DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — In a one-on-one interview, Douglas County School District's incoming superintendent explained how she plans to stay focused amid controversies, the hiring process, and her plan for retaining teachers in the county.
The Douglas County School Board voted 4-3 on Tuesday to hire Erin Kane as the next superintendent.
Kane, who founded American Academy as a parent in 2004, has worked as its executive director of schools since 2009. She previously served as the interim superintendent for the Douglas County School District from 2016 to 2018.
She sat down with Denver7's Nicole Brady the interview, which you can read below.
(Note: This interview was edited lightly for clarity)
Nicole Brady
Erin, thanks so much for sitting down with us today. Is it gonna be hard to leave American Academy?
Erin Kane
Yes. But I'm not really leaving it right? Because American Academy is part of our Douglas County School System. So I'll just be right up the street.
Nicole Brady
We've all been watching what's been happening in Douglas County for several weeks now. And you're walking into a position knowing that you have your supporters and those who support the school board members who voted to hire you, and you have your people who supported your predecessor and are even considering launching a recall effort for the new school board. So a divided district, no doubt. How do you get to work and stay focused with all of that going on?
Erin Kane
I have to talk to everyone and I've already started doing that. I want to make sure that I talk to people on both sides of that issue. I really want to be talking to, and I have already started talking to, people who don't agree with the majority board as well as people who do and find out what their concerns are, and what their hopes are for our future, what their hopes are for our kids and their future. I really think there's so much more that we have in common than that which divides us, especially with COVID. That was so much a part of what people didn't agree on. But with that going into the rearview mirror, what I found is we agree on almost everything.
Everyone agrees that our teachers need to be competitively compensated, that they need to have the greatest place to work. Everyone agrees that our kids need to have awesome academics and a great future, a bright future ahead of them, and that we provide as many pathways as we possibly can for our children. The agreement that we have on all of those issues is tremendous. So really, looking forward, making sure I talk to all the different groups, understand and keep an open dialogue. Not just one and done, right? Keep an open dialogue, understand where they're coming from, listen, hear their concerns, resolve them if I can, hear their hopes and dreams for our kids, and work towards those things together. Find our common ground. And let's work towards our common ground.
Nicole Brady
A lot has changed since you were last serving as the interim superintendent. What are your priorities for this district right now?
Erin Kane
My priorities moving forward are very similar to what they would have been in 2018. We want to make sure that we have the best, brightest academic future for our kids and take care of their social emotional well-being. Can you imagine if every third-grader in Douglas County School District could read, regardless of their background and circumstances? We need to make sure that every one of our kids graduates high school with a pathway to success — not just for a job, but for a career, whether that's going to college, whether that's going into the military, into the trades, or directly into the high tech industry without going through college first. There's so many opportunities for us to be able to provide for our kids. (I) would really like to see us focus on those things for our children.
We need to make sure that we have competitive compensation, not just for our teachers — certainly for our teachers — but also for our bus drivers. For all of our employment classifications, we're at the bottom of the metro area in every single area. Our teachers matter and how much they're making relative to their peers matter when we're trying to keep our amazing teachers. Leadership matters. School leadership matters. Our best drivers in our operation and maintenance folks matter. We need to be able to have all of them compensated competitively and have a fabulous work environment. So those are all of the things to me, along with bridging the divide in our community, that I'm looking forward to working on as priorities moving our district into the future.
Nicole Brady
When you say you've talked to some people on all sides already, are teachers among them?
Erin Kane
Yes. That's definitely going to be a huge focus of mine as I move into the position. As you mentioned, I'm not seated as superintendent quite yet. But as I move into the position, one of my big priorities is to really get out there and talk to our teachers in our schools and the people in our schools and the leaders in our schools and understand what they're facing every single day. And again what their concerns are, what their hopes and dreams are for our kids.
Nicole Brady
You're coming from the charter school environment — your long tenure at American Academy. Will we see any more focus on promoting the work they're doing? How will that play into what you bring to the table of superintendent?
