The Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) has narrowed down their search for a new superintendent to three final candidates. Current superintendent Kimberly Hankins is retiring this summer, after over 20 years with the district.
The three finalists have administrative experience in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, including a former superintendent and the current assistant superintendent of the district. They are Andrew Anderson, Joshua Gill, and Edward Pekar.
Andrew Anderson previously served as the superintendent of the Lower Yukon School District (LYSD) between 2018 and 2020. Before that, he also worked in other administrative roles in the Lower Yukon School District, was a superintendent in Montana for most of a decade, and was a principal and vice principal in the Bering Strait School District and Nome. He holds two degrees from Harvard University.
Joshua Gill has spent 20 years with the Lower Kuskokwim School District, many of which have been as principal in various elementary schools in Bethel and Mekoryuk. He’s the current principal of Ayuprun Elitnaurvik, Bethel’s Yup’ik immersion school. Gill was also the district’s director of personnel from 2015 to 2019, and was a teacher in Tuntutuliak in the mid 2000s. He has an M.A. in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska, and a B.A. in Elementary Education from the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Edward Pekar has spent the last several years as Assistant Superintendent for the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD). Over the last two decades, he’s been a site administrator in Bethel and Nunapitchuk, the director of operations at the LKSD district office, and an elementary teacher. He has an M.A. in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska and a B.A. in Elementary Education from Waynesburg College.
The board paid the Association of Alaska School Boards $14,500 to help them embark on a nationwide search. The School Board Superintendent Search Committee asked them to prioritize candidates who had lived and worked in a village, would uplift the Native culture and language, had success as an administrator, and would be open to creative solutions. They also wanted someone who had both been on the teaching side of things and had held administrative roles. Despite the wide net, what they were looking for would likely be found close to home.
Community members will have a chance to meet with the candidates on Monday, Feb. 12. The next day, the candidates will interview with the district’s board of education, and the new superintendent is expected to be announced that day. The new superintendent will start on the first day of July 2024.
