Posted December 18, 2024
Dear Charles M. Schenck Community School Community,
We hope this letter finds you well and ready for the upcoming holidays! The purpose of this letter is to
provide an update on the principal selection process at Charles M. Schenck Community School.
We are incredibly grateful to Ms. Vany Miramontes-Marquez for agreeing to serve as our interim principal for
the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Principal Miramontes-Marquez is committed to continuing her level of
service and we are thrilled that she has expressed her intent to apply for the long-term principal role. We are
writing to explain how we will proceed with finding the long-term principal of CMS Community School.
Over the years, we were able to implement some new processes in the principal selection process to make the
process overall more engaging, accessible, and increase opportunities for the school community to engage
with the candidates. These additional processes are grounded in the following guiding principles:
● Additional opportunities for a wide variety of stakeholder feedback and engage in the selection process
● Partnering with our district’s Communications department to continue to offer translation and
interpretation services for stakeholders from multiple language backgrounds
● Equitable access for school communities despite personal circumstances of time and transportation
In conclusion, we will be following the revised steps for the principal search process in alignment with the
guiding principles. The process will include the following:
● Stakeholder surveys (including students, school staff, families, Collaborative School Committee (CSC),
and community members to build a candidate profile with ideal principal characteristics
● Collaborative Director will virtually meet with the school’s CSC to continue to build the principal
candidate profile and confirm questions for the CSC interviews
● Using the principal profiles, the Office of Schools and district leaders will pre-screen applicants and
interview the top qualified candidates
● Virtual, live community forum for the final candidates to share their vision for the school and address
questions generated by stakeholder groups
● Instructional task with the Office of Schools leaders
● In-person Meet & Greet event with the final candidates
● Stakeholder surveys and email opportunities to provide feedback on the final candidates
● Superintendent review of stakeholder feedback and final interview with the final candidates before a
final decision by the superintendent is made.
We deeply value the voices of all stakeholders in the school community. To continue to honor this approach,
we invite students, staff, families, CSC, and community members to complete the Principal Hiring Community
Input survey below to list characteristics they would like to see in the long-term principal. Please complete this
survey by Tuesday, January 7, 2025 by these methods below:
● Complete the Community Input Survey (English/Spanish): Google Form Link
● Email your completed PDF form below by Tuesday, January 7, 2025 to Brittany Barela at
brittany_barela@dpsk12.net.
● Drop off your completed PDF form to your school’s main office.
Below this letter is the tentative timeline of the community involvement steps of the process. We will also
engage in rigorous reference and data collection on the final candidates.
Thank you for your support as we work together during this transitional period.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ted Thompson
Director, Elementary Collaborative 5
Yolanda Ortega
Operational Services Director