Mat-Su superintendent named to top spot at ASD

WASILLA — There’s a lot happening in the life of Dr. Deena Paramo this year, starting with her new role as superintendent in the Anchorage School District.

“It’s such a wonderful opportunity to just do something new and exciting and move on, but it was a hard decision because I have a really good thing going in Mat-Su,” Paramo said in an interview Tuesday.

Paramo was named the new superintendent of the Anchorage School District (ASD) on Monday. She’s served in that role for the Mat-Su Borough School District (MSBSD) since 2011. Her last day with the district will be June 30.

She said she is looking forward to sharing her enthusiasm with Anchorage students, staff and faculty.

“I look at this as just an opportunity to positively influence people and do what I love in a bigger sense,” she said.

Paramo was chosen from a short list of two finalists named by the Anchorage School Board last month. She beat out Dr. Steve Atwater, interim dean at the UAF School of Education. Her three-year contract with ASD was ratified during an Anchorage School Board meeting on Monday evening.

Board president Kameron Perez-Verdia said the board believes Paramo will be an energetic leader for the district.

“Dr. Paramo is an innovative and compassionate leader with a strong commitment to public education,” Perez-Verdia said in a press release announcing Paramo’s hiring. “The board was particularly impressed by her energy, innovative ideas and student-focused thinking.”

Paramo started teaching in Alaska in 1991, and has been in the Mat-Su education system since 1993 as a teacher, principal and administrator.

Susan McCauley, a former Mat-Su educator who serves as interim commissioner of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, said she thinks Paramo’s hiring is “a step in the right direction,” for the state’s largest school district.

“Dr. Paramo has become known for being innovative … and passionate,” McCauley said. “She really thinks differently about how kids go into the world.”

The new job comes with a big salary increase, from $178,500 to $235,000 per year. Paramo, whose contract with ASD begins July 1, will be paid $50,000 more than current ASD superintendent Ed Graff. She said she will likely start working with Graff in June to smooth the transition.

As for the future of her current district, Paramo said she has confidence that the Mat-Su school board will find an appropriate successor. Though the decision is not up to her, Paramo said she would certainly recommend her current assistant superintendent, Gene Stone.

“He has the capacity to be superintendent himself and he certainly has the experience,” she said. “He’s done a phenomenal job.”

Paramo said she hopes to continue working with MSBSD and other districts in Alaska to maintain the flow of ideas and share resources as necessary.

“With revenue shortages and all that, we could really capitalize on each other’s knowledge — where can we find unity and help each other out?”

New job, new life?

Paramo’s career and geographic move seems to have come at an opportune time, as she will soon be entering a new life chapter as well.

Her daughter, Merit, will be graduating from Wasilla High School next week, and plans to play volleyball for the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas this fall. Paramo’s older daughter, Perri, is a junior at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

She’s not worried about “empty nest” symptoms, though.

“I’ll have room for 47,000 new kids!” Paramo said.

Paramo said she also recently became engaged to marry Anchorage resident Bill Bishop, who works as a telecommunications executive for Alaska Communications.

She and Bishop haven’t set a wedding date yet, but Paramo said the plan is to purchase a house in Anchorage together in the near future.

For now, Paramo’s just looking forward to her daughter’s graduation, she said.

“Focus on the kids first,” she said.

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to correct Dr. McCauley's title with the state of Alaska.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.