Jeffco Public Schools will host superintendent search online community forums this week and early next week, Jan. 14-22. During the online forums, community members can share thoughts about the characteristics, traits, and experience that Jeffco’s new superintendent should have.
Forums are organized into five groups:
- Thursday, Jan. 14, 9 – 10 am
- Thursday, Jan. 14, 7 – 8 pm
- Friday, Jan. 15, 1 – 2 pm
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 5 – 6 pm
- Thursday, Jan. 21, 11 am – 12 pm
- Friday, Jan. 15, 3 – 4 pm
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 10 – 11 am
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 6 – 7 pm
- Thursday, Jan. 21, 2 – 3 pm
- Thursday, Jan. 21, 7 – 8 pm
- Monday, Jan. 18, 2 pm – 3 pm
- Friday, Jan. 22, 9 – 10 am
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 11 am – 12 pm
- Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2 – 3 pm
- Friday, Jan. 15, 10 – 11 am
- Monday, Jan. 18, 10 – 11 am
- Tuesday, Jan. 19, 3 – 4 pm
- Wednesday, Jan. 20, 4 – 5 pm
- Wednesday, Jan. 20, 7 – 8 pm
- Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1 – 2 pm
- Friday, Jan. 22, 10 – 11 am
To participate, individuals should click the link of the appropriate group and sign up for a session.
The forums will be held virtually to comply with current COVID-19 restrictions. Additional forums are also being held with Jeffco Schools staff.
The search firm that Jeffco’s human resources team hired to conduct the search, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA), will compile the information from the forums for the Leadership Profile Report.
Online survey, email also available through Jan. 21
In addition to the forums, an online survey is open to the community to provide their feedback about what they’d like to see in Jeffco’s new superintendent. The survey is available on the Superintendent Search webpage.
The survey will remain open through Jan. 21.
Both the survey and the forums will be administered by HYA.
Those who wish to share additional or more detailed information than included in the forums or survey may email HYA lead consultant Hank Gmitro at hankgmitro@hyasearch.com.
Superintendent search timeline
HYA lead consultant Hank Gmitro first met with the Jeffco School Board members to discuss the search process and timeline at the board’s Dec. 9 meeting.
“We need to make sure that we spread that online survey access and information far and wide because we really do want to engage all of our stakeholders,” said school board member Brad Rupert. Other board members also emphasized the importance of getting the word out as quickly as possible.
“One place the district will need to help with is the organizing and the communication of the community engagement activity because we’ll need the district to send that out to the appropriate email addresses and the appropriate forums as to how you go about getting that word out,” Gmitro said.
He added that he’d work with David Bell, Jeffco’s chief human resources officer, on those pieces.
Gmitro told board members that currently, Jeffco Schools appeared to be ahead of the other metro-area districts who are also conducting superintendent searches. It’s one of the reasons HYA wanted to schedule the forums as quickly as possible, Gmitro explained. HYA posted the position on their website in early December, he said.
The Douglas County School District, Denver Public School District, and the Poudre Valley School are all also conducting superintendent searches.
HYA will compile the information received from the forums and survey for a Leadership Profile Report. HYA staff will present that profile to the school board for discussion at the board’s Feb. 4 meeting.
The current timeline calls for interviewing candidates in late March, interviewing semi-finalists in mid-April, and announcing a candidate by early May. The new superintendent will likely begin the job July 1.