Jeffco superintendent’s fate remains unsettled after long closed-door meeting

After meeting three-and-a-half hours behind closed doors, the Jefferson County school board emerged late Thursday without taking any action on Superintendent Dan McMinimee’s contract.

The board did not reconvene in the board room after its second executive session in the past week to discuss McMinimee’s fate. Although his contract expires June 30, a decision about whether to renew the contract or begin a search for a new leader of Colorado’s second largest school district is expected relatively soon.

According to McMinimee’s contract, the board would have to notify him of a decision before the end of March. However,  board members have said they wish to make a decision by January.

McMinimee was hired in 2014 by the board that was recalled just a year later, leaving him in a tenuous position. The decision to hire him was called into question because McMinimee had no prior experience as a superintendent and some feared he would bring policies from the Douglas County school district, where he previously worked.

During his two years in the role of superintendent, McMinimee and his team led work on the district’s new strategic plan, helped Jeffco switch to a performance-pay system for teachers, increased the number of full-day kindergarteners, switched to a student-based budget system and expanded two high schools into seventh through 12th grade schools.

The goal of the expanded schools was to improve student achievement among middle schoolers by eliminating the need for a school transition and also to better use space in buildings.