Woodland Park RE-2 has narrowed its superintendent search down to three candidates.

Joining interim Superintendent Ginger Slocum, who was appointed by the district’s board of education last August, are Eric Owen and Chris Selle. The board announced the three finalists during a special meeting last week.

Owen is currently the superintendent of Hayden RE-1, and Selle is the superintendent of Meeker RE-1. Both school districts are small rural districts located in northwest Colorado.

The finalists come from a search process conducted with Grundmeyer Leader Services, which specializes in hiring school leaders such as superintendents and principals, dating back to last summer.

Slocum is in her 29th year in education, with 12 years in leadership roles and seven years with Woodland Park RE-2. She previously served as the principal of Fitzsimmons Middle School in Platte Canyon D-1 and Highland Park Elementary School in Pueblo City D-60.

In Woodland Park, she became the principal at Columbine Elementary in 2019 and, before her appointment, was the district’s chief academic officer in 2024.

Slocum holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, and a post-master’s degree in administrative educational leadership.

Since her appointment, Slocum has been noted by board members for regularly appearing at extracurricular events in the district and rekindling relationships with local elected officials and law enforcement.

Owen is a Woodland Park graduate, according to a press release from the school district, and has previously served as principal of both Mountainside Elementary School in Fountain-Fort Carson D-8 and Summit Elementary School in Woodland Park. Earlier in his career, he served as assistant principal at Jordahl Elementary School in D-8 and Woodland Park High School.

Earning his master’s degree at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Selle has been superintendent of the Meeker RE-1 since 2015 and previously led Custer County School District C-1 and Limon RE-4J in the same position.

He is also a member of the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, which advocates for rural school districts at the state level. During his tenure with Meeker RE-1, the district has been accredited with distinction by the Colorado Department of Education, the state’s highest performance framework, for seven out of the last eight school years.

The board of education and stakeholder interview team will now conduct formal interviews with each finalist before the board makes a final decision during a March 12 meeting.

The next superintendent will begin serving the Woodland Park School District effective July 1.