The first candidate, Jim Browder of Fort Myers, Fla., is to begin a three-day visit Thursday. The other finalist, Steve Atwater from the Kenai Peninsula district, is invited Jan. 12, for three days, repeating the same schedule as is set up for Browder.
The board hopes to make a decision on whether to hire one of them to replace retiring Superintendent Carol Comeau around the end of January, School Board president Gretchen Guess said Tuesday.
Comeau plans to retire June 30. She has been superintendent since 2000.
Whoever replaces her takes charge of the state's largest district, with 49,000 students and an annual budget of more than $800 million.
"We don't feel rushed or pressured," Guess said. The candidates need to get to know the board and the community and decide if this is a district they want to be part of, she said.
About 150 people applied for Comeau's job. The board interviewed five of them on Skype, Guess said, and narrowed the choices to two.
Both Browder and Atwater have been responsible for important school reforms, Guess said, particularly a new program the Anchorage district has begun using to pinpoint where each child stands in a subject such as reading, and how to move them ahead.
Browder was superintendent of Florida's Lee County schools, with 82,000 students, from 2003 to 2010.
He then took a job as an executive at Edison State College in Fort Myers but had a short and stormy tenure. Faculty at the college complained Browder had been hired without a search and thought he was being paid too much, according to local news reports.
Board members will likely ask about that but will also look at student achievement gains during Browder's tenure as Lee County superintendent, Guess said.
Atwater has been superintendent of the 9,000-student Kenai Peninsula Borough School District since July 2009 and was assistant superintendent for a year before that. From 2001 to 2008, he was superintendent of the Lake and Peninsula District headquartered in King Salmon. He has taught in King Salmon and Emmonak.
The main question for Atwater is whether he can move from a 9,000-student district to one with 49,000 students, Guess said.
Browder has more experience but not in Alaska. The question for him is, "Can you translate Florida to Alaska," Guess said.
Board member Jeannie Mackie said, "I'm keeping an open mind until they get out and see our community and our schools."
The upcoming interviews will be the first face-to-face meetings with the candidates, Guess said. Interviews are scheduled at the beginning and end of the candidates' visits.
While here, the candidates are scheduled to tour five different schools from Eagle River to South Anchorage and meet with students at each of them.
They'll lunch with senior administrators, chat with principals and have time to meet Mayor Dan Sullivan and members of the Assembly.
The best chance for community members to meet and talk to the candidates are forums this Friday night for Browder and next Friday, Jan. 13, for Atwater, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the School Dstrict headquarters at Northern Lights Boulevard and Boniface Parkway. The forums will be televised on Channel 14.
Reach Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.
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