Principal Selection Update

Posted January 10, 2023

January 10, 2023

Dear Bear Valley International School Community,
We deeply value our community partnership. The primary purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the principal selection process.

As you know, Principal Teresa Klava kindly agreed to serve as our Interim Principal for the 2022-2023 school year. She is committed to help us continue our strong course forward and we are grateful to Principal Klava for her invaluable strength, service, and care for the BVIS community. Please join us in thanking her for her service. We are writing to explain how we will proceed with finding the long-term principal of BVIS for the 2022-2023 school year and beyond. Last year, we were able to implement some new processes in principal hiring to make the process overall more transparent and accessible.

We will be continuing with some updates to the way we have traditionally conducted school principal search processes. These processes are grounded in the following guiding principles:

● Increased opportunities for a wide variety of stakeholder feedback
● Easy access for stakeholders from multiple language backgrounds with translators and interpreters
● Equity of access for school communities despite personal circumstances of time and access to
technology

Toward this end, we will be following the revised steps for the principal search process in alignment with the guiding principles. The process will include the following:

● Principal Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting to update the principal profile and generate questions for
the community presentations
● Stakeholder survey to generate questions for the final candidates: including PAC, school staff, students, and families.
● DPS leader pre-screening interviews of candidates in alignment with the principal profile facilitated by
our Collaborative Director, Operational Service Director, and other Schools Office leaders.
● Pre-recorded candidate presentations in multiple languages to share their vision for the school and address questions generated by stakeholder groups.
● Stakeholder surveys and call-in opportunities to provide feedback on candidate presentations.
● Superintendent review of stakeholder feedback and final interview with candidates before a final decision by the superintendent is made.

As previously shared, we value the voices of all stakeholders in the BVIS community. To continue to honor this approach, we invite staff, students, parents, and community members to submit questions for candidates to address in their virtual presentation by Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 10 a.m. by these methods below:
● Use the Community Input Survey (English/Spanish): bit.ly/BVISFeedback23
● Call the Office of Family & Community Engagement via phone at 720-423-3054
● Email the form below by Wednesday, January 18th by 10:00 a.m. to Brittany Barela at
Brittany_Barela@dpsk12.net

Below this letter is the revised timeline of the community involvement steps of the process. We will also engage in rigorous reference and data collection on all candidates.

We would like to reiterate that we know a leadership transition is difficult for staff, students, and families. Our focus will be to ensure we identify the best leader to lead Bear Valley for the remainder of this year and beyond. Thank you for your support as we work together during this transitional period.

Sincerely,
Hillary Niebauer
Director, Middle Schools

Scott Wolf
Operational Services Director

Timeline for BVIS Principal Selection Process

Week of December 15, 2022
● Collaborative Director and Operational Services Director meets with PAC re: Search Process and
Community Feedback on School Principal Profile and determination of questions

Now through Wednesday, January 18, 2023
● Community Feedback via School Principal Input Survey closes January 18th @ 10am

Week of February 20, 2023
● Candidate Virtual Presentations & Community Feedback Survey

Week of March 13, 2023
● Interview with Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Tony Smith, and Chief of
Schools Cesar Cedillo

Week of March 20, 2023
● Principal Announced
*Dates may be subject to change

School Leader Hiring Community Input Survey

(copy and paste the below questions and email responses to Brittany_Barela@dpsk12.net)
  • How would you define yourself? (Please check all that apply.)
    • □ Denver Public Schools parent or family member
    • □ Denver Public Schools student
    • □ Denver Public Schools staff member
    • □ Community member (not a parent)
    • □ Denver Public Schools alumni
    • Other: _______________
  • What Teaching & Education Experience will be most important for the next school leader?
    • Teaching & Education Experience covers the experience a candidate has with instructional curriculum, teaching in a classroom, specific curriculum such as IB programming, and working with specific populations of students, among other areas.




  • What Leadership and Communication Style will be most important for the next school leader?
    • Leadership covers the type of leadership experience a candidate has, such as being a principal or assistant principal, working at a high school in an urban setting, or business experience, among other areas. Communication refers to the style and posture of communication, such as easy going, accessible to parents, authoritative, charismatic, or accessible, among other areas.





Comments
List any other skills and characteristics here.




What should be the top three priorities for the new school leader?





What questions do you have for the candidates?