The Juneau School Board has selected Frank Hauser as superintendent of the Juneau School District.
“The experience that Frank Hauser brings in schools in Alaska was really valuable and really important to me,” school board member Brian Holst said in an interview Friday.
Hauser has been superintendent of the Sitka School District since 2019. He was a finalist for superintendent positions in Anchorage last year and Fairbanks earlier this year.
Hauser was previously a music teacher and principal in Anchorage, where he was named Alaska’s 2019 Principal of the Year.
“It’s important to us and to our community that our diversity be embraced, and we reminded ourselves that the Anchorage School District is one of the most diverse in the nation,” Holst said. “Having experience in that district, I thought, was very valuable.”
At a public forum on Monday, Hauser highlighted his familiarity with the state’s education system.
“I’ve been coming to Juneau for almost 10 years now to speak to legislators on both sides of the aisle about Alaska schools and support for Alaska students and our educators,” he said. “These are the relationships I already have in place, and I think those are some of the supports and skills I would bring into the Juneau School District.”
Another skill he’ll bring to Juneau, he said, is budgeting. He said transparency was important to him during last year’s budget process in Sitka.
“There were no questions about where the money was, where it was going, how we’re using the funds to support our students and to make sure the staff have the resources they need,” he said. “It comes down to integrity and making sure the community, the assembly, knows that we’re being good stewards of those resources.”
Hauser was the only finalist based in Alaska. The other finalists for the job were Carlee Simon, who was superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools in Florida for two years, and Thom Peck, who has been superintendent of Lewistown Public Schools in Montana for six years.
Holst said Hauser’s three-year contract will begin July 1. Hauser replaces Bridget Weiss, who announced her resignation in October after five years on the job.
