June 5, 2014
50 cents Jefferson County, Colorado | Volume 30, Issue 49 A publication of
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CELEBRATING LIFE
The newly-appointed superintendent, Daniel McMinimee, left, was greeted by a community members following the Jeffco Board of Education meeting, Tuesday, May 27. Photo by Crystal Anderson
McMinimee named Jeffco super Participants in the Run/Walk begin their journey. Photos by Hugh Johnson
Steps toward survival Exempla event highlights battle against cancer By Hugh Johnson Some people run to stay healthy, others jog to experience the beauty of the Colorado summer. Those who attended Exempla Lutheran Medical Center’s Leaves of Hope Run/Walk Sunday ran for a different reason, to celebrate life. In conjunction with National Cancer Survivor’s Day, Exempla Lutheran hosted its seventh Leaves of Hope Run/Walk in celebration of the 14 million cancer survivors in America. A sunny day that included breakfast for cancer survivors, music, snow cones and more, the event featured a kids 100-yard dash, a 1-mile family walk, a 5k run/walk and a 10k run/ walk in which participants got run along the Crown Hill Lake Park. Carol Salzmann the executive director of the Lutheran Medical Center Foundation said roughly 300 to 400 survivors attended this year’s event. She said the focus of this year’s
Participants in the children dash pose for a photo. Leaves of Hope was to create an incredible, memorable experience for the survivors. “This is about honoring their perseverance and their courage through their journey,” Salzmann said. “We just ramped up, in general, the party atmosphere so that they really feel like it’s a celebration of their life journey. Each year, Exempla Lutheran invites a keynote speaker to address the crowd, often a cancer survivor. Last year’s event featured survivor Ethan Zohn,
the winner of 2001’s reality TV show “Survivor: Africa.” This year, jazz and swing artist and Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductee Chris Daniels was on hand to give the address. He also brought his band, Chris Daniels and The Kings. A survivor himself, Daniels was thrilled at the opportunity to address all those who, like himself, got a new lease on life. He was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in February 2010. After a lot of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant from Daniels’s
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sister, Jane Moffett, he was able to overcome the leukemia. Daniels described being diagnosed with leukemia like falling through a hole in the sky, feeling like his life was gone. He experienced fear and loss. One of the most encouraging things his doctor told him that he didn’t contract leukemia through anything he put in his body and he needed to concentrate on getting better. “That was a great gift so the next thing I started to do was fight like we all do,” Daniels said. “Once you start to fight the next thing that happens to you is you start to live each day more than you’ve ever lived them before, because they become precious.” Daniels had lived more in the past four years as a survivor than the rest of his life. For him and countless others, Sunday’s event was another opportunity to celebrate the gift of life.
Jeffco board makes decision with split vote By Crystal Anderson
canderson@colorado communitymedia.com Jeffco Board of Education hired Daniel McMinimee as superintendent for the Jefferson County School District with a split vote. Despite disagreement among board members and chanting from the audience, the board May 27 approved hiring of McMinimee by a 3-2 vote, with board members Jill Fellman and Lesley Dahlkemper opposed. “I think we made an outstanding choice for the superintendent of Jeffco, and I am delighted we are able to move forward with the hiring process,” said Board President Ken Witt. The board had a lengthy discussion about McMinimee’s hiring and key points — such as salary and performance measures — in his contract. In the process, several motions, subordinate motions and amendments were voted down by a three-two vote of the majority. McMinimee is assistant superintendent of secondary education in Douglas County School District. He has been with the district for 12 years and started as the founding principal of Rock Canyon High School in 2003. “I think tonight’s meeting sent the wrong message to our community,” Dahlkemper said. “I have never seen this district more divided than it is right now. My hope is that we would be able to come together, and we would work together.” Prior to the discussion, the board received a copy of a petition, gathered by community member Michael Clark, and heard 22 of the 87 people signed up to address the board. During the allotted 45 minutes, many people urged the board to not hire McMinimee, and said the board should follow set practices, be transparent, listen to the community and reopen the search process, which cost $40,000. “I have become very concerned with what has been going on,” Clark said. “The board has done a lot of things that has violated their own board policies, including the fact they didn’t properly follow their superintendent search. I actually did vote for both Mr. Witt and Mr. (John) Newkirk and that makes my disappointment that much greater.” Out of 63 applicants, McMinimee was named the sole finalist for the position on May 10, instead of narrowing the process to three candidates at that point. In his new position, McMinimee will manage more than 85,000 students who attend the district’s 155 schools. “Moving forward we want to do everything that we can that’s in the best interest of kids and continue to work towards those goals that set student achievement,” Dahlkemper said. According to the draft contract, McMinimee will earn a base salary of $280,000, with the addition of bonuses and some covered expenses over the next five years. The salary is about 27 percent more than his predecessor, Cindy Ste-
Super continues on Page 16