The field of 24 has been reduced to four in the Englewood School
District’s search for a new superintendent.
The four finalists are Ken Ladouceur, Sean McDaniel, Keith Owen
and Elizabeth Summers.
All four are school administrators. Ladouceur is superintendent
for the Gilpin County School District in Black Hawk. McDaniel is
school superintendent for the Coweta, Okla., school district. Owen
is chief academic officer for the Pueblo School District. Summers
is superintendent for RE-1Valley District in Sterling.
The four finalists will visit Feb. 29 to tour the school
district and the city. Interviews by a committee of district
employees, residents and board members are scheduled for March
1.
That evening, at an informal open house from 6-7:30 p.m. in the
community room at the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood
Parkway, community members can meet and talk with the
candidates.
The final decision on a new superintendent rests with the board
of education. The plan is for board members to meet and decide on a
new superintendent the week following the interviews. While the
announcement may come earlier, the new superintendent’s contract is
scheduled to be approved at the March 18 board meeting.
The search was launched late last year in anticipation of
retirement of superintendent Jim McCabe. McCabe, who accepted the
superintendent’s position in 2005, is in the final year of his
three-year contract.
The board of education met Nov. 13 with Bob Cito of the Colorado
Association of School Boards, enlisting Cito’s help in establishing
the criteria as it prepared to launch the search for a new
superintendent.
Board members began the search process by gathering comments
from members of the community at a Dec. 7 meeting.
To gather those comments, the board invited residents of the
district to attend a special meeting Dec. 6 at Clayton Elementary
School, 4600 S. Fox St.
The position was advertised and Englewood received 24
applications. In January, a 26-member search committee made up of
district employees, residents and board members spent a full day
screening the applicants. The committee prepared a recommended list
of six finalists and the school board narrowed the list to
four.
“I was on the search committee and I felt the process went very
well,” said Gail Neubert, director of student services. “We met on
a Saturday and all 26 members read each of the 24 applications.
Then we discussed what we read. It was an open process and we got a
chance to share opinions on the candidates. I feel we had an
outstanding field of applicants and that the four finalists are all
good choices.”
The newly selected superintendent will replace McCabe at the end
of this school year. McCabe came to Englewood in June 2005,
replacing Larry Nisbet, who was retiring. Nisbet, who had been with
the district for almost three decades, stepped in to serve as
interim superintendent in June 2004 when Superintendent Sherry
Gerner resigned amid controversy because she lived in
Greeley.
When he retires, McCabe will complete almost 30 years in
education.
303-566-4108 | tmunds@ccnewspapers.com