Superintendent orchestrates district changes

PALMER — The new Mat-Su Borough School District superintendent didn’t waste much time before shaking things up at the district’s administrative offices.

The previous superintendent, George Troxel, retired at the end of the school year. On June 26, during a two-day retreat to hash out ways to increase accountability and transparency at the district, the school board accepted a raft of reorganization recommendations from the new guy, Ken Burnley.

“I believe the staff recommendations get us started on the right road,” Burnley said in a school district press release.

First on the list is a new evaluation process for Burnley. The board will hold him to a clear set of measurements focusing on timely student achievement and results. Goals will be set annually and updates given quarterly.

Next, the district changed the job description of one of its assistant superintendents. The assistant superintendent of administration is now the assistant superintendent of business and operations. Probably more important, though, is who will fill that role. John Weetman, who had the position until now, was transferred to be head of the district’s information technology department, where he takes over for the retiring Tim Anderson.

In Weetman’s place, Burnley is bringing up Ken Forest, currently with the Travis Unified School District in California, a district that serves Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif. Forest is a former U.S. Army Reserve colonel who worked with Burnley when Burnley was superintendent for Detroit Public Schools.

Forest is also fluent in the program the district uses for financial and personnel management, the school board noted. Burnley said Forrest has won awards for his prowess in financial reporting.

The other assistant superintendent, Deena Paramo, had her contract days bumped up from 228 to 260.

Burnley pointed out that none of the changes involve adding any positions, just rearranging what was already there and restructuring the duties of the two assistant superintendents.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.