Douglas County’s college board voted Tuesday to rent Erin Kane, govt director of faculties for American Academy, because the embattled district’s sole finalist for superintendent.
Kane was considered one of two finalists for the job, which turned vacant when the Board of Schooling fired former superintendent Corey Clever in February. Kane has a protracted historical past in Douglas County Faculty District, together with serving as interim superintendent for 2 years.
The varsity board was divided in its determination to rent Kane, voting 4 to three. The vote was led by the board’s majority conservative administrators, who had been additionally behind the choice to fireplace Clever — a transfer they stated they made as a result of they didn’t really feel supported by him and wished to take the district in a brand new course.
Board director Becky Myers, who nominated Kane as the only real finalist for the job, famous that Kane had a “confirmed monitor file” for main the district and she or he gave “option to the mother and father” by providing each in-person studying and distant courses through the pandemic.
“Erin Kane, throughout COVID, had the precise reverse of worry,” Myers stated. “She doesn’t shift to the present development, the progressive motion. And he or she can’t be bullied.”
Since firing Clever, the board has moved shortly to rent a brand new superintendent and turned a course of that always takes a number of months into one which has lasted simply over a single month. The district has greater than 63,000 college students.
Kane was requested to use for the job by board president Mike Peterson earlier this yr. She was named as a finalist earlier this month together with Danny Winsor.
“For me, one (candidate) was extra assured, brave and never afraid to problem the narrative,” stated Kaylee Winegar, who participated within the assembly just about from the hospital as a result of she had given start earlier within the day.
She voted for Kane.
Winsor is the district’s govt director of faculties for the Parker area. He has extra of a conventional instructional background, having labored as a instructor, coach and principal.
He obtained assist through the hours-long assembly from the three minority board members, together with David Ray, who nominated Winsor as the only real finalist.
Kane is an distinctive chief however there are such a lot of “unlucky circumstances surrounding her candidacy” and Winsor would assist bridge the hole between the board members, he stated.
“For me, the query actually turns into who can present the calm and stability we desperately want on this group,” Ray stated.
As superintendent, Kane will likely be tasked with bringing collectively a district that’s deeply divided on points, resembling COVID-19 insurance policies and fairness, and guiding the district by means of a attainable interval of finances cuts as faculties throughout Colorado face declining enrollment.
“The gap between us just isn’t anyplace close to as a lot as you’d be led to imagine,” Kane stated throughout Tuesday’s assembly, including, “I might be privileged to steer bridging that divide.”
The district has confronted protests by college students and academics since Clever was fired and the board is in the midst of a lawsuit that was filed following allegations that members violated the state’s open assembly regulation. Earlier this month, a decide issued a preliminary injection prohibiting administrators from having one-on-one conferences to privately focus on district enterprise.
Kane referenced her time as interim superintendent throughout her public interview with the college board as a motive why she is well-suited for the job. She was requested to steer the district in 2016, which was one other divisive interval for Douglas County Faculty District following the implementation of faculty reforms, such because the controversial voucher program.
“I believed (belief) was actually essential in 2016 after we had the same state of affairs of battle and I believe it’s truly much more important at present to start to construct belief,” Kane informed the college board throughout her public interview earlier this month. “I believe for starters we should be sincere about one another’s intentions and actually pay attention to one another.”
