Clear Creek school board to search for interim superintendent

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Clear Creek School District should have an interim superintendent, who will start — assuming everything goes as planned — in mid-September.

e school board on July 5 unanimously decided to hire someone to take the position for about 10 months while it searches for a permanent replacement for Superintendent Karen Quanbeck, who is leaving the district this fall. Board members said they hoped to follow the traditional cycle for hiring Quanbeck’s permanent replacement, which starts in late fall. However, if the interim superintendent is the right t, the board would consider hiring that person.

e school board followed the recommendation from Norman Ridder with McPherson & Jacobson, the consulting rm it hired last week to guide the search. e same rm helped the district hire Quanbeck four years ago.

Ridder said because of the district’s location and curriculum changes, he was con dent the district would garner a talented interim superintendent candidate pool. If the school board waits to search for a permanent superintendent until fall, more time would be available for community engagement, he added, and the interim superintendent could help advise the board as it looks at permanent candidates. e district will pay McPherson & Jacobson no more than $10,650 for the consulting service.

Quanbeck will become the vice president of statewide partnerships for the Colorado Education Initiative, an organization the district has been working with as it has transformed its education model for students at all grade levels.

Quanbeck was hired in June 2019, and the search took about 10 weeks.

Quanbeck has said her new position is exible, so she will be available to help during the transition to a new superintendent.

The position

Because the search for an interim superintendent is starting in the middle of summer break, the school board will conduct an online survey to ask parents, sta and the community for information to aid in the search. Questions include: What are good things about the community? What are good things about the district? What issues should a new superintendent be aware of? What characteristics should a new superintendent have to be successful?

e school district will conduct in-person stakeholder meetings in the fall as it starts the permanentsuperintendent search.

e school board went through quali cations for the interim position at its July 5 meeting, using the 2019 search announcement as a guide. e position announcement was to be posted earlier this week, and it will list the salary range between $150,000 and $165,000 plus bene ts. e board hopes to announce the interim superintendent nalists on Aug. 10 and interview them from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 24, with candidates also being interviewed by a group of parents, sta and community members. e board hopes to announce the new interim superintendent on Aug. 24 subject to contract negotiations, with the person starting by Sept. 18 or sooner if possible.