COMMERCE CITY (March 25, 2009): The Adams 14 Board of Education last night approved a three year contract for Dr. Susan Chandler as Superintendent of Schools. The contract was approved in a 4-1 vote, with Board Member Larry Quintana dissenting.Board President Jeannette Lewis provided a strong statement of support for Dr. Chandler’s leadership. “Dr. Chandler and the Board agree that academic success for all students is the top priority of the District. The Board is confident that Dr. Chandler is the best choice for Superintendent. She has shown herself to be a hardworking, compassionate and creative leader.”
With the new Adams City High School opening in the fall and the District strategic plan in place, the Board approved the three year contract to maintain established leadership and preserve continuity in the District. Board President Jeannette Lewis cited several reasons for approving the contract with Dr. Chandler.
• Dr. Chandler has exhibited ability to nurture and develop relationships that are critical to the success of the District.
• Dr. Chandler has made significant progress in meeting District goals approved by the Board of Education.
• Dr. Chandler has been recognized as a positive force in the District by state educational experts.
• Dr. Chandler is a highly qualified instructional leader.
The Board of Education solicited requests for proposals and contacted board members in other school districts to obtain information on what a superintendent search would cost and the impact a search has on operations of a district The Board came to consensus that a costly – up to $100,000 – and extensive search would prolong the leadership transition of the District during a critical time. Board President Jeannette Lewis noted that in recent months other school boards in Colorado have chosen to hire from within to ensure stability.
President Lewis remarked that “continuity in leadership is important for the District. The Board is pleased with Dr. Chandler’s performance, and we wish to build upon the work that she is doing for the District and the community.”
Dr. Susan Chandler has served as Superintendent of Schools for Adams 14 since September. Under her leadership, the District developed a new strategic plan that is highly focused on academic improvement through effective teaching. Addressing the Board at the meeting, Chandler said, “I have all confidence that in working together and implementing the strategic plan we can increase student achievement.”
REPOST:
ReplyDeleteThe following comment was read before the vote on this recommendation was taken.
On November 25th, 2008 the Board passed a Recommendation for an RFP to conduct a search for a Superintendent. Now some 4 months later we are informing the public that the recommendation is voided despite the fact that a number of organization sent in request to do the search.
Some of us were elected on the premise that we would be a transparent and open Board, yet in reality it is Politics as usual and one or two individuals are promoting their agenda and the rest have to go along with it, well I am not.
Once again we are short changing the voters, taxpayers and students of this district by not making even a feeble attempt to seek out the best possible candidate to lead this district. In the same breath we say we are going after the best candidates to educate our kids, what kind of a message is this?
It would have been better to attempt to find the best candidate for Superintendent and failed then to make the assumption we already have the best. Haven’t we made that mistake before, and in fact several times this mistake has been made and every time it is the taxpayer and our students that pay for this mistake and Board Member walk away absolved from the responsibilities of doing what we were elected to do and that is to make the hard choices.
I hope the citizens of Adams 14 take a good hard look at this Board and hold our feet to the fire, because catchy phrases such “a years growth in a years time” and “were doing it for the kids” are meaningless unless we are able to produce bonfied results.
I will not vote in favor of this Recommendation.
Additional Note: My vote against this recommendation was not a vote against the candidate for Superintendent, but a vote against the manner this action was implemented.
Larry Quintana
Goes to show you, it is all about who you know and who your friends are.
ReplyDeleteCommerce City
Questions for Adams County School District 14
ReplyDeleteIs the District an equal opportunity employer?
Did the District post the superintendent's job, inside the district, the Front Range or the State?
Has the District violated any State or Federal labor laws in the unprecedented firing and dismissal of employees?
Did the District violate any Equal Opportunity Laws in not posting the Superintendent's position?
Did the District violate its own goals to embrace the community as partners in making the decisions it has made?
Didn't Lewis make public statements that a search would be done to find a Superintendent?
Lewis stated in the district's most recent press release that a search would cost up to $100,000. We would like to see ALL of the proposals and outside consultation remarks regarding this issue including State education officials responses. Our research shows that these searches do not cost this amount, particularly the Colorado Association of School Boards, which does many searches for Superintendents. It is our opinion that the District made no attempt to look for the best candidate for our children. (City's nationwide search for a new city manager cost only a fraction of the amount Lewisi is purporting in her recent press release).