Erin Kane
Charter schools are a great part of our public school system. Here in Douglas County, 75% of our kids attend their neighborhood schools, and 25% of our kids attend charter schools. And that's a great balance. That means we have something for everyone. Seventy-five percent of our parents choose their neighborhood school. That choice matters every bit as much as a family who may choose to attend American Academy or another charter school. Charter schools are just a really important part of this public school system that we have.
I do think it's important to dispel the myths. It's really important for people to understand because charter schools are part of our public school system. But in terms of being the superintendent of Douglas County, as I did for the two years that I was interim superintendent, I will be fighting for all of our kids and all of our schools. I love our neighborhood schools. And I've gone on record as saying I believe we need to build some new neighborhood schools to accommodate growth. And I want to see that happen as soon as possible. We haven't built a neighborhood school in Douglas County since 2011. How crazy is that? We need some neighborhood schools. There's a percentage of students in Douglas County who choice into another neighborhood school. Really, it's all about having a great fit for every child.
Nicole Brady
Can you talk about the school district's equity policy? What does equity mean to you? And how do you make sure Douglas County is equitable?
Erin Kane
I don't know anyone that is against taking care of every single child in our school district. I don't know anyone that's against differentiating resources for our kids. In my own family, I have three children, one of whom grew up with a variety of learning disabilities and special needs. As a family, more of our resources went to our child with special needs. And as long as I can look at my other two kids and say, 'Sweetheart, if it had been you, I would have done the same thing' — that's what equity is all about, right? We need to make sure that we're dedicating our resources to our kids, and making sure that every child is getting what they need to meet their own individual potential.
Some kids are going to need more resources than others. And that's OK. That's what equity means to me — making sure that every child has what they need. And we're taking care of every one of our babies because that is literally our job. So I think there's a lot of misunderstanding around that equity effort. It's not about putting it on hold. It's not about changing intent. It's just about clearing up clarifying words, so that you don't have people feeling like it's going to mean something horrible on one side or the other.
Nicole Brady
A lot of people do conflate equity with racial equity specifically, and only that. We do have a school district in Colorado that voted to explicitly ban critical race theory — there is no evidence it's being taught in Douglas County Schools or any school district right now. Would you ever support language around a ban on critical race theory?
Erin Kane
I'm not really a person who would support banning anything. But I think we need to have conversations and clarity around what we're teaching and what we're not. And what equity means and what it doesn't. Does it mean we're going to eliminate gifted and talented programs? I certainly hope not. So, let's just clarify that. Does it mean we're going to change the way that we teach about slavery and racism? I certainly hope not. So let's clarify that, right? It's just making sure that we're looking at the fears that people on both sides of that discussion have. And we're clarifying: 'No, that's not what we mean. And no, that's not what we mean.' We're talking about taking care of every single child.
Nicole Brady
Safety in schools is so important. We've seen debates over using officers in schools, armed officers in schools, and we've seen debates over arming teachers and other staff members. What is your position on arming teachers?
Erin Kane
I want to be super clear. Super clear. In Douglas County School District, there is no reason whatsoever to arm teachers or arm staff members that shouldn't otherwise be armed. Here in Douglas County, we have great partnerships with law enforcement — they are two minutes away. We have a fantastic school resource officer program. My buildings have school resource officers that have the greatest relationship with our kids, which is also so amazing. So we have those components in place. There isn't any reason to be arming anyone additional in any of our schools in Douglas County. If I were running a district in rural Colorado in the middle of nowhere that couldn't afford a school resource officer and had law enforcement 20 minutes away, I might feel differently. But that isn't the situation we're in in Douglas County. I'm just very pragmatic. I want to make sure that we keep everybody safe. And we do so in a reasonable and pragmatic fashion. There is no reason to arm teachers. None, not here.
Nicole Brady
There are some people who wanted a different superintendent in this role or who supported your predecessor and are concerned about the process that was used to get here. Why do you think your name was floated early on as a candidate for this position? And have you worked with any of the new or old school board members?
