Rest in peace, Dr. Burnley

We were stunned July 2 to receive the news that Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Kenneth S. Burnley, 69, had died after complications from double knee replacement surgery at Alaska Regional Medical Center in Anchorage.

We got our first taste of what working with Burnley would be like when he showed up to our planning meetings for the Schools Page last summer. It got our attention when the superintendent of schools made time to be part of a meeting with our staff and student writers.

His enthusiasm that day infected the rest of us who work with students to provide an opportunity to do real reporting work and have it printed in the local newspaper. Just by being there, he made the students feel important.

And where other superintendents might have tried to censor the stories students wrote for our pages, Burnley offered only support.

So we weren’t surprised to see tributes to him pop up on our students’ Facebook pages. He was more to them than an administrator cloistered away in the district office. He was real.

We recall another day when Burnley attended a check presentation ceremony at Butte Elementary. While we waited for Rep. Bill Stoltze to arrive, Burnley talked to the students in the school’s library. We even have a few photos of him posing, making funny faces with the students.

In the days since Burnley’s death countless community members have shared their memories.

Barbara Hunt said it was a unique opportunity for the school when Burnley accepted an invitation to be the graduation speaker at the Alaska Job Corps Center in December 2010.

“He was a tremendous speaker and a stunning example for Job Corps students who represent many backgrounds, cultures and histories,” said Hunt, business and community liaison for Job Corps.

At the city of Wasilla, Recreation and Cultural Services Director James Hastings told us a story about how Burnley listened while he pitched the idea of upgrading the sound system in the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center to improve the graduation experience for the community and to expand the kinds of events that can take place at the center.

Burnley came through — big time, Hastings said. Thanks to $77,000 in E-Rate funding, future graduates’ families can watch the ceremony on two jumbo screens and the complex itself, which sees about 300,000 visitors a year, can broaden its offerings to include concert performances and other events that require beefier sound systems.

That funding is part of a total of $16.2 million in state and federal E-Rate money the district secured for fiber optic upgrades.

Burnley’s other accomplishments in the Mat-Su include settling two major labor contracts and developing a plan to resolve an $8.9 million deficit. Burnley came to the school district July 1, 2010, after serving as the Senior Resident Fellow at the University of Michigan. During his career he also was superintendent at Detroit Public Schools, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fairbanks North Star Borough School District.

He earned national acclaim as the recipient of the 1993 Colorado and National Superintendent of the Year awards from the American Association of School Administrators.

Some of Burnley’s career highlights came as a surprise to us, such as his long career as an athlete and his spot in history as the first African American coach at the University of Michigan from 1968-72.

As a student there, he also was a relay member of three indoor and two outdoor Big Ten Track Championships from 1960-64. And he chaired the Education Committee of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from 1996-99.

Looking back over these highlights, it’s no wonder then that hundreds of people from across the state and nation attended a celebration of Burnley’s life Friday at Teeland Middle School.

Although it is tough to quantify the full impact of the one year and one day Burnley spent as superintendent in our Valley, it is impossible to know what we lost with his passing.

To his family — wife of 45 years Eileen, daughter Traci and sons Trevor (Robin) Burnley, Marlon (Shawn) Thomas — we say thank you for sharing your husband and father with us.

Rest in peace, Dr. Burnley.