Local superintendent Jason Glass leaving to lead Jefferson County schools
EAGLE — Eagle County Schools superintendent Jason Glass is leaving to lead Jefferson County Schools, Glass announced Monday afternoon.
The Front Range district selected Glass from among 69 applicants and six semifinalists. The Jefferson County school board voted Monday afternoon to name Glass as the sole finalist. They’re scheduled to approve his contract on May 16. He starts his new job July 1.
“I am honored and excited to be considered for the position of superintendent of Jeffco Public Schools. I am genuinely humbled to be selected as the finalist,” Glass said in a Jeffco schools statement.
Glass’ annual salary is $195,500 plus benefits with Eagle County Schools, according to his March 2016 note on the Eagle County Schools’ website. The Jeffco job will pay in the $300,000 range, according to that district’s job announcement.
“Eagle County Schools is on a radically different and more positive trajectory than we were four years ago, and I am incredibly proud of that work.”Dr. Jason Glass, announcing he is leaving Eagle County to head Jeffco schools
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Four years back
Glass took the Eagle County job four years ago following a nationwide search.
“We respect Dr. Glass and Jeffco Public Schools’ decision,” said Kate Cocchiarella, president of Eagle County’s school board, in a statement. “Education is about reaching each and every child. Our desire for success of public education reaches beyond Eagle County schools to all Colorado districts and to our entire nation.”
Jeffco’s school board president is happy have him.
“The board was incredibly impressed with Dr. Glass,” said Ron Mitchell, president of Jefferson County’s school board, in a statement announcing Glass’ selection. “Because Dr. Glass rose to the top of an excellent group of candidates under consideration, we chose to name one finalist.”
In an email to the staff of Eagle County Schools, Glass called the decision “extraordinarily difficult” and “bittersweet” for himself and his wife, Sarah.
“We absolutely love this place and this organization, both of which have been so good to us and our children,” Glass wrote Monday afternoon in his announcement. “Ultimately, it was my call to be of greater service and the strong feeling of accomplishment at all we have done together here in Eagle County that led us to make this decision. Eagle County Schools is on a radically different and more positive trajectory than we were four years ago, and I am incredibly proud of that work.”
Second stint in Eagle County
Glass’ superintendent job was his second stint with Eagle County Schools. During his first tenure in Eagle County, Glass was the local school district’s director of research and assessment and helped create the district’s performance-pay program.
Glass left Eagle County to take a position as the senior director of human capital strategy with Battelle for Kids, a national nonprofit dedicated to improving America’s schools. With Battelle, he worked to help school districts and state departments of education across the country.
Before moving back to Eagle County in 2013, Glass was Iowa’s State Director of Education, serving as that state’s chief state school officer.
Glass held several posts during his five years with the Colorado Department of Education and worked as a university instructor and high school teacher in Kentucky.
He earned his bachelor’s in political science, a master’s in education and a master’s in political science from the University of Kentucky. He earned a doctorate in education from Seton Hall University.
Glass was nominated by President Barack Obama to be a member of the National Board for Education Sciences board of directors.
“We thank Dr. Glass for everything he has done for us and for all that he will continue to do for kids,” Cocchiarella said in the statement. “We look forward to the next leg of our journey as we work through a transition plan and continue the great progress we have made in the last four years under Dr. Glass’ leadership.”
Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.
