{"id":2445474,"date":"2019-06-18T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-middle-school-hires-new-principal\/"},"modified":"2019-06-18T21:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T03:04:00","slug":"aspen-middle-school-hires-new-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-middle-school-hires-new-principal\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Middle School hires new principal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Eva Allen<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

With any new job, there\u2019s a learning curve, but at least Eva Allen can say she\u2019s gotten to know a good number of people involved with the Aspen School District before she gets to work, and also has a background in climate and culture.<\/p>\n

Allen, who has a doctorate in educational leadership from Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, recently accepted the job as Aspen Middle School principal after a series of interviews and conversations that began in May with school staff, parents, administration and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cAspen has been kind of on my radar for the past several years,\u201d Allen said Tuesday, noting that she and her husband, Eric, heard about the Aspen School District from a colleague in Pittsburgh who used to work at Aspen schools. \u201cWe heard about all of these amazing things that were happening out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen accepted the district\u2019s job offer June 4 and will start work sometime in July. Her husband also has taken a job as a special education teacher at the high school.<\/p>\n

She replaces Craig Rogers<\/a>, who submitted his resignation Jan. 24 after five years as principal. Rogers, who previously was an assistant principal as well as a teacher, is scheduled to stay with the middle school through the end of this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cCraig\u2019s transition efforts and professional leadership have put the district in a good spot for this succession,\u201d said Dwayne Romero, president of the Aspen School District Board of Education.<\/p>\n

In February, the school district started the process of hiring a new principal. Focus-group meetings with residents, students and staff were held \u201cin order to allow all stakeholders the opportunity to share the leadership values and dispositions they felt were needed in a principal to lead Aspen Middle School,\u201d according to interim Superintendent Tom Heald, who made the announcement of Allen\u2019s hiring last week.<\/p>\n

On May 10, the district\u2019s interview team, after interviewing Allen, determined she \u201cwas considered a \u2018best fit,\u2019\u201d according to Heald.<\/p>\n

She visited the district again at the end of May, and on May 31, a 27-member group \u2014 all school district staff \u2014 unanimously voted to offer Allen the job, according to Heald.<\/p>\n

Not only will Allen have begun relationships with the staff before she starts the job, she also comes to the district with a background in climate and culture, which the Aspen schools addressed during the spring semester.<\/p>\n

The study, conducted by a Denver firm, examined staff and faculty sentiment regarding leadership and other aspects of the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI embrace the challenges that I\u2019ve read about in the newspaper regarding culture and climate,\u201d Allen said, \u201cand I think that is certainly an area I tend to gravitate to. It\u2019s my background and experience. It\u2019s what I did my research in. Having that connection to culture and climate is an asset, although it may be seen as a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen said it\u2019s vital to accept feedback from all of those who are part of a child\u2019s education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important and imperative to be a listener and to involve stakeholders,\u201d she said. \u201cI think having a fair process is very much part of my leadership style and approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cMy focus has always been on creating connections and building community and that is where my heart lies, based on my experience. The time I\u2019ve spent so far with the families and the community, and not just school but district as whole, has been an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen will leave her job as principal at Pittsburgh Liberty Elementary school in Pennsylvania. She also has been a literacy coach and classroom teacher. She and her husband are parents to four sons, including three who will attend Aspen schools.<\/p>\n

Allen received her master\u2019s in elementary education in 1998 from California University of Pennsylvania, and her bachelor\u2019s of arts from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy roles as a teacher leader, an administrator, and as culture and climate specialist implementing district initiatives, in combination with my experiential knowledge involving equity, diversity and inclusion would be an asset to, and assist in, meeting the goals and mission of your district,\u201d she wrote in her cover letter to the district.<\/p>\n

Allen will earn an annual salary of $122,000, according to Heald.<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eva AllenCourtesy photo With any new job, there\u2019s a learning curve, but at least Eva Allen can say she\u2019s gotten to know a good number of people involved with the Aspen School District before she gets to work, and also has a background in climate and culture. Allen, who has a doctorate in educational leadership […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-19 21:16:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}