Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – The Juneau Community Charter School (JCCS) and Mendenhall River Community School (MRCS) have selected new principals.
JCCS has selected Gayle Brown to be its next principal. JCCS is a kindergarten through eighth grade school in the Juneau School District (JSD) where students learn in multi-grade classrooms with small classes.
It is a public charter school run by a parent-teacher Academic Policy Committee. Brown will also serve as director of the JSD HomeBRIDGE homeschooling program.
Brown is currently the principal of the Lower Kuskokwim School District in Kasigluk, Alaska.
She is also a Continuing Education Teacher for Learning Across America at Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York, NY.
Before coming to Alaska, Brown taught family and consumer sciences for 16 years at various New Jersey high schools.
The Juneau School District began a national search for candidates at the beginning of the school year.
The school district interviewed the candidates in open sessions at the school.
An interview panel of representatives of the school’s certificated and classified staff, district administration, and the Academic Policy Committee conducted the interviews.
Written public comment cards were collected from the public during an open house and during interviews. The panel then made a recommendation to Dr. Bridget Weiss, Superintendent of the Juneau School District.
Brown holds a Master of Arts in Educational and Administrative Leadership from Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, NJ.
She has a Master of Arts in Child and Family Development from Montclair State University in New Jersey and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC.
Eric Filardi will be the next principal of Mendenhall River Community School (MRCS).
Filardi has worked as an educator in Alaska for nine years.
He is currently in his third year as a principal/teacher at the Anderson School in Anderson, Alaska and works as an education technician and science interpreter for the US Department of the Interior at Denali National Park and Preserve.
Filardi came to Alaska in 2014 as a STEM Director, Grants Coordinator, Director of English, and a teacher at Nanana City Public School.
He also spent seven years teaching English in various New York school districts, as well as the Abu Dhabi Board of Education in the United Arab Emirates.
The Juneau School District began a nationwide candidate search early in the school year and interviewed the candidates in an open session at the school on January 18.
An interview panel of certificated and classified staff representatives from the school, district administration, and site council conducted interviews and made a recommendation to the superintendent, Dr. Bridget Weiss.
Written public comment cards were collected from staff and the public during an open house and during the interview.
Filardi holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and a Master of Business Administration from Atlanta University in Georgia. Her Bachelor of Arts in English and Bachelor of Arts in Theater are from New York University at Geneseo.
Filardi takes office in August for the start of the 2023-34 school year.
