Durango High School and Sunnyside Elementary School will have new principals in the fall, the school district announced Friday.
Their leaders are moving into administrative jobs in the district as part of a restructuring of Durango School District 9-R’s curriculum, instruction and assessment department that has been underway since November.
DHS Principal Leanne Garcia will become director of secondary education, and Sunnyside Elementary Principal Dylan Connell will become director of elementary education, 9-R spokeswoman Julie Popp said. The restructuring will not add jobs to central administration.
“We don’t always just do things the way we used to,” 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger said. “We always have to look at how to align our limited resources. This is the model we need now. It may need to be another model later.”
Curriculum, instruction and assessment are the central purpose of the district, he said.
“Leanne’s and Dylan’s expertise should bring a lot of relief to teachers,” he said, “because hopefully they will shoulder some of the burden and allow teachers to engage more in their classrooms. At the same time, we are a K-12 system, and we can’t have 11 independent schools, because regardless of what elementary or middle school students attended, when they walk across the stage at graduation, every student should have the same basic skills.”
The district has been involved in a multiyear revamping of its graduation standards, to be fully implemented for the class of 2021, with new, more rigorous targets designed to make sure high school graduates are prepared for college or careers. One reason for the personnel change is to allow for more integration of efforts from preschool through 12th grade.
The current chief academic adviser, Lynn Mather, will continue part-time as a consultant and coach to the two new directors. Her 40 years of experience across the state will help her teach Garcia and Connell the depth of compliance factors mandated by both state and federal law, Snowberger said.
“I want Leanne and Dylan to be completely focused on supporting teachers in the classroom,” Snowberger said. “Lynn’s support through the year will allow this, to prevent the impact of the bureaucracy that exists and provide time for Leanne and Dylan to develop systems to best manage these burdens.”
Mather will also support niche communities such as the federal Title programs and English Language Learners, Popp said.
Christy Bloomquist, the director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, will seek available positions within and outside the district, Popp said.
“This should not be seen as either of them being ineffective, because they both have a lot of skills,” Snowberger said. “Lynn is working toward leaving at the end of the school year next year after a 40-year career, and we wanted to grab some of her experience before she goes. Christy is just finishing up her doctorate, and she’s looking to move up in administration. She’s a great leader, and she may consider throwing her hat in the ring for an administrative position in a school. We obviously have a couple of those open now.”
Garcia has been with the district for nine years, five as assistant principal and four as principal at DHS. During her time at the helm, she is particularly proud of the School of Opportunity designation DHS received in May 2015, which recognizes schools that provide unique and robust opportunities for all students. She also oversaw mainstreaming of special education students when possible.
“We saw some pretty significant growth, upwards of two years in one year,” she said about her accomplishments at the school. “We’ve also gotten a lot of positive feedback, people say when they walk in, the high school feels like a happy place. And as an assistant principal, I remember the amount of suspensions and expulsions, and those have dropped significantly, especially the expulsions.”
The biggest particular need in her new job will be improving math instruction, Garcia said.
Connell has been principal at Sunnyside this school year after serving as assistant principal at Miller Middle School for the 2013-14 school year and at Sunnyside and Florida Mesa Elementary School in 2014-15. The school has been through several leadership transitions in recent years.
“I believe this deeply about the Sunnyside community,” Connell said, “they are a strong, tight-knit group of people, who will do anything and everything to make sure every kid is successful whether or not I’m the leader. They will continue to be strong as they have been during other transitions, and I will miss them greatly.”
Garcia and Connell will begin their new jobs July 1, at the start of the school district’s next fiscal year. The district will begin the search to fill the two principal positions immediately, Popp said.
“People can get upset about change, but I think it’s bad when organizations refuse to change,” Snowberger said. “We should always be asking, ‘Are we doing everything we can with the resources we have?’”
abutler@durangoherald.com
If you go
Durango School District 9-R, along with school districts from Pagosa Springs, Bayfield, Cortez, Dolores and Aztec, is holding an educational job fair for teacher candidates from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Durango High School.
About 120 applicants have signed up, said 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger, including 28 math-certified teachers. The state produces only about 60 math-certified teachers each year.
