Hiring a consultant or an entity specializing in searches for educational positions will be the first order of business for the Durango School District 9-R Board of Education as it begins its search for a replacement for departing Superintendent Dan Snowberger.
9-R school board President Kristin Smith said a discussion will be held at the board’s Tuesday meeting about hiring a professional firm or individual to conduct a national search.
Also, among the board’s top priorities will be to gather public feedback to integrate into the search, she said.
“The school board is very interested in finding a number of different ways that we can gather public feedback in the process of the search,” she said.
To begin with, families with 9-R students, 9-R employees and other interested members of the region can expect to be asked to fill out surveys during December to help guide the board.
“Our very first task is to gather that community feedback so that we can shape what we want in that role for Durango,” she said. “We want to hear from the Durango community – from residents about what they want in a leader for their public school system.”
School board members could decide as soon as their meeting Tuesday whether to put out a request for proposal for an entity to lead the search or to go with a firm that 9-R has used in the past to conduct talent searches.
Ideally, Smith said, the board will have filled the superintendent’s position by May so the new district leader will have time to work with Snowberger in a transition.
But the final deadline for making a hire will be June 30, Snowberger’s last day.
“We’d really like to have a smooth transition. It would be really great if there could even be a little bit of overlap. Sometimes that’s really helpful in transitioning from one superintendent to the next, she said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com
