Incoming Education Chief ‘Above All a Teacher’

By Jillian Cohan, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Jul. 2–Alexa Posny’s house sits behind an elementary school in Lawrence.

“It’s exactly the kind of neighborhood I love to be in; all the kids are excited to be going to school,” said Posny, who on Sunday became the state commissioner of education.

The Kansas State Department of Education oversees the regulations of schooling, such as teacher licensure, assessments of student academic performance and so on. Posny is familiar with the department because she worked in it for several years.

When she left Kansas last year to direct the U.S. Department of Education’s special education programs, the state lost a strong advocate for kids, her former co-workers said.

“It isn’t ‘my way or the highway’ with Alexa, but her focus will always be on what is best for kids,” said interim commissioner Dale Dennis.

Posny told The Eagle that her goals include early intervention for students who are falling behind; long-term planning for after students graduate; cooperating with parents, businesses and community members to build support for schools; and recruiting high-quality teachers and administrators.

Posny, 55, said she returned to Kansas because the state’s education system holds so much promise.

“The point is not to sustain, but to move forward,” she said. “Kansas is poised to be that system that can be a bellwether for the rest of the country.”

When she officially takes office this week, Posny will bring intelligence, compassion and depth of experience to the role, her colleagues said.

A former special-education teacher with a doctorate in education administration, Posny joined the state education department in 1999 as director of special education.

From 2001 to 2006, Posny was Kansas’ deputy education commissioner overseeing learning services, special education and school accreditation.

She was twice up for the job of state education chief in recent years, but was passed over when a conservative State Board of Education chose former lobbyist Bob Corkins for the role. Corkins had no experience in teaching or education administration.

The choice of Posny to replace Corkins was part of a shift toward more moderate ideology following the 2006 elections, but Posny still may face challenges building consensus with the current board.

“The issue is not ‘can she do it,’ because she has the knowledge to do it, but ‘can she be helpful to them,’ ” said former commissioner Andy Tompkins. “That’s the place that she’ll wrestle with.”

Yet others describe Posny as a natural team builder and say that working on the national level has helped her understand the spectrum of problems — and solutions — all states face in their school systems.

“You’re going to get your money’s worth,” said John Hager.

As assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Hager oversaw Posny’s work on the federal level.

“She ought to be very effective working across the state with all the groups you have to satisfy,” Hager said.

Posny’s appointment was met with excitement by educators in the field, said Andover schools superintendent Mark Evans, a former principal and assistant superintendent in Wichita.

“Number one, she’s going to listen. Number two, she’s going to bring together diverse interests. And we all believe she’s going to be fair and equitable in her decision making,” Evans said.

Her classroom experience is an asset, added state school board member Sue Gamble.

“She is above all a teacher, so she approaches everything from a standpoint of ‘How can I teach my colleagues and how can I be taught by my colleagues?’ ” Gamble said.

For role models, Posny had simply to look to her family. Her grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse, she said.

Her dad, a Polish immigrant who was the only one in his family to go beyond a sixth-grade education, became a high-school principal. When he died, former students — the kids who were told they’d never amount to anything — wrote letters to the newspaper telling how he’d helped them turn their lives around.

“There are times I wish I could bring them back and see what they think of all this,” Posny said of her late relatives.

What, she wonders, would they make of No Child Left Behind, the achievement gap, the growing teacher shortage in Kansas?

Short of answers, she surrounds herself with reminders of the past, collecting and refinishing antiques in her basement.

“My son says this is my museum, but I use all the pieces I have,” she said.

The house behind the school overflows with a collection that includes an old juke box, two roll-top desks (double-sided and single-sided), a Hoosier cupboard and a vintage MG Midget in the driveway.

Posny said she’s glad to have traded her sterile Washington apartment for the overstuffed four-bedroom home in Lawrence.

Still, she’d rather be in the office, Posny said. It’s better for the kids.

Reach Jillian Cohan at 316-268-6524 or jcohan@wichitaeagle.com [mailto:jcohan@wichitaeagle.com].

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