The Española School Board is asking Española Valley residents to help choose the School District’s next superintendent. The response so far has been underwhelming.
Only two people — a parent and a teacher — showed up Nov. 18 to the first of three community meetings the Board has scheduled.
“It’s unfortunate we don’t have a packed house,” Board President Joe Romero said. “The Board will make a more intelligent decision if it gets community input.”
Andrea Roman, the Española Valley High School teacher who attended the meeting, said more people would have attended if it had been advertised further in advance. High school staff were notified a day before the meeting, she said. Jeremiah Harlan, the Chimayó Elementary parent who attended the meeting, also said he found out the day before.
Roman and Harlan were both at the meeting to learn more about the hiring process the Board will use to hire a replacement for Superintendent David Cockerham, and how much influence teachers and parents will have in the hiring process.
Cockerham turned in his resignation earlier this month, and it takes effect June 30, 2009. His contract was set to expire in mid-2010, but the Board cut his three-year contract short by a year in exchange for a $60,000 raise earlier this year.
“Who’s going to be on the screening committee, aside from the Board?” Harlan asked.
Roman wanted to know what role community input will take in the hiring process. Romero said information gathered from the three community meetings and from surveys filled out by community members will be used to help write the job description and required qualifications when the District starts advertising for a new superintendent in January.
Harlan and Roman said teachers and parents should be on the committee that whittles down the applicant pool to a short list of candidates, and also on a separate committee that interviews the finalists.
The Board wants to hire Cockerham’s replacement by the end of March 2009 so he or she can start June 1, a month before Cockerham’s last day, Romero said.
Two more community meetings are scheduled for Dec. 10 and Jan. 14, at 6:30 p.m. at Española middle school. Surveys are available at the meetings, at every District school and on the District’s web site.