The search for a new superintendent to lead local K-12 schools is nearing its end. The final three candidates for the position with the Gunnison Watershed School District met interested parents, teachers and counselors earlier this week in Crested Butte and Gunnison. The Board of Education plans to announce the new superintendent Friday, Feb. 13 at 9 a.m.
The three finalists for superintendent bring diverse perspectives from different Colorado communities to the Gunnison opening. The finalists are Dr. Jessica Kalb of Montrose, Dr. Chad Krug of Lamar and William Summers of Penrose.
Kalb is the executive director of academic services at the Montrose County School District. Krug is the superintendent at Lamar Public School. Summers is the principal at Canon City High School.
During the meet-and-greet opportunities with locals on Monday, Feb. 9, a few recurring themes stood out across the candidates. Anxiety among students, cell phone use and the distinct community cultures differentiating Gunnison and Crested Butte all featured as prominent topics in small-group conversations with the three educational leaders.
Both Summers and Kalb recommended reading “The Anxious Generation,” a 2024 book exploring social media, technology and mental illness in youth by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
As a method to get at student mental health, Summers said his high school in Penrose has been storing cell phones in lockboxes during school hours for the past year and a half. Of the 1,000 students at the school, he said, 70% have had zero violations of the phone-free policy.
“We’ve had some really great results,” said Summers, adding the need to “modernize and change” is central to his view of the future of public education.
Kalb, for her part, said she believes technology absolutely has a part in public education. But if she were to institute restrictions on cell phones in class, she said, such a move would require a top-down approach driven by the administration and implemented by the teachers.
For Kalb, supporting sports, multi-language education and teacher retention are all priorities. She said she played soccer in high school, taught Spanish before her current role and supports a teacher professional development pipeline in Montrose currently.
Kalb also launched a forest preschool that is transforming into a forest K-12 program, and in her view student success combines a mix of gauging matriculation, observing classroom behavior and comparing test scores.
Krug, meanwhile, offered a slightly divergent take on student wellbeing and mental health. In Lamar, he holds monthly Zoom meetings where he wears a goofy hat and interacts with students to help them feel more comfortable.
“Kids are so impressionable,” he said. “They deserve our best.”
He instituted the placement of a counselor on every campus in his current district to help teachers navigate student mental health and classroom behavior. His school also operates with a 10-minute buffer before the school day starts, to give students an opportunity to decompress from potential challenges they could be having at home.
In fact, Krug said his tenure at Lamar has included a new program where students who have been in contact with law enforcement in their homes are put in touch with a caring adult at school within 24 hours of the law enforcement interaction.
Krug said this approach helps students understand, “I can have a bad day and still be great tomorrow.”
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