By: Melinda Bochner, Steering Committee Chair
The Steering Committee is in the process of hiring an experienced interim principal to serve D’Evelyn over the next school year while we conduct a comprehensive nation-wide search for a permanent principal. We have disbanded the Principal Hiring Committee (PHC) and will form a new PHC in accordance with the Founding Document and our school policies for the renewed search. We are exploring funding options to retain a professional recruiter to conduct a fruitful, nation-wide search for candidates qualified to lead our extraordinary school. We thank the members of the D’Evelyn community for your interest in the principal hiring process, your care about the school, and your contributions to DEF to ensure its future success. Steering Committee officers: Melinda Bochner, Brock Gustafson, and Dana Miller
While Mr. Edwards has withdrawn his candidacy for the principal position, we would like to address recent questions and concerns. Many of you have made inquiries and provided feedback (both positive and negative) about our principal hiring process and the candidate the Principal Hiring Committee (PHC) brought forth, Mr. Edwards. We thank you for your input and your care, and we have noted all of your feedback both online and through direct correspondence. Many of you have asked why we selected this candidate. In our attempts to answer your queries, we have been blocked by administrators in the Jefferson County School District and unable to disseminate any additional information through official school channels (SchoolMessenger), including the candidate’s application packet which includes his resume, philosophy statement, cover letter and letters of recommendation. The PHC is a 14-member group of parents (from both D’Evelyn and Dennison), staff, administration, Steering Committee, and a (non-voting) district representative. All of the members from both schools believe in D’Evelyn, love D’Evelyn, and want the very best leadership for D’Evelyn. PHC committed endless hours to this process, reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, talking, debating, and coming together (some members even participated while traveling out of the country and during spring break). After posting the opening on more than a dozen local and nationally focused websites for more than a month, contacting recruiters and reaching out to district and other personal contacts, we received 15 applications. Twelve of the 15 were incomplete and we contacted each candidate to encourage them to complete their application. In the end, only three applicants completed their applications. The three candidates provided a resume, philosophy statement, cover letter, transcripts from any post-secondary education and at least three letters of recommendation including one from their current supervisor. Although, after the first review of the application materials, the PHC had reservations about some of the candidates, especially in the areas of philosophical alignment, in the interest of transparency, fairness and thoroughness, the PHC voted to interview all three candidates. The evaluation of our three candidates was extensive and intensive. Each candidate was interviewed, in person, using the same, prescribed list of twenty questions. Each candidate also prepared a writing sample that was completed shortly before or after the in-person interview. In-person questions came from previous hiring committees as well as new questions from the PHC. D’Evelyn’s policies list requirements for hiring staff, including a principal, and those policies include: SF-01 Hiring and SF-02 Regulation Principal Hiring. All of these documents are available to the community at the links above. The PHC’s guiding principles were to determine if the candidates met the criteria gleaned from the Founding Document (FD). After the first round of interviews, consensus was reached within the PHC that only one candidate met the above criteria, especially with regard to experience and alignment with the philosophy of the school. At this point, the PHC, knowing that the remaining candidate had a prior tenure at D’Evelyn and the circumstances around his leaving were related to a criminal conviction, the PHC did further background information searches, including reviewing past Steering Committee minutes and exhibits regarding the conviction, the Steering Committee’s decision to retain the candidate and later his dismissal. The PHC read the criminal complaints and the trial transcript. Consensus was reached within the PHC to move forward with a second-round interview with the candidate to satisfy additional questions gleaned from the further research done on the candidate. The second-round interview included seven pre-written questions from the PHC, follow-up questions, a statement from the candidate and many additional questions following the candidate’s statement. After the final candidate’s second round interview, robust debate took place. The PHC took into consideration all aspects of the candidate’s application materials, interviews, and background information. The PHC considered the many recommendations included in the application packet from teachers, administrators and community members who worked with the candidate in the past, including founders of the school and teachers who have been at D’Evelyn for more than 25 years. There is no doubt amongst the PHC that Mr. Edwards demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills throughout his career and especially during his time at D’Evelyn. As a committee, we read and heard the words “he was the best principal we’ve ever had” more times than we can count. We also considered letters from the candidate’s spouse and family members. Throughout the process, we gained additional understanding about both his criminal conviction and about his growth as a person. The committee unanimously believes the candidate had proven to be an excellent principal and has all the skills to be an excellent principal again. There was concern expressed and much debate held in the committee about the public perception of bringing forward a candidate with a criminal conviction related to domestic violence and the potential threat to D’Evelyn’s reputation. The committee believed that the candidate had completed his sentence, had shown no pattern of abusive behavior through an absence of further arrests and through written testimony from his wife and his wife's family, and the candidate had shown remorse for the incident and had grown since his conviction. At no point did anyone on the PHC believe that the candidate would jeopardize the safety of the D’Evelyn community. Given the candidate’s history of success at D’Evelyn, and that his philosophical alignment and his leadership skills were so overwhelming, the majority believed that the candidate should be moved forward in the process to focus groups. The focus groups would not only be a gauge of community sentiment, but would also be an opportunity to see if the candidate could overcome objections related to his criminal conviction by meeting with the community, sharing his story and how he had grown since his criminal conviction. Although it was not a unanimous decision, after considering all the information about the candidate, a