News from Sheridan School District No. 2
Contact: Mark Stevens
303-495-8699 (mobile) • 720-328-5488 (office)
News Release
July 27, 2017
Sheridan Board of Education Will Wait for Elections Before Starting Superintendent Search Process
The Sheridan Board of Education this week agreed to wait until after the November board elections to begin the process of searching for a new superintendent.
Superintendent Michael Clough has announced he will pursue other interests after his contract expires in June, 2018. He was brought back to continue serving as superintendent on a limited basis even after officially retiring two years ago.
However, all five seats on the Sheridan Board of Education are up for election this coming November. During a retreat in Colorado Springs, board president Ron Carter urged the four current members to delay all major decisions about the process, including timeline and questions about how much to spend on working with a search firm, until the new board is seated.
While some of the current board members may choose to run re-election and may also win their elections, Carter said he didn’t want the current board to do anything that would tie the hands of the next board in making decisions. In addition, a candidate may emerge for the long-vacant board seat.
In general, board members agreed that their goal is to have a new superintendent selected by April of 2018 and that a national search is in the best interests of developing a strong pool of candidates.
G Drive Hacked
Superintendent Clough told the board that the district’s “G Drive” suffered a ransomware attack and the hackers behind the attack are seeking a $4,600 payment to restore the data on the drive. Superintendent Clough said the drive stored job descriptions, business records from grants, and lesson plans. He emphasized that the drive stored no sensitive student, employee or business management information. The district is consulting with the company that manages its back-up data storage to decide a best course of action. There is no guarantee that a ransom
payment would lead to the data being restored. Superintendent Clough said the district is
changing its data back-up procedures in wake of the attack.
Teacher Attendance
Superintendent Clough presented concerns about teacher attendance rates and told the board
he is working with school principals to create a more consistent approach to granting leave
requests across the district. At Alice Terry Elementary School, Fort Logan Northgate School and
Sheridan High School, teachers are absent an average of 10.5 days of leave during the school
year. Coupled with students who miss 15 to 20 days of school during a year, it’s possible that 20
percent of instructional time is severely diminished for some students. SOAR Academy, the
district’s school for students seeking a high school diploma outside of a normal high school
structure, has the best teacher attendance rates. SOAR teachers take, on average, less than
seven days of leave throughout the school year.
“These are shocking (numbers),” said board vice-president Bernadette Saleh, who encouraged
Superintendent Clough to share the data with schools. “They may not even be aware,” she
added.
Saleh also pointed out that students may be more inclined to take attendance less seriously if
they see that their teacher is frequently absent.
“It’s baffling to me,” said board member Sally Daigle. She said teachers have extended breaks in
the fall, winter and spring in addition to many three-day weekends throughout the school year.
Superintendent Clough said the administrative polices will be rewritten to clarify the leave
policy.
Speedier Teacher Contracts
The board agreed to give Superintendent Clough more authority to expedite teacher contracts
so Sheridan doesn’t lose out on hiring teachers who may have tentative offers from multiple
districts. Currently, formal contract offers wait to be tendered until the board ratifies the hiring
but that can delay the process by two or three weeks. The board will continue to review and
approve personnel decisions, but the new procedures would allow the district to make formal
contract offers as soon as selections are made.
Additional Discussions
During the retreat, board members also discussed policy governance and reviewed school
performance data. They also reviewed the district’s unified improvement plan. They discussed
issues around ensuring all students are reading at grade level, shared thoughts about core
values, and discussed district, school and parent communications, in addition to other topics.
The board also discussed progress and accomplishments to date, as well as challenges and concerns, in response to a series of questions posed by new board member Karla Najera.
Consent Agenda
All consent agenda items were approved.
About Sheridan School District 2
Located southwest of Denver, Sheridan School District 2 seeks high-level post-secondary options for all students through continuous improvement of quality instruction. More: www.ssd2.org
##