CCSD#2 Superintendent finalists head to Carbon County

One candidate withdraws, one candidate resigns

current position, local administrator added to prospectives

The Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees have selected two new finalists for the superintendent positions.

The new finalists were selected after Lowell Taylor and Bob Lewandowski were removed as finalists when questions about their pasts arose.

Board Chairman Diana Berger said that the process remained the same for the selection of the new finalists — using a point system to select the best candidates. The Wyoming School Board Association (WSBA) was once again involved with the selection of the new finalists.

The board originally had four finalists for the superintendent position. Berger said that a pool of strong applicants influenced their decision to include an extra finalist.

“We figured there were a lot of strong candidates,” Berger said.

As of Tuesday morning, one of the finalists, Lisa Skiles-Parady, had removed herself from consideration.

The candidates will arrive in Carbon County the next two weeks to field questions from public. The Board of Trustees will move to executive session following the hour-long public forums to discuss the candidate’s potential employment.

The board announced they may take action after the Mar. 13 executive session.

The Candidates

Gerry Chase of Big Piney Wyo. is a finalist for the superintendent job in CCSD#2. According to his resume, Chase has been a music teacher in Seeley Lake, Mont .; Douglas, Wyo. and Sheridan. He traces his roots to Carbon County as the former principal at Hanna Jr./Sr. High School from 1996 to 1999.

Chase is currently employed by the Sublette County School District no. 9 (SCSD#9). However, in its own investigation, The Saratoga Sun discovered that Chase is no longer the Superintendent at SCSD#9.

The Pinedale Roundup in Pinedale Wyo. reported in its Jan. 24 edition that Chase had recently resigned from his superintendent position at SCSD#9.

At a Jan. 21 school board meeting, the SCSD#9 board of trustees accepted Chase’s resignation effective Jun. 30 of this year.

In a statement read by the SCSD#9 board, Chase had resigned due to “a shift in philosophies in governance and leadership in the District making it necessary for him to step aside.”

The Pinedale Roundup reported that Chase has been reassigned to a new position within the district “that will focus on district accreditation preparation.”

Chase will take questions from the public from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mar. 12 at the Grand Encampment Opera House.

Another new face on the finalist list may be familiar to many people in the Platte Valley. Larry Uhling, Principal at Saratoga Middle/High School, is another finalist for the superintendent position.

Berger said that Uhling was included in the original of applicants, but was not selected in the first list of finalists.

Uhling has been in education as a teacher and an administrator since 1976. He is currently in his 13th year as the principal at Saratoga Middle/High School.

Uhling will participate in a public forum from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mar. 13 at the Hanna/Elk Mountain Jr./Sr. High School Library.

Remaining as a finalist for the superintendent position is Jim Copeland, of Fleming Colo. Copeland has spent the first part of his career as a teacher in Texas. He then moved into school administration as a principal serving in four separate Texas schools from 1986 to 2006.

Copeland is currently the superintendent of Frenchman School District in Fleming Colo. - a rural school district in northeast Colo. with a district population of around 200 students. He will be the first of the finalists to make a visit to the Platte Valley where he will speak with the community from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Mar. 11 at the Platte Valley Community Center.

The candidate’s resumes are online at http://www.crb2.k12.wy.us/. The CCSD#2 board welcomes all members of the public to participate in the public forum.