two-thirds majority (including all but one female member) voted to move the candidate forward in the process to focus groups to gain feedback from the D’Evelyn community. In that same session, the JeffCo Schools Administration communicated to the PHC that the “District’s stance is that we want the process [focus groups] to move forward.” It was not until after our candidate’s name was released to the D’Evelyn community that our Jeffco Schools Administration contact sent his formal letter of non-support to the Steering Committee and Jeffco Schools subsequently released the letter to the press. We understand that bringing forth this candidate to our community through focus groups has been controversial. We were aware that in doing so, there would be blowback, but the PHC believed strongly enough in our community and the potential of this candidate to provide an opportunity to hear from him, ask questions and formulate their own opinions on whether he is suitable to be the next D'Evelyn principal. It has always been our intent to hear from our community and consider feedback before engaging in the next step of the process which would have been either to recommend this candidate to the district or pass on this remaining candidate, declare a failed search, and start the process over. Please understand that this group of dedicated parents and staff volunteers has only the best interest of the school at heart and has not been influenced by any parties outside of the principal hiring process. The PHC did receive a number of questions regarding diversity in the candidate pool. Although unrelated to the candidate pool, women made up the majority of voting members of the PHC. As a part of being a PHC member, each member was trained on Jeffco’s Equal Opportunity policies within the hiring process. Jeffco School’s policy forbids discrimination with regard to race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, veteran status or disability. As such, the PHC could not ask questions regarding a candidate’s race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, veteran status or disability. Neither could the PHC consider a candidate’s race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, veteran status or disability in any discussions with or about any of the candidates. The PHC is also not able to provide any information regarding the candidate pool’s race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, veteran status or disability. By: Melinda Bochner, Steering Committee Chair
Since our last principal hiring update in Jag Tracks on 3/12, the 14-member Principal Hiring Committee (PHC) completed the application stage of the principal hiring process by thoroughly reviewing all completed applications and determining whom to invite to interview. We subsequently conducted in-depth interviews of three candidates, and we are now considering the next stage of the hiring process. Please note that we did not hold Focus Groups on April 4th. Further information about Focus Groups will be provided later. The PHC remains committed to selecting as our next principal an extraordinary individual who will continue D’Evelyn’s academic excellence and provide a renewed excitement and passion for our outstanding school while maintaining an unwavering commitment to our school’s founding principles. By: Brock Gustafson, Steering Committee Vice Chair
Pursuant to The D’Evelyn Steering Committee election process, qualified candidates for election to the Steering Committee will attend a public forum on April 12th at 5pm (prior to the Accountability Committee Meeting). Ariahn Knoedler is our qualified parent candidate for election for the next term starting next semester. Below is Ariahn’s bio and a response to a question from the application. Please plan on attending the candidate forum on the 12th if you wish to ask Ariahn any questions prior to her approval to be added to the steering committee during our May meeting. Ariahn Knoedler was raised in Boulder, Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor's degree in Spanish Literature. She married her best friend from high school, Matt, and worked in the financial industry for 10 years. After her second child, Ariahn chose to switch careers and focus on caring for her family while working as a pianist. Ariahn plays piano for several Catholic churches in the western suburbs, and for the children’s choir at Academia Ana Marie Sandoval in Denver. She volunteers regularly and served a term as president of the Dennison Elementary PTA. Matt and Ariahn have four girls, Ciara (Sophomore), Aida (Freshman), and twins, Bethany and Sadie who will be in 6th grade at D’Evelyn next year. In her free time, she enjoys road biking with her husband and friends, hiking with her daughters, making pies, and reading. She is thrilled all four of her children will be at D’Evelyn next year and is looking forward to supporting the excellence of our great school. Application Question: What general goals do you want D’Evelyn to accomplish in the course of the next year? What would you like D‘Evelyn to look like in five years? What is your vision for D’Evelyn ten years from today? In short, my hope for D’evelyn 5, 10, or 25 years down the line, is that many things remain the same. Anyone who has chosen to be at this school, whether a teacher, an administrator, a parent, or a student must know in the core of their being that this is a special place. We are special not only because of our academic excellence. In fact, our exemplary test scores are symptomatic of something much more important, something much more enduring. The excellent teaching and learning that takes place in this school is the result of a quiet determination, a counter-cultural grit, an unyielding desire for all of us to try and try again until we all have achieved our very best as teachers, administrators, parents, and students. The D’Evelyn model is an alternative educational environment that holds paramount that all students “should be held to rigorous academic and behavioral standards” and that “all students can achieve in a challenging program.” But these are not the values held paramount by Jefferson County Board of Education nor in the general education philosophy of our time. Because what we do is against the grain, it is natural that there would be tension. In fact, there is tremendous pressure for D’Evelyn to conform to the norms in education in the present time. But to choose to modify our core tenants to align with these norms would be to choose the mediocrity that exists all around us. It is critical that our Steering Committee, the Administration, Parents, and Students find unity in our common purpose. We must tread cautiously when considering any potential change to behavioral or academic standards, for it is these very standards that have produced the consistent and unmatched academic results and have prepared thousands of students to be effective participants in their communities.” |
The Steering Committee is the governing board of the school and establishes policies designed to maintain and enhance its liberal arts philosophy. The Steering Committee appoints Directors to the Board of the D'Evelyn Education Foundation. Archives
March 2023
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