Bethel teacher to lead state NEA

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS INC.
editor@alaskanewspapers.com

September 03, 2008 at 9:34AM AKST

Bethel teacher Barb Angaiak now leads the state’s largest union.

 

Angaiak, a middle school math teacher, began a two-year term in July as president of the National Education Association-Alaska, according to a written statement from the union.

 

The union represents 13,000 teachers and education support professionals throughout the state.

 

Angiak faces several pressing issues, including the difficulty of attracting and retaining quality teachers and education support professionals and the need to restore a secure retirement system for educators and other state employees, the statement said.

 

Angaiak is a California native who earned a bachelor's of science degree in elementary education from Oregon State University. Her first teaching job was at  Nightmute, a Yup’ik village of 200 in the Lower Kuskokwim School District. She taught high-school level English, math, ecology, health, P.E., art, village corporation business management, and Alaska studies.

 

She also coached cheerleading, served as a teacher leader, and chaperoned students in Close-Up, a program that took youths to Washington, D.C., the statement said.

 

Angaiak taught 19 years in Bethel at Kilbuck Elementary and Bethel Regional High School.

A respected leader, Angaiak has received the Unsung Hero Award as one of the nation’s top 100 educators and has served as a three-time president of the Lower Kuskokwim NEA. Among other roles, she is part of a statewide project designed to increase student achievement and teacher retention.

Angaiak married John Angaiak in 1984, a Yup'ik man from the region. Their daughter, Samantha, is 21.