Erin Kane
I've worked with a lot of them. I worked with David Ray when I was interim superintendent and we continued a relationship since. One of the new school board members Christy Williams has been a mom at American Academy and she was a PTO president and on the SAC (School Accountability Committee). Certainly, she's somebody that I know. Douglas County is a small community. We all know each other or we tend to. Was I surprised that my name was floated? Wasn't expected, but I did serve as interim superintendent for two years.
In terms of the process, it certainly was very fast for me, but as someone who went through the process, I feel like it was incredibly rigorous. I'm actually really grateful to have been through such a rigorous process. I was so grateful to be able to interview in public and really talk about who I am and what I stand for, and my hopes and dreams for our kids and for our future instead of having other people define that for me. The day-long interview process that Mr. Winsor and I both went through, I think it was seven different panels of 20 people each from students, teachers, administrators, committee members, parents and community members, another public forum. It was something like 10 hours of rigorous interviewing in front of lots and lots of people. From my point of view, as someone who went through the process and is still a little tired, it was an incredibly rigorous process. I'm appreciative of that because I think our community deserves that. I think it was an effective way to vet candidates.
Nicole Brady
Do you know Danny Winsor or Corey Wise? Would you ask either of them for input on getting into this position?
Erin Kane
I know both of them. Danny and I actually maintained a very supportive relationship with each other throughout this entire process. We'd text each other at the end of the day and be like, 'How'd it go?' Danny and I have a great relationship and have for a long time. Danny is a wonderful, wonderful individual who is very dedicated to our school district. And I'm really excited that we'll get to work together as we move the district forward. I think there is so much to look forward to in the future in our school district. I know it's been hard, but I think it's time to just move forward and really think about our kids because that's what we need to be thinking about every single day: our kids, their future. They've got an incredibly bright future ahead of them. And especially now, when we have a workforce where we don't have enough people in the workforce. What a great opportunity for our kids coming out of high school.
I would really love the opportunity to be able to address the teacher shortage. We have a national teacher shortage, we have a teacher shortage in Colorado. After two years of COVID, so many teachers are exhausted. It was so hard for teachers. Frankly, so many school leaders are exhausted. I really think we have an opportunity here — we have 64,000 kids and so many of them, like my oldest daughter, have been dreaming about being a teacher since they were 6 years old. What a great opportunity in high school to be able to offer our future teachers a pathway, where we can get them some college credit in high school, guarantee them a student teaching placement in Douglas County, and hold onto our own.
Nicole Brady
There was a teacher walkout, partly because of the firing of Corey Wise. Many teachers feel unheard right now. They feel underappreciated. What is your response to that?
Erin Kane
That needs to change. Our teachers need to feel heard. And I want to get out there and talk to our teachers as much as I possibly can. And our teachers need to feel appreciated. They should be appreciated. The work that our teachers do is incredible. Can you imagine trying to teach 30 kindergartners how to read? I recently read a book about literacy being rocket science. And it truly is. Teaching a child how to read is not just smiling and being sweet. It is an incredible, incredibly disciplined science to be able to teach kids to read. And I don't think there are many of us that would be ready to sign up for that job.
Our teachers are incredible professionals. They're brilliant professionals, and we need to treat them accordingly. And make sure they're appreciated. Here in my organization, even with COVID, our teacher turnover for the last two years has been 8%, which is the lowest that I'm aware of in all the school districts in the state. And a lot of that — it's certainly not because I can pay them competitively because starter schools, unfortunately, are even less competitive then the school district. But it is because we work really hard to make sure they feel appreciated. They're treated as professionals. They know that our leadership team is bending over backwards for them every single day. And they know that we are going to do everything we can to support the great work that they do in the classroom and to give them the space and the room to take care of kids, which, like my daughter, is what they've been dreaming of doing since they were young.
A lot of our families come to Douglas County and they like to stay and their kids want to work in Douglas County and raise their family in Douglas County. And this is just a great way to also capture that wonderful piece of our community as well. I have a big challenge in front of me, but I'm really, really excited to get started.