The four finalists vying to be the next superintendent for the Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 have varied backgrounds in education.
One candidate is a current superintendent, another finalist is an assistant superintendent, a third finalist is an administrator in Grand Junction, and the fourth finalist served as the chief academic officer from 2011 to 2012 for TVtextbook, a company that designs new instructional digital content for kindergarten to 12th-grade students, before deciding to pursue his doctorate.
Committees will interview the candidates on Saturday, and the board will do the final interviews at its April 17 meeting.
The board could select the new superintendent at the meeting or do a site visit to the hometown of its top choice.
Candidate profiles follow:
Alex Carter
Carter, 40, the former chief academic officer for TVtextbook, was a principal at Telluride High School and Brentsville District High School in Virginia and is currently pursuing a doctorate degree from Walden University, which he expects to complete in July.
Carter said there are pluses to both a four-day and a five-day school week, but added a five-day week is better for student achievement.
I have never seen where a student can learn as much in four days than five days, Carter said. I think the school board made a wise decision.
He said in todays world students have to compete in a global economy.
Carter said the decision the board made on changing back to a five-day school week impacts everyone in the community.
He also said he understands the situation the district is in with the state placing it on a five-year improvement plan for student achievement.
As superintendent, Carter said he would like to use the schools biggest asset teachers to help improve student achievement.
You need to harness the power of these great teachers, he said.
Carter also said he would have to look into what is working in the Re-1 and what is not working and what is best for students.
He said there is no magical formula to improve the schools other than having a dedicated staff and hard work.
He said systems have to be in place to allow teachers to focus on having their students learn and reiterated that teachers have to be supported.
There is no great scheme, he said.
Carter also touched on student enrollment numbers declining in the district and said when families are happy with their childrens education they do not move them to another district.
Carter said he has not applied anywhere else because he lives in Telluride and thinks the Re-1 would be the ideal school district for him.
M. Neil Terhune
Terhune, 59, has been the superintendent of the Carbon County School District in Rawlins, Wyo. for the last five years. Previously, he was a principal for four years and a superintendent at Harlem Public Schools in Wyoming for six years. He received his doctorate in educational leadership from Montana State University.
Terhune said he has worked in school districts where the district changed from a five-day school week to a four-day school week and vice versa. He said there are advantages to both
Terhune said he thinks the board has to do what is best for the district, and added what the board decides is what he will follow.
Terhune, while talking about low student achievement in Re-1, said parents, students and staff have to come together with a common mission and goal.
Terhune said Re-1 needs to focus on the subject or subjects students are struggling in to try to increase their performance.
Terhune stressed the parents, students and school staff must work together to implement change and added the change of significant student achievement will not be done over night.
Terhune said the Re-1 job piqued his interest because he was born in Farmington, N.M. and still has a lot of family that live in the Four Corners area.
He also said he is looking for his one last job and would have no plans to leave until he retires.
He said he already has a good job, so he and his wife can be very selective in where they decide to live and work.
Victor Figueroa
Figueroa, 49, has been the assistant superintendent of student achievement for the Durango School District since 2010 and was an administrator with the district since 2001 when he worked as an assistant principal and director of student support services and special education.
He has a masters from Adams State College in Alamosa and a bachelors from Grand Junctions Mesa State College.
Figueroa said he feels the boards vote to go back to a five-day school week was the right decision for students.
He said research has shown students succeed more in the traditional five-day schedule.
It allows (students) to have time to practice and reflect on what they have learned, he said.
Figueroa also said a longer school week provides the school district with the best opportunities to promote student achievement.
While discussing the states decision to put Re-1 on a five-year improvement plan, he said he will need to analyze the information to find ways to improve student achievement and look at the instructional academic resources Re-1 has at its disposal.
He said he would like to look at what the district is doing to determine if the instruction is aligned with the district plan.
We need to figure out how to support teachers and give them the professional development they need, he said.
He said the administration would need to find what the teachers need in order for them to complete the job of increasing student achievement.
Figueroa also touched on the decreasing enrollment of the Re-1 school district.
I think student achievement is correlated with parents decision on what school they want their children to attend, he said. We need to help students get their needs met. We need to work as partners to make sure our kids succeed.
He said he sees no reason why the Re-1 cannot become a high-performing school district when everyone is working together on a common goal.
If selected as the new Re-1 superintendent, Figueroa said he would look at things that are working as well as trying to identify practices that are not succeeding.
He also said he would try to implement a survey of some type for parents who decide to pull their children out of the Re-1.
We need to have an idea on why they are moving to another school district, he said. He added this information could be used as a resource in finding ways to convince families to keep their children in the district.
Jody Mimmack
For the last year, Mimmack has been working as executive director of instructional support and chief academic officer for the Mesa County Valley School District No. 51 in Grand Junction. In the same district, she previously was an assistant principal and principal at both the high school and middle school for 11 years
Mimmack received her doctorate in education leadership from the University of Denver.
She said she supports a five-day school week over a four-day work week because she thinks students need more time to be engaged in classroom instruction.
The achievement is not where the parents and teachers need it, so I would support a five-day work week, she said.
She added one of the first things she would do as superintendent in dealing with the situation in which the Re-1 was placed on a five-year improvement plan by the state, would be to find out where the student achievement is occurring and where this is lacking.
Mimmack said some different plans would have to be implemented to increase student achievement.
I would need to take a close look at the data and see what the options are, she said. Parents want their children to be succeeding in school, so we have to take a hard look at that.
She said gaining parents trust can be done by improving student achievement. She added that if the trust is there parents would not think about moving their children outside of their hometown district.
Mimmack has applied for numerous superintendent openings in the past few months.
Besides being a finalist for the superintendent position in the Re-1, she is also a finalist for the same position in the Durango School District.
She was also a finalist two weeks ago for the superintendent position in Fargo, N.D. Mimmack added that she has applied at four other locations as well.
She said since her youngest child is graduating from high school this year the time is right to take the next step in her career.
Mimmack said she is only applying at locations that appeal to her and her husband.
Michael Maresh can be reached at michaelm@cortezjournal.com.