Former D11 superintendent Ken Burnley has passed away at the age of 69
/ Courtesy: Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District
DETROIT (AP) -- Ex-Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Kenneth Burnley has died in Alaska, where he was heading a sprawling 17,000-student district north of Anchorage.
He was 69.
Alaskan Heritage Memorial Chapel owner John R. Lee said Burnley died Saturday.
Lee said more information will be available Sunday afternoon.
The Anchorage Daily News said Burnley died at Alaska Regional Medical Center after complications from double knee-replacement surgery.
Burnley became Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District superintendent in July 2010.
He spent 2000-2005 as head of the struggling Detroit school district, which then as now faced serious financial problems, a steady loss of students and complaints of low academic performance.
Before coming to Detroit, Burnley led school systems in Fairbanks, Alaska, and Colorado Springs, Colo., where he was named national superintendent of the year in 1993.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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