Superintendent search has begun for Garfield Re-2 Schools
After weeks of planning, community focus groups school district is set to post the job to replace Brent Curtis
The search for retiring Garfield Re-2 Superintendent Brent Curtice replacement officially begins Thursday, when the job vacancy will be posted on the Colorado Association of School Boards website.
Curtice has served in the position since the summer of 2016.
With the help of facilitator John Merriam with Colorado Association of School Boards, the district has been holding focus groups and outlining what the district and community are looking for in a brochure.
“The school board really wanted to involve the community and all the stake holders in the process for hiring the superintendent. Much like we did when we hired Mr. Curtice,” Garfield Re-2 Director of Communications Theresa Hamilton said.
Garfield Re-2 has 4,800 students and over 800 staff members across three communities in 10 buildings in Rifle, Silt and New Castle.
Hamilton estimated that they put over 150 people in front of the facilitator during 16 focus group sessions.
The process included three focus groups in New Castle, two in Silt, and 11 in Rifle to accommodate the teaching staff, administrators, classified staff and community members, Hamilton said. Covering two-and-half days, information gathered was presented to the school board during a workshop last week to help set some of the qualifications, and also as a guide to some of the questions that will be asked as part of the interview process, she said.
“Just to hear what things they think are going well in the district, what are the things they would like to see changed and what characteristics they would like to see in the next leader of Garfield Re-2 School District,” Hamilton said.
“It was a pretty intense schedule.”
The school board reviewed and finalized the job posting during the Tuesday evening regular board meeting held at Rifle Middle School.
A deadline for applications was set for Feb. 20, and finalists will be invited to Rifle March 18-19 for formal and informal interviews.
“We will start invitations and assembling our staff and community members for the interview teams at the end of January,” Hamilton said.
The total process will take approximately three months; the new superintendent will start July 1 of this year.
Hamilton said it is like managing a small city.
“Ultimately, the responsibility of all that lies on the superintendent, so there are a lot of things that the person in that position must mange well and have their finger on the pulse of.”
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