Durango School District 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger is scheduled to receive a one-year contract extension this month unless the school board decides differently during a mid-year performance review of his recent behavior and communication that board members have found troubling.
Snowberger’s contract is extended by one year each January unless members of the school board take action at their January meeting, which will be held Jan. 22, to block the extension. If board members take no action at the meeting, Snowberger’s contract will be extended. His current contract goes through June 2020.
In the meantime, the board will conduct the midyear review on Jan. 15 about his administrative and managerial handling of recent incidents that involve an allegation by a father that his son was sexually assaulted by a classmate at Riverview Elementary School, a 911 call from Needham Elementary School involving a district administrator accused of trespassing, and a white paper issued by a citizens group that alleges Snowberger provided inaccurate and misleading information about his career in résumés and applications and that asked that he be terminated.
The annual one-year extension is put in place for practical reasons for both the school district and for whomever is serving as superintendent, said school board President Nancy Stubbs.
“It takes a long time for us to find a superintendent, and it takes a long time for him to find a job,” she said.
Stubbs said annual, one-year contract extensions are standard clauses in school superintendents’ contracts.
She called the Jan. 15 meeting “an ad hoc midyear review” of Snowberger’s compliance with 22 different subsections of the district’s Operational Expectations, which are among various school board policies used to evaluate the superintendent’s job performance.
In September, the board gives Snowberger a more complete, formal job evaluation to confirm he is in compliance with his contract. His performance is based on 12 broad Operational Expectations, which include hundreds of subsections.
In addition, the September review evaluates the superintendent’s performance in meeting academic measures of students and also on his relations with the school board.
Snowberger’s contract was renewed in September, and he was granted a 2 percent raise, bringing his salary to $169,320, and the ability to draw from an academic allowance to pursue classes to obtain a doctoral degree.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
