The Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Steamboat Springs School District has found an interim replacement for resigning Director of Curriculum and Instruction Kelly Stanford.

The district has hired Fort Collins High School Assistant Principal Ann Sims to take over for Stanford beginning next month, Superintendent Donna Howell said Tuesday.

"We won't have any lapse in curriculum work," Howell said.

Stanford, hired in 2001 as the district's director of content standards, recently accepted an offer to become assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Cuero Independent School District in Cuero, Texas. Her last day with the Steamboat Springs School District is May 6.

Sims, who was a finalist for the principal vacancy at Steamboat Springs High School, will begin working for the district one week before Stanford's departure, Howell said. Sims' position at Fort Collins High School is being eliminated next year, and the school granted her an early release to begin working in Steamboat.

"Everything fell into place," Howell said. "I think it worked out well."

Sims will be retained for the 2005-06 school year, but the district will begin a formal search for a permanent replacement next spring. Sims, if interested, will be considered with other applicants for the permanent position.

Finding someone to immediately fill the director of curriculum and instruction position was important, Howell said. Some of the ongoing work involving curriculum and instruction includes developing common assessments, developing curriculum, aligning individual school improvement plans with a districtwide plan, instituting a staff development plan and creating performance contracts to pay teachers for working on curriculum development in the summer.

"We have a lot of work under way," Howell said.

Sims is qualified for the administrative position and will be paid in the same salary range as Stanford, Howell said. Stanford is paid a base salary of just less than $78,000 a year. The Education Fund Board pays her salary.