{"id":2456778,"date":"2020-04-05T21:28:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T03:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/new-aspen-school-district-superintendent-undeterred-by-covid-19-challenges\/"},"modified":"2020-04-06T07:09:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T13:09:18","slug":"new-aspen-school-district-superintendent-undeterred-by-covid-19-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/new-aspen-school-district-superintendent-undeterred-by-covid-19-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"New Aspen School District superintendent undeterred by COVID-19 challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"769\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-769x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-769x1024.jpg 769w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-768x1023.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-1153x1536.jpg 1153w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620-1538x2048.jpg 1538w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/asdsuper-atd-040620.jpg 1922w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 769px) 100vw, 769px\"><figcaption><strong>A selfie of David Baugh taken Friday. Baugh take the reins as the Aspen School District superintendent July 1.<\/strong><br \/><em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">At a time of layoffs, job losses, self-isolation and uncertainty, there lives a man in Pennsylvania who plans to move to Aspen this summer for one of the upper Roaring Fork Valley\u2019s highest profile \u2014 and often scrutinized \u2014 positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">David Baugh in March <a id=\"N0x20d51a0N0x2135a90:N0x20d51a0N0x216bf20\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/david-baugh-named-superintendent-of-aspen-school-district\/\">accepted the job as the superintendent<\/a> of the Aspen School District after a <a id=\"N0x20d51a0N0x2135af0:N0x20d51a0N0x216bfb0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/superintendent-search-for-aspen-school-district-picks-up-the-pace\/\">nationwide search<\/a> the district and an outside firm started in December. Still superintendent of Centennial School District in the greater Philadelphia area, Baugh spent part of Friday handing out food to students on the district\u2019s free and reduced plan for meals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe just finished three site feedings,\u201d Baugh said via telephone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh, 58, will remain at the helm of the 5,900-student district until the end of June; he is scheduled to begin work as ASD superintendent July 1, the same day Aspen High School Principal Tharyn Mulberry is set to transfer into his new role as assistant superintendent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Tom Heald has been interim superintendent for the 2019-20 school year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh and Mulberry will take their respective positions at a time when educators are taking on creative measures and initiatives through remote learning due to school closures across the country because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Aspen School District <a id=\"N0x20d51a0N0x2135b50:N0x20d51a0N0x216c310\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/aspen-schools-learning-to-adapt-to-new-online-education-system-during-closure\/\">began distance learning<\/a> on Wednesday, following more than two weeks of class closure due to both COVID-19 and spring break. The district \u2014 which includes Aspen Community School in Woody Creek, as well as an on-campus preschool, elementary, middle, high school off Maroon Creek Road \u2014 has not been open since March 13.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think distance learning will become an integrated parcel\u201d of education in the future, Baugh said. \u201cThat\u2019s sort of the new frontier in public education, and it might be an opportunity to move out of 180 days a year and seven hours a day within the classroom walls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gov. Jared Polis has ordered mandatory closure of all schools until at least April 30.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Continuing to educate and feed the students in the Centennial district have been Baugh\u2019s most pressing concerns during the closure, he said, including possibly moving the late spring senior prom and commencement exercises to the summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Soon, however, Baugh\u2019s priorities will shift to getting to Aspen in July. What the world looks like then is another question, but Baugh said his aim is to relocate here by then. If not, he said he will work remotely as the ASD superintendent until conditions become permissible for him to head West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think there are worse places to ride out a global pandemic than Aspen,\u201d Baugh said. \u201cBut I also figure the challenges here (in Pennsylvania) are not dissimilar to Aspen, Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh\u2019s three-year rolling contract with ASD also has a clause that says he can work remotely as superintendent if conditions aren\u2019t safe to relocate this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cNinety-five percent of the superintendent\u2019s job can be done remotely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh, named by his peers as Pennsylvania\u2019 superintendent of the year for 2020, went through a ringer of interviews with the Aspen School district earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That included answering a three-part essay question, doing in-person and remote interviews, and in the first week of March holding a meet-and-greet with ASD stakeholders one night, and offering his world view of education to a public audience the next morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe interview process was well underway when America started being affected by this,\u201d he said of COVID-19. \u201cMost of us were watching China with cause for concern, so it wasn\u2019t really a problem until after that last interview (in early March).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">By the time America began to feel the impact, Baugh and the Board of Education were in serious job talks, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe die had largely been cast and I\u2019d already made a commitment to going to Aspen if the position was offered,\u201d he said, noting that \u201cas we\u2019re negotiating, this thing keep going from bad to worse and we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh, however, said he is fine with uprooting his life during a pandemic. The single father has one daughter, 24, who works for Vail Resorts, so he has close company.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Baugh\u2019s teaching experience spans from the elementary to collegiate level. He received a doctorate in educational leadership from Seton Hall, a master\u2019s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master\u2019s of humanities from Aberdeen University in Scotland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He has been superintendent of the Centennial district since September 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:rcarroll@aspentimes.com\">rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/new-aspen-school-district-superintendent-undeterred-by-covid-19-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A selfie of David Baugh taken Friday. Baugh take the reins as the Aspen School District superintendent July 1. At a time of layoffs, job losses, self-isolation and uncertainty, there lives a man in Pennsylvania who plans to move to Aspen this summer for one of the upper Roaring Fork Valley\u2019s highest profile \u2014 and [&hellip;]<\/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":["post-2456778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 06:09:46","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&#039;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\/2456778","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=2456778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456806,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456778\/revisions\/2456806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}