The Roaring Fork School District (RFSD) Board of Education met online on Feb. 27 for a special meeting with one action item on the agenda: to approve finalists for the district superintendent position.
They are current RFSD Interim Superintendent Dr. Anna Cole, Aspen School District Assistant Superintendent Tharyn Mulberry and Brush School District RE-2J Superintendent Bill Wilson.
The superintendent search, which began in mid-December, now enters its final stages, with finalists touring the district and engaging with community members, including participating in focus groups with Spanish-speaking and student-led sessions and school tours in Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs.
The position became open after the Oct. 23, 2023, resignation of then-Superintendent Dr. Jesús Rodríguez. On Oct. 25, the board unanimously accepted his resignation agreement, which included a clause for the district to pay him a $144,182.43 lump sum.
Before his resignation, Rodríguez, who joined the district in July 2022, had been on parental leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act since mid-August.
Cole joined RFSD’s executive team in 2021 as chief of student and family services, overseeing the Family Resource Center, Integrated Health Services, Early Childhood, Counseling and Mental Health, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
She has also served as the interim superintendent since mid-August when Rodríguez went on parental leave.
According to her résumé, in 2017, Cole joined the Roaring Fork Schools as a project specialist and wellness coordinator, and from 2019 to 2021 was director of the Family Resource Center.
Mulberry has been assistant superintendent for the Aspen School District since 2020 and was principal of Aspen High School from 2015 to 2020.
In February 2020, Mulberry was one of four Aspen School District superintendent finalists. That position went to Aspen’s current superintendent, David Baugh.
Wilson, currently the superintendent for Brush School District RE-2J, is, according to a Dec. 18 article in The Fort Morgan Times, resigning from that position effective June 30.
Hired by the Brush district in 2015, Wilson previously held superintendent roles at two school districts in Kansas.
Cole is the only candidate who indicated that she speaks conversational Spanish.
Finalists will undergo a second round of interviews with the board and the RFSD superintendent search advisory committee.
Community members can meet superintendent finalists during a March 7 open house at 6:30pm at the District Office at 400 Sopris Avenue in Carbondale.