Denise Juneau
Denise Juneau (born April 5, 1967) is an American attorney, educator, and politician from the U.S. state of Montana who served as the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2017. She is a Democrat and the first female Native American elected to statewide office in the United States. Her mother is Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, while her father is Blackfoot. On November 4, 2015, Juneau announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in the 2016 congressional election. Juneau was defeated by incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke in the 2016 general election. In April 2018, the Seattle Public Schools board unanimously voted to elect Juneau as the next superintendent of Seattle Public Schools. She began on July 1, 2018. She resigned from the post on May 1, 2021. Early life and education Denise Juneau was born on April 5, 1967, in Oakland, California, to parents Stan and Carol Juneau. Her family moved to Montana in 1969. Juneau graduated in 1985 from Browning High School in Browning, Montana, which is on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Juneau received a bachelor's degree in English from Montana State University in 1993. In 1994, she completed her Master of Education Degree at