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Juneau community members had the opportunity to meet and ask questions to the three superintendent finalists during a community forum on Wednesday. Each finalist had 30 minutes where they introduced themselves and answered audience questions. They all focused on building trust and relationships in the district.
Shawn Arnold presented first. He’s the current principal of Thunder Mountain Middle School. Arnold previously worked as a superintendent in Nome and Valdez. He was also an administrator for the Matunuska-Susitna Borough School District.
Arnold said he has already developed good relationships with many staff members during his almost four years as a Juneau principal. He said he would focus on deepening those relationships and building more trust in the community if selected as superintendent.
“A big part of who I am is collaboration,” he said. “You ask any staff that work for me now or have worked for me over the last 30 years — collaboration gets things done. And that, I think, goes a long way for building trust.”
When asked about his vision for alternative programs like Montessori Borealis, HomeBRIDGE and Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy, Arnold said having choices and supporting them is part of a “robust education system.”
He said his experience as the middle school principal taught him that the neighborhood school should work with alternative programs instead of competing with them.
“We want them to be just as strong and kind of supported as we do,” he said. “And it really is working together. Not every student is the same. Not every school has to be the same.
Kevin Shipley presented next. He’s the superintendent of Evadale Independent School District in Texas.
Before moving to Texas, Shipley worked as the education director at Sealaska Heritage Institute for two years and superintendent of Kake City School District for five years.
He said trust is needed to run a school district.
“I’ve been a turnaround specialist. I’ve come into places that needed help, and trust and relationships is what this is about,” he said. “Everybody can say education is all these other things, but if you don’t have trust, and you don’t create relationships, and you don’t make people experts, then you have nothing.”
Shipley said not everyone is going to agree with his decisions, but he wants to make sure they all feel heard and valued. When it comes to groups like district employees, he said his approach is to support their needs while being realistic about the district’s budget.
“You have to find staff, and if staff can’t live, they’re not going to be successful. So we have to figure out ways to make it work,” he said. “But you also have a budget, and you have programs… but I have to have trust that I’m being transparent and showing you exactly what’s there.”
Carlee Simon is the third finalist. She’s a former dean of education at the University of Alaska Southeast. She used to be the superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools in Florida from 2020 to 2022. Simon was previously a finalist for the Juneau superintendent position in 2023.
Simon said she’ll work collaboratively with others to lead a district.
“I will only build a team with people who will challenge me,” she said. “I need people to tell me when ideas aren’t fully baked. I need them to tell me if I have a blindside. I have no interest in anybody telling me that everything I do is always perfect and right. I think you need to have a strong team of people who make you better.”
Simon said she wants to build trust through financial transparency as well. She said she created a financial data dashboard in Florida and would do the same thing in Juneau if selected as superintendent.
“That’s just a good practice, is just open all the books. It’s all public record. Have as much information as you can so interested people can read the information that’s available to them,” she said. “Then I think you have to have very honest discussions.”
The finalists had more meetings before the Juneau School Board decides on a candidate. On Thursday, they had an interview with the board in a closed meeting, as well as a forum with district staff. The board has a meeting scheduled this Saturday to deliberate on candidates before making an offer.
A new superintendent would start on July 1.
