DCP leadership met with Interim Superintendent Erin Kane today. We were pleased with her candor. It was refreshing to hear acknowledgement of the problems in DCSD. She admitted, first and foremost, that we have lost many exceptional teachers, and she is well aware of why teachers are leaving. We also agreed there are still many exciting things happening in the district and many great employees remain.
Ms. Kane is focusing on achieving three things at each school during her tenure:
1) Ensuring that each and every school is of high quality
2) Making certain that all parents feel excited and proud to send their child(ren) to school every day.
3) Creating a healthy culture and climate in schools and throughout the district
We respect her desire to move on from the past and also recognize that these are the early stages of her time at DCSD. She is still developing plans for addressing the many concerns in the district. She admitted that she will make some mistakes and will not be able to address every problem in her short time as interim superintendent. We are cautiously optimistic about her ability to improve the climate and begin rebuilding DCSD.
Douglas County Parents will continue to be watchdogs for the district. We especially appreciate Ms. Kane’s invitation to follow up after she’s had a chance to implement her plans and we will revisit this in the new year.