State says Palmer resident represents Northwest Alaska on state school board
The state Board of Education, which has been down two members for months, now lists a resident of Palmer as the representative on the board from the Second Judicial District, which is Northwest Alaska.
On July 29, Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Kimberly Bergey to the state board, writing to her address in Palmer.
The state education department has her name spelled wrong, listing her as “Kimbery.”
The agenda for a state board meeting this week included her swearing-in ceremony.
The Second Judicial District seat on the board has been vacant since the term of Unalakleet resident Jeffrey Erickson ended March 1.
She is listed by the Raven Homeschool, operated by the Yukon-Koyukuk School District, as the program director of its Wasilla office.
Kimberly is deputy treasurer of Tom Bergey’s re-election campaign for school board in Mat-Su. He calls himself the “conservative choice.”
Tom Bergey’s opponent is Mat-Su graduate Ben Kolendo, the former student representative on the board who was targeted by conservatives for speaking out.
The state education department says that Kimberly Bergey represents the Second Judicial District, which includes Nome, Kotzebue, Kaktovik and other parts of the Northwest.
The education department also says that the public “at large” position on the board has been vacant since Bob Griffin was rejected by the Legislature five months ago.
A pattern of sloppy work by the Dunleavy administration on appointments to boards and commissions remains a problem. It’s not clear to me if this is intentional. It is evidence of incompetence by the education department and the governor’s office.
The governor’s website, for instance, does not mention that Bergey was appointed to the state school board at all, though it has been more than two months since she was named.
The governor’s website also does not mention that Griffin was rejected by the Legislature or that he is no longer on the board.
This week the education department revealed plans, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News, to investigate complaints against school districts. It was Dunleavy’s idea. The leader of the new office will be paid at least $81,763.
The justification given by Education Commissioner Deena Bishop for this expansion of the bureaucracy describes an attempt to strip more control from school districts and give power to the state: “Education commissioner Deena Bishop said that up to 90% of calls to the education department are currently redirected to local school districts, which are responsible for most education policymaking. She said the new office would allow the department to respond to public queries without redirecting them to districts as often.”
This is coming from a department that claims it has no knowledge of the specifics of charter school operations in Alaska by local school districts and invented phony numbers.
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