The process of finding Woodland Park RE-2’s next superintendent has begun.

The school district’s board of education held its first meeting with Grundmeyer Leader Services to discuss their superintendent search process during a work session Tuesday.

Grundmeyer is a firm specializing in hiring school leaders like principals, superintendents and activities directors, along with strengthening overall district leadership. The firm was selected to aid RE-2 in hiring its next superintendent at the board’s regular meeting last week.

Consultant Chris Whetzel presented board members with a multi-step process over the next six months that he referred to as “a lot of front-end work” that included a public survey, possibly followed by focus groups, and a specialized job description tailored to the board and the Woodland Park community.

He emphasized that, while he will be hands-on throughout the process and offer his suggestions and guidance, the process ultimately starts and ends with the board.

“This is your search,” Whetzel told board members. “The more you’re comfortable, the more the community will be comfortable, the more the candidates will be comfortable.”

Board members deliberated various components of the search, like the overall timeline for the search and the parameters of the superintendent’s position in and outside the district.

Board member Suzanne Patterson argued that they should remain “flexible” throughout the process as they receive applications, in the event they come across a suitable candidate then.

“I don’t think we should push it back in stone to July 1st (2026),” she said. “I think there may be a lot of variables in between that. If the right candidate comes along and everything falls into place, we might want to act on it.

Board president Mick Bates agreed, saying that progress would likely be made throughout their process and that it may dictate their overall timeframe and decisions.

To that point, Whetzel said that an initial application date had to be pinned down, at the very least, or candidates may be confused on the timeframe. He added that enough time in advance should be provided for them to discuss relocating to the area with their families.

Board members agreed that one requirement in the job description should be that the chosen applicant is willing to reside and live in Teller County or the broader area.

“When my kids were going to school, their teachers were also part of the community, right?” Board Director Keegan Barkley said. “We were going to bump into them at the park or at the supermarket. And so, for the superintendent to also be part of that is important, not just for the students but for the staff as well.”

This was one issue specifically raised by community members leading up to the hiring of their last superintendent Ken Witt.

Witt resigned in March amid a conflict with the Woodland Park City Council over the fate of sales tax funding for the district.

Following the meeting, Whetzel said he planned to finalize the initial survey and send it to stakeholders in the coming days.

The tentative plan is for the survey’s results to be gathered in September and presented to the board at its October meeting. From there, a job description will be finalized and posted in November. The application pool is expected to close sometime in December before Christmas break.

“As an initial presentation, I personally feel pretty good about this,” Bates said.