Alamosa Schools superintendent named finalist in Weld County
ALAMOSA School District Superintendent Diana Jones is a finalist for the position with the Weld RE-5J School District. That Jones is job hunting shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given her precarious situation with the Alamosa School Board, which she addressed in a “Superintendent’s Message” to staff Sunday.
“Regardless of what the outcome of my interview is, I am committed to providing each of you with conditions for success,” she said. She cited action the school board took in February when it voted only to keep her current contract in place rather than extend it through June 2025.
“It is normal for Superintendents to have a two, three or several year contract to show support and provide consistency in leadership for the district,” she told district staff.
It’s been difficult to understand the working relationship between the school board and Jones, who’s been in the job since August 2021. At its first regular meeting in March the school board voted to take “no action” on the superintendent’s annual performance review after spending months working to get it completed. The vote came after the school board met for more than 90 minutes in a closed-to-the-public executive session discussing the superintendent’s evaluation, then came back in open session and within around 90 seconds unanimously voted to take “no action” on Jones’ review and did so with no comment or explanation.
During the course of the evaluation process the school board has heard strong support for Jones from teachers, administrators and community leaders like Boys & Girls Clubs SLV Executive Director Aaron Miltenberger and Jamie and Crystal Rae Dominguez from the Shooting Stars Cultural and Leadership Center. Both community groups work with the school district and said they have seen improvements over two school years with Jones and Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo.
“I have seen so many superintendents,” Alamosa Alternative High and Online Principal Lori Smith told the school board in comments at the Feb. 15 meeting. “Four superintendents, three in three years. Let me tell you, Dr. Jones is a keeper. I’m astonished at every moment that I work with her and the knowledge that she has around high-risk liability schools and her reputation precedes her with her district that she was with prior to Alamosa School District.
We go to these conferences and I am impressed with the repertoire, the personal repertoire with every speaker there that are renowned researchers in education.”
Superintendent’s Message posted March 5:
“At the February 15, 2023, Board meeting, the Board voted to keep my current two year contract through June of 2024 and not extend my contract through June of 2025. It is normal for Superintendents to have a two, three or several year contract to show support and provide consistency in leadership for the district. Given the situation, I have applied for and have been named as a finalist for another school district in Colorado. The timeline for the position will conclude during the week of Spring Break. Regardless of what the outcome of my interview is, I am committed to providing each of you with conditions for success. We are currently working on transitioning the Alamosa School District to a four-day school week, updating HVAC through the BEST grant, improving safety for all, developing a guaranteed and viable curriculum as well as other projects that are being implemented. I am not sure what the future holds but what I am sure of is that I am proud to be a Mean Moose. I am proud of the work that we are accomplishing together.”
Proud to be a Mean Moose alongside you,
Diana Jones
Superintendent
