School district names new superintendent

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2020/01/IMG_9528-202x300.jpeg Dr. Kym D. LeBlanc-Esparza

Following a special meeting on Tuesday evening, the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education (BOE) announced that Dr. Kym D. LeBlanc-Esparza, current state director for Rocky Mountain Region AVID Center, Pueblo, will be the district’s new superintendent starting in July.

The four finalists for the position were LeBlanc-Esparza; current ASD assistant superintendent Laura E. Mijares; Dr. Thomas C. Heald, current interim superintendent of Aspen School District; and John W. Pandolfo, current superintendent, Barre Unified Union School District, Barre, Vt.

Those finalists were announced at a special meeting of the ASD board on Dec. 19, 2019.

LeBlanc-Esparza has been the state director  Western Division – AVID Center, Rocky Mountain Region, since January 2019, according to her resume.

Prior to that, she was the executive director of secondary education and career and technical education at Pueblo School District 60 in Pueblo, Colo. from  June 2018 until January 2019.

According to her resume, from June 2012 to June 2018 LeBlanc-Esparza was superintendent of Newberg School District, Newberg, Ore. 

The ASD board began its search for a new superintendent after current Superintendent Linda Reed announced her retirement in a letter to parents on June 2, 2019.

Reed noted in that letter to parents that the 2019-2020 school year would be her last with the district.

For more information, see this Thursday's issue of The SUN.