{"id":32435,"date":"2016-02-04T19:04:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T03:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/education-commissioner-feels-no-animosity-over-being-replaced\/"},"modified":"2016-02-04T19:04:44","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T03:04:44","slug":"education-commissioner-feels-no-animosity-over-being-replaced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/education-commissioner-feels-no-animosity-over-being-replaced\/","title":{"rendered":"Education commissioner feels ‘no animosity’ over being replaced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Hanley, one of the few state commissioners held over from the administration of Gov. Sean Parnell, is on the way out.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday, the office of Gov. Bill Walker announced that Hanley, head of Alaska\u2019s Department of Education and Early Development, will be replaced on March 1 by Susan McCauley, director of the department\u2019s teaching and learning support division.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no animosity on my part,\u201d Hanley said on Thursday. \u201cThis is part of the process. You rarely get to pick your own time as a commissioner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

McCauley will serve as an interim commissioner pending the appointment of a permanent replacement, the governor\u2019s office announced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since Hanley became commissioner in 2011, he has promoted a new standardized testing program called the Alaska Measures of Progress. That program, implemented last spring after years of work and preparation, was wracked by problems. Last week, the state announced it would abandon the exam.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking by phone, state school board president James Fields said the testing issue was to some extent out of his control; the problems it faced were not his doing. When things went wrong, \u201che managed that pretty well,\u201d Fields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike other state cabinet-level positions, the commissioner of education is the choice of the state school board, whose members are appointed by the governor. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fields said his personal opinion is that the board is \u201cmoving in a different direction\u201d in terms of what it wants to see from the Department of Education. It wants the state to see Alaska more in the role of a coordinator of local efforts than an accountability or compliance officer in charge of making sure things are done a certain way.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is the best accountability is local,\u201d Fields said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanley said he had a previously scheduled a meeting with the governor on Wednesday to talk about the school board\u2019s relationship with his office. On Tuesday, Fields called him to warn what that meeting would entail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanley said the \u201cboard is kind of going in a different direction,\u201d and while he might have been appointed under the administration of Gov. Sean Parnell, he \u201cnever felt like an outsider with (Gov. Walker).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The change comes at a remarkably turbulent time for the state\u2019s school system. Amid the threat of multimillion-dollar budget cuts by the Alaska Legislature, it also must adapt to new federal statutes under the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced the federal No Child Left Behind system. The state also must find a new standardized testing system that meets federal guidelines, then implement it before next spring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a tough road ahead, even without a transition,\u201d Hanley said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hanley will stay in his office until March 1, when McCauley will begin serving as interim commissioner. After that, both Fields and Hanley said they expect it will take several months before a permanent replacement is found. Fields said he doesn\u2019t expect it before the end of the Legislative session.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe could be at least six months out before we find a new commissioner,\u201d Hanley said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of who fills his chair, Hanley said that person should keep in mind that \u201cit\u2019s very easy to make decisions from a desk in Juneau, but it\u2019s hard to make good ones. You need to be out in the field.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for what\u2019s next for him, Hanley said he isn\u2019t sure. He has a \u201cfew potential options,\u201d but he still has a passion for working with children, and that\u2019s something he would consider.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be that I could go back to a school,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019d be very invigorating, I think.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Hanley, one of the few state commissioners held over from the administration of Gov. Sean Parnell, is on the way out. On Thursday, the office of Gov. Bill Walker announced that Hanley, head of Alaska\u2019s Department of Education and Early Development, will be replaced on March 1 by Susan McCauley, director of the department\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32435"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}