By Kate Larsen
Camera Staff Writer

The Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts are hiring 18 new principals and assistant principals for the upcoming school year.

As competition for school administrators — much like teachers — increases, districts are looking beyond Colorado. Five of the districts' 18 hires are coming from places such as Nebraska, California and Oklahoma.

While a national principal shortage is contributing to out-of-state recruiting, there may be other reasons people are coming to Colorado, said Peg Portscheller, executive director of the Colorado Association of School Executives.

"Colorado enjoys a nice reputation for quality-of-life issues," Portscheller said. "I think after Sept. 11, people are paying more attention to that."

Portscheller said there are benefits to hiring out-of-state school leaders.

"There is something to be gained by adding diversity of perspective and experience," she said.

Of the nine school administrator positions filled in St. Vrain Valley, six of the hires are new to the district. Three of those are coming from other states.

Tom Garcia, St. Vrain Valley's assistant superintendent of human resources, said two of the out-of-state hires are fluent in Spanish.

"They bring an important extra skill to the job," Garcia said.

According to the 2000 census, Boulder County's Latino population doubled in the 1990s. Schools are seeing more and more non-English speaking students.

Mark Spencer will start this summer as principal of Heritage Middle School in Longmont from a high school in Corona, Calif.

Spencer comes to St. Vrain Valley with 12 years of experience as an assistant principal in diverse communities of California and Arizona.

"I've learned a lot about how to help students learn who are not English speakers," Spencer said.

Boulder Valley schools will have eight new principals and one new assistant principal starting this summer.

Schools getting new principals are Kohl, Mesa, Eisenhower, High Peaks and Nederland elementary schools, and Centaurus and Fairview high schools. Platt Middle School will have a new principal and a new assistant principal.

The two vacant high school principal positions — often the toughest to fill — are being taken by out-of-state educators.

Fairview High School's new principal will be Tammy Quist of Lompoc, Calif. Grace Ellen Taylor of Georgia will fill the principal position at Centaurus High School.

Contact reporter Kate Larsen at larsenk@thedailycamera.com or (303) 473-1361.

June 4, 2002

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