On January 29, 2017, Poudre School District held a community meeting in Fossil Ridge High School’s Roundhouse to discuss parent input on the hiring of a new principal for Fossil. In the meeting, attendees were informed of the hiring process and its timeline and asked for preferences and qualities to look for in a new principal. The meeting was led by Scott Nielsen, the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools for PSD, and Allison Shore, the Director of Human Resources, and attended by five members of the community. This was the third and final meeting for the community for the matter, having been preceded by a meeting with staff and one with students.

The gathering began with a brief overview of the selection process for the principal. Nielsen described that there will be two sets of interviews to determine the new principal: the first, held on February 27, 2018, will examine the top seven or eight candidates. From there, three or four will be selected to be interviewed at Fossil itself on March 1; there, they will be given a tour by students and interviewed by a panel of Fossil staff, parents, and students. The final interviews will be conducted that day by superintendent Dr. Smyser. The final decision for the position will be determined by Smyser and will be announced in early March.

The meeting then transitioned to a forum in which the attending parents provided input for the screening process. Four questions were provided, gauging the parents’ stances on what qualities Fossil and its students need in an administrator, what makes Fossil unique, and what the interviewing candidates should be asked. When the members of the audience started to chime in with what they preferred in an administrator for Fossil, recurring themes started to appear. One characteristic that repeatedly came up was that parents want a strong principal, a principal who is tolerant and capable of dealing with problems that arise. One parent described that they would like to see a “master communicator”, and a principal who is diplomatic and able to effectively communicate across all levels. A prominent characteristic that was requested was experience, and issues such as a growing student population were requested to be addressed. The attending parents added as a final point that they were interested in an administrator who respects and appreciates Fossil’s arts and music programs, unique culture, and extracurriculars.

“When Mr. Allen was hired a few years ago, we were kind of bystanders in the process,” stated Ned Puev, one of the parents in attendance, describing what he hoped to see in the meeting. “We have an interest in the direction the school’s going to take, having both a senior and a freshman in the school right now, so we’re curious to see: how does the process work? What opportunities are there for parent engagement in the process? and so forth.This is our eighth year as Fossil parents, so we’ve got some familiarity with the context. That’s where we’re at right now, trying to get an idea of how the process will work and how we can be engaged in it.”

The hiring process for Fossil’s principal will continue over the next month, and the final selection is expected to be made on March 8.