Kansas Education Official to Move on: Alexa Posny Lands a Federal Post

By Melodee Hall Blobaum, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Mar. 18–Kansas Deputy Education Commissioner Alexa Posny will leave the department next month for a post with the U.S. Department of Education.

Posny will be director of the Office for Special Education Programs, one of three divisions of the federal Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. The division oversees most of the nation’s special-education programs.

“This is an opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime,” Posny said.

Her appointment left Kansas Board of Education members with mixed feelings.

“It’s an acknowledgment of her tremendous skills and knowledge,” Sue Gamble said. “But she’s going to leave a huge hole in the Department of Education.”

Board Chairman Steve Abrams of Arkansas City said he was excited for Posny, but hated to see her leave.

“She’s one of the best people we’ve got,” Abrams said.

Posny was a finalist for the Kansas commissioner of education job left open when former school chief Andy Tompkins retired last year.

Unable to agree on Tompkins’ replacement from a field of two candidates that included Posny in June, the state board reopened the search. Posny was one of five finalists in September when the board’s conservative majority chose Bob Corkins to head the department.

Posny said that process didn’t play a role in her decision to take the federal post.

She joined the department in 1999 as director of special education and has led the division of learning services since 2001. Posny was director of special education for the Shawnee Mission School District from 1997 to 1999.

Corkins, who will choose Posny’s replacement, was unavailable for comment.

To reach Melodee Hall Blobaum, Johnson County education reporter, call (816) 234-7733 or send e-mail to mblobaum@kcstar.com .

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