Eagle County Schools names three superintendent finalists

EAGLE — Three finalists are vying to lead Eagle County Schools, one a known quantity and two from outside the district.

The superintendent search narrowed their finalists to Phil Qualman, Karen Quanbeck, and Shawn Woodward.

Phil Qualman

Qualman is currently running the district as Eagle County schools’ interim superintendent.

Qualman has been with the district for 15 years. He started as a social studies teacher and eventually became the principal at Battle Mountain High School. He moved to the district’s central office staff as an assistant superintendent prior to the 2015/16 school year.

Qualman has an undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in history, and a graduate degree from the University of Colorado-Denver in administrative leadership and policy studies.

Karen Quanbeck

Karen Quanbeck is Chief of Schools for Elementary in Jefferson County Public Schools, where she supervises more than 90 elementary schools. Quanbeck has served as a principal in a mountain elementary school and a suburban middle school and has taught at the middle and high school levels.

Quanbeck has her undergraduate degree in Economics from Carleton College, and her graduate degree in Learning Technology and Curriculum Development from the University of St. Thomas, both in Minnesota.

Quanbeck says she believes the most important place in any educational organization is in the classroom, and that the core work of a district is the learning experience that each student has every day.

Shawn Woodward

Shawn Woodward is currently the superintendent of Lake Pend Oreille School District in Ponderay, Idaho. He began his career in Port Orchard, Washington, where he taught elementary and junior high, before becoming a principal in the Burlington-Edison School District in Washington. After that, Woodward served as the assistant superintendent of the North Kitsap School District in Poulsbo, Washington.

Lake Pend Oreille has been recognized at the state and national level for student growth and achievement, as well as increasing equity and access to advanced placement courses for traditionally underrepresented students. Woodward holds an undergraduate degree from Washington State University, and a graduate degree in Education from City University.

The process

• The school district is hosting a community meet-and-greet with the candidates at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, April 4, at Battle Mountain High School.
• The following day, candidates will rotate between two interview committees and the school board for interviews.
• After the interviews and the committees debrief the school board, and the school board will begin deliberations.
• The school board will announce the decision by Monday, April 8, after a candidate is chosen and all other finalists are notified.

Under Colorado state law, the board is required to make public the list of finalists it is considering for the superintendent’s position no later than 14 days prior to appointing or hiring one of the finalists. That state law, C.R.S. § 24-6-402(3.5), also mandates that a school board cannot make a final offer to a candidate after that 14-day waiting period has passed.

via:: Vail Daily