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Park City School District to replace two cabinet-level positions

After a year of high-level employees coming and going, the Park City School District is expected to see more reshuffling in 2019.

Superintendent Jill Gildea recently announced the creation of two new cabinet-level positions that will replace two current associate superintendent roles in the district. A chief academic officer will take the place of the associate superintendent for teaching and learning and a chief operations officer will replace the associate superintendent of human resources.

Traci Evans is currently filling the position of associate superintendent for teaching and learning on an interim basis. The associate superintendent of human resources is Tim McConnell, who is expected to retire in December of 2019, according to Melinda Colton, spokesperson for the district.



Gildea announced the new roles in the most recent Park City Board of Education meeting, and she said the decision was made to improve “efficiency and effectiveness.” The new roles will be budget-neutral.

“This streamlined structure supports the needs of the academic, business and operational needs of an efficient, fiscally responsible school district,” Gildea said.



Gildea said after the meeting that the salaries of the new positions will be regionally competitive and based on the background and experience of the new leaders.

The district plans to hire an outside firm in the next few months to conduct the search. The firm will present a list of finalists for the Board and superintendent to select from.

“They will need to be people who have some experience in this area for a district our size with our complexity,” Gildea said.

Although the new positions will be similar to the current associate superintendent roles, there will be some added responsibilities. The chief academic officer will be tasked with overseeing such as principal leadership, K-12 innovation, dual immersion, instructional coaching, federal grants programs and district assessment. The chief operations officer will focus on project management, district contracts, human resources, facilities and grounds, construction, food service, transportation, and safety and security.

Todd Hauber, the business administrator, will continue to work with revenue and expenditure budgets, accounting, cash flow, investment and projections, Gildea said.

She said the new chief of operations will open up time for Hauber and Todd Hansen, director of buildings and grounds, to focus on their tasks.

Responsibilities listed under the chief operations officer position are similar to another position the district intended to hire over the summer. The district planned to hire a deputy superintendent to work on master facility planning, safety and security coordination, transportation, child nutrition and school operations. The position was expected to be filled at the start of the school year, but it never was.

Gildea said in September that one of the Board’s priorities for the 2018-19 school year was to review the human resource position and organizational structure of the cabinet.

Andrew Caplan, president of the Board, said Gildea was given the liberty to determine her own cabinet structure.

“When the superintendent came, we asked her to take some time and review the organization structure and give us recommendations as to how to optimize it,” Caplan said. “We are supportive of her reorganizing things and happy that it is in a budget-friendly way.”

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