The four finalists selected to potentially fill the role of School District 38 superintendent for the coming school year gathered for a public forum and structured question-and-answer session.

Lewis-Palmer School District organized a public forum April 4 at the district learning center in Monument where the final four candidates to take over as district superintendent fielded questions created by the district’s Public Forum Advisory Committee. The district’s Chief Business Officer Brett Ridgeway explained the format for the event to those in attendance. Palmer Ridge High School student Amber Maul, Lewis-Palmer HS students Lily Poteet and Taylor Brooks, and Ridgeway served as the forum’s moderators.

The four finalists, Dr. Stacie Datteri, Michael Freeman, Alicia Welch and Amber Whetstine, were given time at the start of the forum to introduce themselves. Datteri has been the assistant superintendent of academic achievement and school leadership for District 6 in Greeley since 2014. Freeman is presently the superintendent of schools for Jefferson County School District.

Welch presently serves as the D-38 director of human resources. She previously served D-38 as the principal of Prairie Winds Elementary School from 2019-2023. Whetstine is presently the interim superintendent at D-38 after having served as its assistant superintendent under Dr. K.C. Somers since 2021. Each of the candidates provided a run down of their respective experiences in education in detail.

There were eight questions posed to each of the candidates. The questions involved strategies to attract and retain highly-qualified new staff, staff compensation and funding needs with limited financial resources, experiences in a lapse in integrity and creating a culture of continuous improvement for staff.

Other questions gave candidates a chance to share their opinions and experience on engaging with stakeholder groups to help critical decisions, engagement for open and honest communication and quality family and community relationships and ensuring district accountability during challenging events.

Datteri who, like other candidates, visited different school locations in the district prior to the public form, said the results of her visits helped her realize the level of excellence which already exists in D-38.

“It’s palpable to know that this is from the leadership at the district level, the leadership at the building level and the teachers I was able to meet today,” she said. “The students are phenomenal. It is this excellence I really hope to build on and take it from where it is already, as each leader should do, to the next level.”

Her first six months into the position would involve her listening and learning so she can take her experience and understand it in the context of District 38, including engaging students, families, community and staff to solicit advice for continuing success and building forward, Datteri said. She loves the manner the strategic plan is used in every board meeting and is excited to dig deeper into it to understand how it drives D-38, she said.

If hired as the new superintendent, she expressed her interest in longevity for the position.

“I really am perfectly positioned through my years of experience, through the things I’ve done to date, which would allow me to come in and be your next superintendent,” Datteri said. “I would expect to be here for the next 10 years and really join in this journey.”

Freeman also said his vision for D-38 would be to build upon the success it has created, and students would be seeing a school district and community unified.

“You guys deserve that and you’re going to have that sense of belonging. Your identity is going to be a proud identity of a Lewis-Palmer [district] student,” he said.

With financial transparency and trust being also a key to community unification, Freeman said this was also a paramount priority for him, aligning the district’s values to its budgetary dollars. He also mentioned having inspired leaders in his vision.

“I want leaders that are inspired to inspire and leaders that are supported, sustained and retained,” Freeman said. “We know how important a principal and a school leader is to that community with our staff. I want a high retention rate. I want our teachers to feel valued and invested in.”

A focus on career and technical education is also important to Freeman looking to have D-38 offer some of the finest programming it can create with community and industry partners so students have the very best seminal experience through their junior and senior years.

“That is so you can have the job shadows and the internships that can take you into those high-demand, high-paying jobs,” Freeman said. “I want a vision of that strong sense of belonging that I saw today to continue through the community voice, the employee voice, the student voice and the parent voice. All trusted adults listening to our students to say, ‘What do you need to be successful?’”

Welch noted she has already had two successful transitions within D-38, onboarding as an elementary school principal and then to the Human Resources director. She also looks to continue the district’s path of excellence and build on the direction it has already taken, she said.

Being the director of human resources, she has been highly involved in the success of taking care of staff members and new hires to ensure it is a positive experience to interact with the district from a human resources perspective, Welch said.

“I do believe I can make a third transition seamlessly and focus on the people that are here, focus on the relationships that we already have in place, continue to build those, continue to build the trust and continue to develop relationship partnerships with our community,” she said. “My focus would be continuing in that excellence.”

Whetstine said the reasons she even pursued coming to D-38 was because of its alignment of community standards and expectations with her own core values.

“I believe I’m uniquely positioned to assume the role of superintendent because I deeply understand and appreciate our past, our traditions, and I can bring a unique perspective of creativity and innovation,” she said. “I’m very proud of the work we have done over the past three years to develop our teacher and leader induction programs to implement instructional coaching across the districts, to create pipelines for teacher, leader and employee development.”

Developing ways D-38 can empower its community, its families and students to be leaders in the district is a priority for her, she said. She noted how proud she was with the work involved creating the district’s Portrait of a D-38 Graduate which involved over 100 stakeholders involved in the process of its drafting.

“I’m looking forward, as superintendent, to how we can really embed all of those components throughout our curriculum, our instruction and our employee competencies,” Whetstine said. “I do believe that I have developed a lot of positive relationships over the course of the last three school years and there’s so much work to do to sustain those and continue to develop them.”

Her vision would be to make those relationships her number one priority, she said. In addition, Whetstine looks to spend time listening to staff, students and families as well and work closely with the Board of Education to launch new initiatives to support increased safety and welcoming for students and identify new and innovative approaches to student learning and programs to ensure they are ready for their futures, she said.

Immediately after the forum, D-38 released a follow 24-hour survey designed to help it and the Board of Education understand and gather broad feedback on the four candidates. The survey closed at 8 p.m. the following day.

To view the entire public forum, visit the D-38 website at LewisPalmer.org. Links to information about the superintendent search including a YouTube link of the forum is listed in the header of the website.