WASILLA -- Deena Paramo, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District superintendent selected this week as Anchorage's next top school official, presided over major changes in her five years in charge of Alaska's fastest-growing district, but at least one critic questioned if the growth came with a cost of unsustainable class sizes and teacher workloads.
Paramo, a charismatic 46-year-old who lives in Big Lake but plans to establish a home in Anchorage, worked her way up through the Mat-Su district from teacher to principal to assistant superintendent of instruction. She spent the last five years as superintendent.
Anchorage School District officials announced Paramo's selection as superintendent -- from an original field of more than 80 candidates nationwide -- on Monday. Steve Atwater, interim dean of education at University of Alaska Fairbanks, was the other finalist.
The Mat-Su School Board will select a replacement for Paramo after discussing options in a private meeting. A district spokeswoman said additional information about the replacement process wasn't immediately available.
Paramo starts work July 1 with a salary of $235,000 -- she makes $178,500 now -- as school officials grapple with budget constraints in Juneau, where legislators are still developing spending plans amid a $4 billion fiscal gap.
During her five years as superintendent, Paramo oversaw the fulfillment of a 2011 voter-approved bond for five new schools, backed the creation of a public-friendly budget process and encouraged a school choice agenda that supported everything from a large correspondence community to scores of charter schools.
Paramo was backed by a generally supportive school board and benefited from snagging state funding as a growing but "not too-big" district, said Mike Chmielewski, a former school board president who spent decades at the district as a counselor, teacher and administrator.
Susan McCauley, the state's interim education commissioner, worked with Paramo for a decade when the two served as assistant principals or principals and later in administration.
Paramo is "very high-energy, very innovative" about preparing students for the world they're heading into, McCauley said. She's also engaged with the Valley's legislative delegation.
"If there's a district in Alaska that's going to be the most similar to Anchorage, it's going to be the Mat-Su school district," she said.
That opinion isn't shared by the head of the union that represents teachers in Mat-Su.
Anchorage is a very different community, said Tim Walters, president of the Matanuska-Susitna Education Association that represents about 1,200 employees at 44 schools.
Paramo saw the district through a period of tremendous growth, promoted Mat-Su and showed innovation, Walters said.
But she also presided over sometimes overwhelming class sizes and a seven-period day in high schools that can leave one teacher grading nearly 200 essays, Walters said.
"Anchorage teachers, Anchorage parents and community members don't find that acceptable," he said.
He also criticized Paramo's support for legislation that would make it easier to lay off tenured teachers.
The districts are certainly different on paper. Mat-Su is growing -- more than 1,000 new students are forecast this year and next -- but at roughly 18,700 students, the district is much smaller overall than Anchorage, at more than 48,000.
Anchorage has the most diverse schools in the United States, according to a University of Alaska Anchorage study. Nonwhite students make up more than half the student population.
Mat-Su schools, spread from near the Matanuska Glacier on the Glenn Highway to Trapper Creek on the Parks Highway, are more geographically diverse than culturally diverse, despite a substantial Russian-speaking population. Alaska Native students make up about 15 percent of the student base, according to district spokeswoman Catherine Esary.
Paramo will likely work with a less conservative legislative delegation in Anchorage compared to Mat-Su legislators like Rep. Lynn Gattis and Sen. Mike Dunleavy, both of whom served on the Mat-Su school board and hold influential positions on education in the Legislature.
She also won't face formal contract bargaining for some time. The Anchorage Education Association, which represents teachers in the district, ratified a 1-year contract extension last fall amid questions about the state budget. Formal negotiations are expected to resume this winter for a contract that expires in June 2017, according to union president Andy Holleman, who said he hopes the new superintendent will be open to a re-evaluation of standardized testing.
Paramo's transition will begin in June, when she will meet with outgoing superintendent Ed Graff, according to Anchorage School Board President Kameron Perez-Verdia.
Given the state budget situation, Paramo's priorities will center on meeting student needs with fewer resources, Perez-Verdia. Another priority may be closing an achievement gap particularly seen in economically disadvantaged students and among racial and ethnic groups, he said.
Perez-Verdia said use of technology or shifting schedules could be part of the plan. Asked if the board would consider a seven-period day, he said at this point, all ideas are on the table.
"We have to be thinking about those," he said. "I'm not sure if we'll support that or not."