The Adams 12 Five Star Schools board Friday chose Chris Gdowski as sole finalist for superintendent. He currently is district general counsel.
Gdowski’s starting date will be announced after contract negotiations are completed, according to a district statement.
The selection caps a two-month search that included staff and public input and use of a search firm. According to the district statement, the board was seeking a superintendent “with solid leadership skills, knowledge of academic best practices, effective communication skills, a strong vision for 21st century learning and the ability to build community partnerships.”
Gdowski has been district general counsel for three years. He was in private practice before that, including with Semple, Miller & Mooney, a Denver firm which provides legal services to more than 40 Colorado districts and boards of cooperative educational services. He is a product of Adams 12 schools and hold bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Candidates were interviewed Wednesday and Thursday. The other candidates were:
- Rod L. Blunck, superintendent of the Brighton Schools and former superintendent in Elizabeth and Julesburg.
- James Q. Hammond, superintendent in Davis, Calif., and formerly a superintendent in Washington State.
- Peg M. Kastberg, community superintendent for the Jefferson County Schools and a former administrator and teacher in Summit County.
- Joseph J. Redden, a retired Air Force general and education consultant from Georgia who formerly was superintendent in Cobb County, a suburban Atlanta district with more than 100,000 students.
- Robert K. Webber, the Adams 12 assistant superintendent for business services.
Current Superintendent Mike Paskewicz resigned in August after six years to take a superintendent job in his home state of Michigan.
Adams 12 is Colorado’s fifth largest school district with about 40,000 students from Broomfield, Federal Heights, Northglenn, Thornton and Westminster. Enrollment has grown more than 10 percent since 2004.
According to an EdNews analysis of 2009 CSAP results for Adams 12, the district’s reading growth has remained at the 52 percentile for three years; writing has been stable at the 51st and math growth went from the 53rd percentile in 2007 to the 50th in 2008 and the 55th this year.
Minority and non-minority students are both at the 52nd percentile in reading, the 51st in writing and the 55th in math. The ACT average composite score rose to 18.91 in 2009 from 18.7 in 2208. The district enrollment is 39.8 percent minority and 29.7 percent free and reduced lunch.
Last year district voters narrowly approved a $9.9 million mill levy override but defeated an $80 million bond issue. None of the district board seats on the ballot this year are contested.
Elsewhere in the state, the Douglas County board is preparing a superintendent search to replace Jim Christensen. There is a contentious campaign this fall for board seats in the district. The Pueblo City school board earlier this month promoted Assistant Superintendent Kathy West to the top job.
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