More than 30 people applied to be Denver’s new superintendent

Yellow school buses head out past other parked buses in a terminal lot.
The Denver school board is aiming to hire a new superintendent by June. (Andy Cross / The Denver Post)

From 10 to 12 candidates for the Denver superintendent job are expected to participate in a second round of interviews starting next week, the head of the firm conducting the search said.

A total of 32 applicants applied to lead Denver Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school district. Of those, 21 candidates did a first-round interview with the search firm hired by the school board, Alma Advisory Group, said Alma CEO Monica Santana Rosen.  

The seven-member school board is ultimately responsible for hiring the superintendent. Board members have said they’re aiming to choose a new district leader by June.

The previous superintendent, Susana Cordova, announced in November that she was leaving to take a job in Texas after nearly two years as superintendent. 

Cordova was the sole finalist in the last superintendent search and met many of the criteria that students, parents, and community members said they wanted. She grew up in Denver and spent her career as an educator in the district. Cordova was also the first Latina superintendent in a district where more than half of the students identify as Latino or Hispanic.

This time around, Rosen said school board and search firm members have met with more than 350 people over the past six weeks to talk about what the community wants to see in the next superintendent. Similar to last time, many participants said they’d like Denver to hire a superintendent of color who has significant experience as an educator, she said.

Participants also said they want a good listener who is committed to hiring a diverse staff, Rosen staff. Parents expressed concerns about schools having unequal resources — for example, one school with art classes and another without — and about how the district would recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, including addressing lost learning, she said.

Other attributes community members want to see in the next superintendent include a demonstrated commitment to equity and knowledge of Denver education issues. That’s according to a survey that netted responses from more than 3,000 people.

However, Rosen said the search firm is considering reopening the community survey in an attempt to gather responses from groups that were underrepresented in the results, including current Denver students, Black families, and families who speak Spanish.

The Latest

The third-party arbitrator sided with the district on annual raises and staffing levels for counselors and case managers. But he sided with the union on adding librarians and family engagement coordinators.

I want school leaders who are struggling with their mental health to know they are not alone.

Jeffco would close the school for a year while it works to set up a new high school that focuses on career education. What that looks like is still to be determined.

With no significant change in reading, math, and science assessments, the district failed to meet goals outlined in its improvement plan.

The massive protest took place on the same day that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided apartment buildings in Denver and Aurora.

Colorado legislation would notify schools when students experience an adverse incident outside of school. The designation it would create would help school officials help students facing trauma.