DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — The two finalists vying for the Douglas County School District superintendent job have completed their interviews and now the public will get the chance to weigh in.
At a special meeting of the school board on Thursday, Erin Kane and Danny Winsor laid out their vision for the position in front of a public audience. They both answered the same set of questions in interviews lasting a little more than one hour.
The board pressed each candidate on various topics, including how they each view the role of superintendent within the district.
“My job is to work for our community. My job is to work for our teachers. My job is to work for our students. I absolutely value [the board’s] input… and I value the collaboration that would occur,” Winsor said.
“I see the school board in a governing role, very much setting the vision of the district, setting the goals, the ends, the outcomes. The superintendent’s role is to execute on that vision,” Kane said.
Several parents attended the interviews in person with signs in protest of Kane as a finalist.
“Erin Kane is not qualified for this position. [The board majority has] purposefully put her up because she is their puppet and she is going to be their ‘yes man,’” parent Kate Gould said.
Gould does not support the board majority’s decision to terminate former superintendent Corey Wise’s contract. She does, however, believe Winsor is “an excellent candidate.”
She was escorted out of the meeting prior to the start of Kane’s interview and shouted at the board upon her exit.
Kane addressed concerns about her beliefs at several points during her interview.
“I am a registered Republican. Everybody already knows that,” she said. “What’s interesting to me is I don’t see a role for that in leading a school district… I don’t put a political lens on any of it. I want to hear good ideas for our kids here in Douglas County and I’m always willing to change my mind.”
She also said when it comes to the Douglas County School District, she is against arming teachers and against vouchers.
“I feel like she’s got great experience. She runs the American Academy charter group, which is a huge organization, and she’s been successful doing that,” parent Tara Kohl said.
Kohl does support the board majority’s decision to terminate Wise’s contract and search for a new superintendent. She said she “feels great” about both finalists.
“I think Danny Winsor has been so involved in the community for so long and he does what everyone used to do, which is keep politics out of the classroom. I don’t know where he stands politically but I think that’s the right way,” she said.
In answering a question from the board about how he plans to navigate the current polarization that exists within the district, he said, “I think too often we forget about the love that is in the work and focus on the hatred, and you can’t solve solutions when hate is in the middle of everything.”
He reiterated his desire to create a community where parents, staff and students can feel comfortable and thrive.
“The soul of this community wants to see our students be successful. I think we’re getting stuck on how we all want it to look and I think that’s a huge part of my role as a superintendent to ensure that one, we clearly identify the problems that we are looking at,” he said.