The new Adams 14 board members have three applications to pick from to fill their vacant fifth seat.
The applications were due Tuesday and three people submitted their letters of interest, along with required letters of recommendation.
The three interested candidates are:
- Andrew LaCrue, a local coach and a dean of students/athletic director with Denver Public Schools.
- Luz E. Molina, a parent and vice president of the District Accountability Committee, who also served on the community review team for the district’s external management applicants.
- Maria Zubia, a parent and member of the District Accountability Committee and director of community outreach for Kids First Health Care.
The current four-member board will host a community forum for the candidates on Jan. 28. The board will interview the applicants, but there will be an opportunity to take audience questions, as well as a meet and greet at the end. The board will then vote to appoint a candidate during the Feb. 11 board meeting.
The vacancy for this seat was created when Laura Martinez, who was filling a vacancy for former member Bill Hyde who resigned, chose not to run for the remainder of the term.
By Colorado law, an appointed school board member serves the remainder of the vacant seat’s term, or until the next election if the term is more than two years. In this case, the appointed person will serve two years and to continue beyond that, would have to run for re-election in 2021.
It’s the third year in a row that the district’s school board has had to fill a role that has been vacated between elections.
Along with three new board members elected in November plus veteran board member Connie Quintana, the appointed board member will help oversee Adams 14 during a critical time. The district this year became the first in the state to be operated by a private company.
The company, MGT Consulting, has a four-year contract, and has planned to gradually release more control to the district as it builds up better systems for school improvement. The board is also likely to eventually oversee the hiring of a superintendent.