COLORADO SPRINGS – Staff with Harrison School District Two told News 5 that the district has been run by two chief operating officers since last summer.
It’s a model the board likes and wants to continue by hiring two superintendents.
However, some say a dual position is a lot of money. The two future employees would make between $150,000 and $190,000 each.
Mike Claudio, executive director of human resources for the district, said, “It is not a need for the district. It’s just a direction that the board wants to go in.”
Steven Seibert, president of the board of education, said the move won’t cost taxpayers or the district any additional money.
In fact, Seibert shared that the “administration has shrunk by close to a million dollars.”
He said that’s because the district hasn’t replaced many of the school leadership officer roles or assistant superintendent positions.
Seibert said, “We’re not really replacing one with two. We’re replacing four with two.”
The hope for this plan is to rid the district of an ongoing issue.
Seibert said, “How do we stave off high turnover? We’ve had three superintendents in 10 years.”
Beyond that, Claudio said the focus is going to be “bringing someone who has elementary experience and the other position will be someone who has secondary experience…how they’ll be able to support each other is knowing the transition or what has to happen from one grade level to another grade level.”
The district said it will allow for greater collaboration and a more focused curriculum in all Harrison schools.
According to the online job posting, applications will be taken until Friday at noon. Interviews with the board and community members will be held on March 4th and the two superintendents will start no later than July 1st.
