multi-million dollar budget deficit, getting school bonds passed, implementing important curriculum changes or wiring districts for technology, Forrest said.

“Those are just a few of the thousands of great things he did in his career,” he said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to know, work for and serve the most remarkable leader I have ever met.”

After the open-casket service, as the line of those waiting to offer condolences to the family — including Eileen Burnley, his wife of 45 years — snaked down Teeland’s hallway, Mat-Su School Board’s student representative Kendra McPhail shared her memories of Burnley.

“I felt like I was able to talk to him and give him my point of view and that he was really listening to me,” said McPhail, daughter of Assistant Superintendent LeBron McPhail. “I felt like I could come and talk to him about anything, whether it was about school or my personal life or sports. I felt like he was always there and heard me in ways that others didn’t. I’ll really miss him.”

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Dr. Kenneth Stephen Burnley Memorial Fund for college and vocational education scholarships for students in the four school districts where he worked. Donations may be made at any Wells Fargo Bank in the United States.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.