Mt. Edgecumbe High School Superintendent David Langford this week announced the names of the three finalists for the school's academic and residential (dormitory) principal positions.
MEHS posted hiring announcements at the beginning of April for the two principal positions. Both academic principal Miranda Bacha, and residential principal Nicole Ritzinger, who is new to MEHS this year, announced this spring that they would be resigning at the end of the school year.
In an email to the Sentinel Monday, Langford provided brief biographies and photos of two finalists for the academic principal position, Neville Boone and Peter P. Baksis III; and two finalists for the residential principal position, Boone and Terrence Shanigan.
(Biographies of the three individuals that were provided by Langford are included at the bottom of this story.)
In the Monday email, Langford said the three “are finishing interviews this week, and we hope to announce by next week.”
In an email to parents on Tuesday, school administrators announced that MEHS will hold a “Meet the principal candidates” meeting with parents and other school community members via Zoom at 7 p.m. tonight.
In a phone call with the Sentinel today, Superintendent Langford said Edgecumbe has “had a large pool of applicants for both jobs” since posting hiring announcements.
Langford said he isn't allowed by the state to make public the total number of applications that MEHS received for the positions, or share the names of any applicants besides the finalists.
“We’re down to three finalists, and one of the candidates has applied for both the residential and the academic,” Langford said, meaning Boone. “So if he doesn't get one or the other, then he's still in the running for the other one. So that's why we're only interviewing three this week.”
The Alaska Department of Education database shows that Boone and Baksis each has an active administrative license as well as an active out-of-state teacher license; Shanigan does not have any current or former teacher or administrative license with the state.
Hiring announcements for both principal positions state that "the position requires a current Alaska Type B Administrative Certificate or verified eligibility prior to the first contract day," and that "Alaska experience as a school administrator, high school teaching or administrative experience" is sought for the roles.
Describing the principal hiring process so far, Langford said today that a "review team went through all the applications, and then narrowed it down to who got initial interviews, and then, from those interviews, we’re still going through the process, and then we’ll go through the final selection.”
He said the review team that selected the finalists includes state officials, MEHS administrators, the chair of the MEHS Advisory Board and the president of the State Board of Education, which is the governing body for the state Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), which directly operates Mt. Edgecumbe High School.
“From all the interviews that will all be collected, we’ll go through that and then select who we want to offer the job to,” Langford said.
Langford added that he involved members of the student council, and students in the Brave Leadership class that he teaches, in on candidate interviews.
In an email to MEHS Advisory Board members this morning, Langford shared call-in information for the “Meet the principal candidates” Zoom meeting, scheduled at 7 p.m. tonight.
Board member Kathy Mathews told the Sentinel that before this morning she hadn't been invited to participate in any aspect of the principal hiring process.
In an Advisory Board meeting on April 23, board member Dorothy Chase noted that in the past, when MEHS was hiring people to serve as a principal, “all of the advisory school board members were involved and had provided input.”
“We advocated for that, and we wanted that … for the advisory school board to be involved in that process, to participate in selection and have our input involved in the selection,” Chase said. “We would like to be involved.”
Langford's Monday email included the following biographies for the three finalists for the two principal positions:
Neville Boone, EdD, a finalist for both the MEHS Academic Principal and Residential Principal positions
Dr. Neville Boone is a former United States Marine with several years of experience working with students. He began his career in education in Savannah, Georgia, and later pursued his doctorate in education administration and supervision from Liberty University while working in South Carolina. Soon after completing his degree, Boone moved to Barrow, Alaska, as an assistant principal, where he worked with trauma-saturated students and students who were informed by trauma, and this is where he became ingrained in Alaskan culture by being culturally relevant and culturally sensitive. Soon after working in Barrow, Boone elected to serve in an administrative role in Fairbanks, in a military community. My motto is that every student wants to be heard, loved, and treated fairly. My goal is to prepare an environment that is student-centered, family-oriented, and community-driven.
Peter P. Baksis III, a finalist for the MEHS Academic Principal position
I am a dedicated educational leader with over 15 years of experience in instructional leadership, school administration, and digital transformation. Currently serving as the Principal of Valdez High School in Alaska, I have a proven track record of fostering professional growth, managing complex budgets, and implementing restorative justice and PBIS frameworks. His previous experience includes five years as Principal for the Garfield County School District in Utah, where I oversaw both elementary and high school operations, and a role as an Innovative Learning Coach in the Alpine School District, where I led digital learning initiatives. Peter holds a master of education in administration from Brigham Young University and a bachelor of arts in secondary education-Spanish from Utah Valley University. Expert in bridging the gap between pedagogy and 21st-century technology, I am committed to a collaborative community approach to student success.
Terrence Shanigan, a finalist for the MEHS Residential Principal position
Terrence Shanigan is a Mount Edgecumbe High School alumnus of the Class of 1989, former MEHS teacher, head coach, and residential staff member, and current MEHS Foundation volunteer, extending a family connection to the school that spans three generations and nearly 60 years. He is Alutiiq from the Native Village of Kanatak, where he served as Tribal Council President, Tribal Court Judge, and Tribal Administrator. Terrence currently serves as the Logistics and Planning Administrator at the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies within the U.S. Department of Defense. His prior service includes serving as Chief of Staff in the Alaska State Senate, as Director of Legislative and Tribal Affairs for the Municipality of Anchorage, and as an Alaska State Trooper. He is a U.S. Navy combat veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He holds a master of business administration from Louisiana State University-Shreveport, graduate certificates from Harvard Business School, and a bachelor of science in education from Valley City State University, with Six Sigma and LEAN Practitioner credentials. He is the parent of a current MEHS senior.
