Sole finalist for top position
Susana Cordova said her selection Thursday as the sole finalist for the job to succeed longtime Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg is important for many reasons.
The 52-year-old Cordova — the district’s deputy superintendent — is not only a Latina, but a kid from Denver who, as a student at Abraham Lincoln High school, strived for a better life.
And now she’s an example for a current generation of students who also want to achieve greater things.
“I think it’s important for kids to see someone who looks like them and talks like them be able to succeed,” Cordova said. “But I never thought in my wildest dreams this would be happening to me.”
Cordova was among 14 candidates for the top job at DPS, and among the final three up for consideration to replace Boasberg, who left the state’s largest school district in October after 10 years as its leader.
The other two remaining candidates withdrew from contention — leaving Cordova, who spent most of her entire working life in Denver Public Schools, as the final choice. She now must face two weeks of community meetings and questions from parents and residents about her plans for leading the 79,000-student district.
“I know people will have ques-
tions, and I welcome that,” she said. “It’s an open process, and they need their questions answered.”
The board voted 5-2 to name Cordova the sole finalist, with Jennifer Bacon and Carrie Olson declining to back the deputy superintendent.
Both women said Cordova was highly qualified, but that the community should be presented with more than one candidate for the job.
Cordova, Olson said, “is gracious and kind. But I am concerned (the community is) only being presented only one person for consideration.”
Board member Lisa Flores said Cordova was the best candidate and a “homegrown girl,” while others praised Cordova’s decades of work in the district.
Board members also defended the selection process, which saw 122 potential candidates vetted by the board. Of those, 44 percent were female and 55 percent were candidates of color.
“I have been involved in these types of candidate searches for 30 years, and none was as comprehensive as this one,” said board member Happy Haynes.
Cordova served as superintendent for Boasberg for six months in 2016 when he took an extended leave of absence. She started her career in DPS as a bilingual teacher more than 20 years ago.
Cordova had expressed an interest in taking over for Boasberg and was seen as having an inside track for the job. During her career, she has held positions as a teacher and principal, and first became an administrator in 2002 as the district’s literacy director.
Denver Public Schools had been planning to hire a new superintendent by Dec. 10, but the school board pushed back the date it would name a slate of finalists from Oct. 15 to Monday — and then again to Thursday. The six-week delay was a response to community concerns that the search not be rushed.
The search was contentious at times, with some activists and parents pushing the school board to name a person of color as superintendent. Parents, teachers and city residents repeatedly called for the board to name two or three finalists — and allow the community to meet and question them.
Some audience members groaned when they were told Thursday that only Cordova would be a candidate. Flores said there will be an opportunity for community members to meet Cordova next Tuesday and Wednesday. Details of those meetings have not yet been announced.
Of the 14 candidates the board reviewed, eight were superintendents, four were deputy superintendents, two were considered nontraditional, three were women, 11 men, and 11 candidates were of color.