Barry Steadman
While much of the local attention Wednesday night was on the Just Transition meeting at Craig Middle School, Moffat County School District’s Board of Education quietly went about jump-starting the search to replace outgoing Superintendent David Ulrich, who resigned last month to take a new job in Missouri.
The Board of Education met with Colorado Association of School Boards independent consultant John Merriam at the administrative building Wednesday night. The school board learned of the cost to conduct the search, and set some dates with Merriam to target throughout the hiring process to make sure they hit their target of July 1, 2020 for a start date for the new superintendent.
Merriam helped lead the search for a superintendent when Moffat County School District hired Ulrich three years ago.
Ulrich announced his departure from the district on Feb. 21. Ulrich said the process with Kirkwood School District started in early February, and through the entire process he made sure to keep the school board updated along the way, so as to not catch them off guard.
According to Ulrich, Kirkwood School District has a little less than 6,000 students, which makes it a bit bigger than Moffat County.
The search for a new superintendent will cost a pretty penny, according to Merriam. Fortunately for MCSD, Merriam charges for just travel and lodging. During Wednesday’s meeting, Merriam told the board members in attendance that CASB charges roughly $9,000 for the search, and that he estimates his charges will be around $2,000, resulting in a roughly $11,000 charge to search for a new superintendent.
The important upcoming dates for the superintendent’s search are Tuesday and Wednesday, March 10 and 11. Merriam will conduct focus groups with anyone who shows up at Colorado Northwestern Community College on Tuesday and Wednesday. Times for the focus group on Tuesday are 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday at 10 a.m., Merriam will hold a focus group for administration staff, before then holding another focus group at 4 and 6 p.m. at CNCC.
After Merriam’s focus groups, the Board of Education will come together again at 7 p.m. at CNCC to hear from Merriam about what he learned from the focus groups, helping the board bring their search for the next superintendent into focus from a community-need aspect.
