9-R Board Selects Superintendent Finalists

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One of three finalists

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will become Durango School District 9-R's

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next superintendent,

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and the Board of Education

invites district residents

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to meet the candidates during a Zoom forum

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on Monday, March 8th.

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You're watching the Local News Network

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brought to you by Serious Texas Bar-B-Q

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and Fastsigns of Durango.

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I'm Deborah Uroda.

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Three finalists,

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including former Durango

assistant superintendent,

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Andy Burns will meet district residents

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and visit district schools

during the next several weeks

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as the school board determines

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who will become the next superintendent.

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District 9-R's

superintendent, Dan Snowberger

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announced his resignation

earlier this year

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after serving more than eight years

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through some of the district's

toughest financial dilemmas.

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The public will have an opportunity

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to meet the three finalists

during a Zoom community forum

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scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

On Monday, March 8th.

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Candidates will field

questions from the school board

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and the public will be

offered an opportunity

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to send their comments to

the board in real time.

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Board president, Kristin Smith

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said the board began

its search in December

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with an online community

survey and focus groups.

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The community overwhelmingly

wanted a trusted candidate.

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They are looking for building

trust in our community

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with that superintendency position,

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that was highly important.

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Also communication.

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They want a really great communicator

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to come forward to the community

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and let everybody know

what's going on in 9-R.

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So those were two things

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that overwhelmingly were

supported by the community.

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You know, we asked the community,

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does it matter if they have a doctorate?

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They really didn't care about that.

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You know, that wasn't as important to them

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as those other qualities.

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So we've been looking for someone

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who has a proven trust record

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and also is a really great communicator.

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It's also been really

important to the board.

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We're working on some culture

and equity and inclusion work.

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So we're looking for a candidate

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that can partner with the

Board of Education on that

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and moving that work forward.

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So we've got some great candidates

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who have experience in that area.

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One thing that was really

important to the community too

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was someone who had been in the classroom,

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someone who had been on

the ground as a teacher

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and had that in their background.

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So we've looked at that too,

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which candidates have

been a teacher before,

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which candidates like to be with kids.

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And as part of the superintendent

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finalists interview process,

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we're going to have the candidates

walk through our schools,

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and we want to see how do

they interact with kids,

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how do they interact with staff.

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That's highly important to our community,

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that this person in this

superintendent position

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can access all of the stakeholders

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and communicate with them appropriately.

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The board received 28 applications

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and announced the finalists at

its meeting on February 23rd.

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Finalist include Dr. Karen Cheser,

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who retires this year as superintendent

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of the Fort Thomas,

Kentucky School District,

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Dr. Robert Lundin,

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who most recently served

as assistant commissioner

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in the Tennessee Department of Education,

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and the third candidate, Andy Burns,

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former assistant

superintendent with Durango,

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now serves as the director

of human resources

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in Pueblo School District 60.

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To participate in the

candidate forum on March 8th,

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log onto durangoschools.org.

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Thanks for watching this edition

of the Local News Network,

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I'm Deborah Uroda.

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