How much money has been spent paying off contracts and other fees accompanying the dismissal of employees since September 1, 2008?
What double amounts have been paid to cover those positions?
What are the legal fees incurred by the District since September 1, 2008? What are the categories and what are the amounts?
How many candidates were interviewed for the Superintendent's job? When did those interviews take place?
When was the community consulted for the Superintendent's job? What other input did the community have in the hiring of the Superintendent or any of the decisions made this year?
At what time this year has the District "embraced the community" – one of the board’s goals?
What are the benefits and compensation for the new Superintendent?
As the former Chief Academic Officer, wasn't Sue Chandler responsible for the past 3 years test scores and CSAP which haven't been the highest?
Hasn't the current administration and school board put their own spin on the CADI report?
Didn't the CADI report say that the Adams 14 individual schools and principals implemented their respective bi-lingual programs as they each saw fit and that Sue Chandler was the direct supervisor for those schools and their principals? (See "Hodge-Podge" comments in Denver Post article on Adams 14, March 26, 2009).
Isn’t Lewis and her board and administrators continually dishonoring the community by not allowing their input?
Since appointing Sue Chandler interim superintendent, hasn't the school district been in constant and uncontrollable turmoil every week?
Since Dr. Chandler took office, isn’t it true that the District has had one financial crisis after another due to her inexperience in supervising a school district?
Why haven't Lewis and her school board taken into account the lowest employee morale in decades – maybe for all time?
Why hasn't Lewis and her school board taken into account the worst parent/community -school district relationship of all time?
Who is running Adams 14? The unqualified PIO (the video guy for the district a few months ago), the completely unqualified and uneducated Lewis or anyone else?
What happened to the concept of the new high school being a high school/community college –the only reason that voters approved its construction?
Someone from the district, please take all 4 points made by Lewis (on the website) regarding the 3 year contract of Sue Chandler and prove them. What are Chandler's credentials?
Does anyone of the new administrators speak Spanish or can they relate to our very diverse community?
What are her top administrator's credentials?
Please produce Sue Chandler's resume. What previous superintendent's position has she held? Has she ever been a principal of a school so that she can understand how a school operates? Why?
Real Talk
ReplyDeleteFeeling Left Out?
If you are feeling a little left out of the district’s educational decisions you are not alone. I am talking about Adams County School District 14.
Perhaps the latest news of the Adams County School District 14’s Board of Education decision to employee Sue Chandler as the district Superintendent for the next three years came as a shock to you as well.
I personally was waiting for the press release informing the community that the national search for the highest qualified applicants had been completed. Perhaps an invitation to get the citizens valued input on what we would like to see in the next leader of our district would have been nice.
But no such press release or invitation was sent to the citizens residing in District 14, instead a press release stating that they "The Board" had made the decision for us.
Was it because no other applicant wanted to come to District 14 and work with a school board that ousted it’s former superintendent in a public flogging setting up the district for more lawsuits?
Ms. Lewis states that the decision was made after seeking the advice of other districts and their quote of the cost involved. An outrageous $100,000- dollars was published by the school district as an official cost but after talking to a few districts on my own the quote published seems awful high.
Lewis also states that the decision was made because she did not want to prolong the leadership transition of the District during a critical time. Getting rid of the previous Superintendent during this critical time will have lasting ramifications on the opening of the new High School for years to come.
And finally Ms. Lewis states that continuity in leadership is important to the district, that statement makes me question Sue Chandler’s involvement in Dr. Lange’s firing. Did she know prior the board meeting that Mr. Vashaw was going to throw Lange under the bus and had she already accepted the position to replace him?
The BIG question on my mind is: will we as a community accept being silenced?
I have watched way too many board meetings where board president Lewis is shutting down the freedom of speech of citizens on a regular basis.
All elected officials should uphold a citizen’s right to address them publicly, but am I surprised by her behavior? Absolutely not!
The community wanted to see a less argumentative board if my memory serves me right. They wanted a board that got along and agreed with one another all the time. The problem with this is that opinions are not questioned. Policies are passed with no opposition. Citizens are silenced without a single elected board member to stand up for them.
How is this progress? You hear comments that people don’t like change and that in the end it’s all for the good of the community. So who will stand back and wait to see if they are right? Who will step us and demand to be a part of the process?
Thanks for reading,
Richard A Ford Sr.
720-422-0610