Welcome to NEA-Alaska

NEA-Alaska, an affiliate of the National Education Association, is a union of 12,000+ public education employees.

Our members are teachers, library media specialists, counselors, psychologists, physical and speech therapists, school secretaries, custodians, classroom aides, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers and other support professionals who work in Alaska public schools and facilities. Our diverse association makes us the strongest advocate in Alaska for an excellent public education for every child.
NEA-Alaska exists to be an advocate for an excellent public education for each child in Alaska and to advance the interests of public school employees.

Our members live and work in nearly every community in Alaska. With 67 local associations, including an active NEA-Alaska Retired local, our collective expertise, regional knowledge, and pedagogical excellence is unmatched by any other entity in the state. NEA-Alaska is member led, meaning all policy decisions are made by elected representatives from within our union and adopted through democratic processes.

Our union strives to uphold the rights of educators, enhance learning opportunities for students, and works to build a better Alaska.

Six Principles for Leading the ESP Profession

Six Principles for Leading the Teaching Profession

Our Mission

NEA-Alaska exists to be an advocate for an excellent public education for each child in Alaska and to advance the interests of public school employees.

NEA-Alaska Bylaws

NEA-Alaska Policy

Our History

NEA-Alaska was founded in 1922 in Ketchikan, when 73 of the Territory’s teachers formed a new organization “to elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching and to promote the cause of education in the Territory of Alaska.” Over the following years and decades the organization (first known as the Alaska Education Association) addressed issues such as salaries and retirement and legislation that affected schools and teachers.

In 1945 the association saw a major victory, in the passage of the first Alaska Teachers’ Retirement Act. This original law was amended regularly in subsequent years with improvements that made it more actuarially sound. The coming years marked the organization’s push for collective bargaining to improve salaries and working conditions, and increased involvement in the political process. Effective advocacy in Juneau was a constant, and in 1965 the association established the Political Action Committee for Education (PACE). In the mid-1980s NEA-Alaska was strengthened with the extension of full membership rights to Education Support Professionals, or ESPs

Our Leadership

BoardCommitteesStaff

Board of Directors

Tom Klaameyer

NEA-Alaska President

[2024]

Laura Capelle

NEA-Alaska Vice President

[2024]

Kathy Simpler

NEA Director

[2025]

Laura Mulgrew

Region I Director

Juneau EA
[2024]

Sunshine Winn

Region I Director

[2025]

Phyllis Clough

Region II Director

[2025]

Jenn Haugh

Region III Director

Kenai Peninsula EA
[2024]

Josh Girard

Region III Director

Kenai Peninsula ESP
[2025]

Cory Hughes

Region IV Director

Lower Kuskokwim NEA
[2024]

Aletha Duchene

Region IV Director

Northwest Arctic EA
[2025]

Coby Haas

Region V Director

Fairbanks Education Association
[2024]

Jessica Iglesias

Region V Director

[2025]

Kristen Dullen

Region V Director

Fairbanks EA
[2024]

Michaela Kolerok

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2025]

Barb Clark

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2024#]

Brittany Hanson

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2024]

George Cromer III

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2025]

Misty Dawn Nelson

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2025]

Corey Aist

Region VI Director

Anchorage EA
[2024]

Tim Walters

Region VII Director

Mat Su EA
[2025#]

Chad Swarthout

Region VII Director

Mat Su CEA
[2024]

Vicki Hewitt

Region VII Director

Mat Su EA
[2025#]

Christine Villano

Region R Director

Retired
[2024]

Trena Richardson

Region R Director

Retired
[2025]

Judy Salo

Region R Director

Retired
[2025]

Barb Stek

Region R Director

Retired
[2024]

Barbara Schneider

ESP At-Large

Craig EA
[2025]

[2022]: Term Limit
#: Cannot run for another term

Standing Committees

PACE (Political Action Committee on Education)

President: Tom Klaameyer (2024)
Vice President: Laura Capelle (2024)
NEA Director: Kathy Simpler (2025)

Region I:
Danielle Pratt (2023)
Barbara Schneider (2023)

Region II:
Jeanine Costello (2024)

Region III:
David Brighton (2023)
Todd Nemyo (2024)

Region IV:
Glenn Charlie (2023)
Rogelio Villa (2023)

Region V:
Sandi Ryan (2023)
Jessica Iglesias (2024)
Natalie Pecic (2023)

Region VI:
George Cromer, III (2023)
Barbara Clark (2023)
Lara Ajayi (2024)
Christi Sitz (2023)
Susy Gullickson (2024)
Jacob Berg (2023)

Region VII:
Dianne Shibe (2024)
Kathleen Yerbich (2023)
Richard Morgan (2023)

Region R:
Pamela Lloyd (2023)
Howard Maxwell (2023)
Christine Villano (2024)
Marilyn Pillifant (2023)

Executive Director: Glenn Bafia
Staff Liaison: Matthew Moser

Delegate Assembly Steering and Rules

President: Tom Klaameyer

Region I: Jeannette Sleppy
Region II: Danielle Specht
Region III: Carrie Lunardi
Region IV: Noel Bowe
Region V: Kerry Platzke
Region VI: Christi Sitz, Chair
Region VII: VACANT
Region R: Donna Williams
Staff Liaison: Susie Smythe

Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee

Karen Dullen
Jessica Iglesias
George Cromer, III
Missouri Smyth

Human Rights and Civil Rights Committee

Region I: Dave Nelson
Region II: Phyllis Clough
Region III: Winter Marshall-Allen
Region IV: Aletha Duchene
Region V: Maxine Dibert
Region VI: Rhiana Gay, Misty Nelson
Region VII: Sara Morfin
Region R: Teresa Duncan
Staff Liaison: Joshua Yeh
Board Liaison: George Comer III