Monday meet and greet still on in Douglas superintendent search

There isn’t a snow day for anyone wanting to meet the candidates for Douglas County superintendent 3-6 p.m. today at the Douglas High School Media Center.

Interviews for the candidates are scheduled to take place 4-7 p.m. Tuesday.

Since the candidates were posted on the school board website Feb. 1 without supporting information about the candidates at the time, the public has done their own research and some of the results have stirred up concern.

It was reported Saturday that one of the candidates John Ramirez Jr. was terminated from his position as Superintendent at Stockton, Calfi. Feb. 28, 2022, according to an article on the Stockton Record’s web site, Recordnet.com.

According to another source and on the County of San Joaquin Superior Court website, Ramirez was arrested Jan. 5, 2022, for driving under the influence and was sentenced to three years probation on June 7, 2023. On his application with the DCSD, under the question "Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offense other than a minor traffic violation?" He answered no.

It was also reported Saturday that the board polled in favor of the two candidates with high scores by all trustees.

According to a poll of the candidates posted on the DCSD website, it shows considerably lower scores for Ramirez from Trustees Carey Kangas, Linda Gilkerson and Yvonne Wagstaff.

According to the DCSD website and agenda for Tuesday, a total of 9 candidates applied for the position, John Ramirez Jr., Dennis Holmes, Darren Johnson, Donald Deavila, Howard Huges, Jarrod Bardi, Kathy Bomba-Edgerton, Kenneth Goeken, and Scott Daley. Supporting information of each candidate is now available on the DCSD website.

The rankings for each candidate by all members is as follows; Dennis Holmes scored 256, Darren Johnson scored 242, John Ramirez scored 197, Kenneth Goeken scored 190, Scott Daley scored 186, Howard Hughes scored 185, Jarrod Bardi scored 181, Kathy Bomba-Edgerton scored 171, and Donald Deavila scored 110.

Putting Ramirez, Holmes, and Johnson in the lead as the top three candidates. However, Johnson dropped out and Ramirez and Holmes will be the two candidates interviewed Tuesday. 

During the Special Board meeting for the hiring of a superintendent, board members have been provided a packet containing each candidate’s profile, education and other supporting documents, including a list of questions and criteria of each applicant. The board will read through the packets, bring forward their own results during the meeting, and ask each applicant two questions, then determine their screening on a spreadsheet, discuss and vote.

Visit www.dcsd.net for more information.

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Interviews for a new Douglas County superintendent of schools is expected to occur on Tuesday where school board trustees could approve one of the two candidates.

Dennis Holmes and John Ramirez Jr., have applied for the job. Interviews will be conducted 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Douglas High School Media Center.

While, information about the candidates was not posted on the Douglas County School Board’s special meeting agenda, at least one school board trustee confirmed their profiles.

According to a LinkedIn account for John Ramirez Jr., he obtained a masters of education in human development and psychology from Harvard University.

He was the superintendent at Stockton Unified in Stockton, Calif., but was terminated from the position Feb. 28, 2022, according to an article in Recordnet.com.

Dennis Holmes is a Montana State University graduate in educational leadership. He holds a masters in health and physical education and bachelor of science in health and physical education from Eastern Montana College. He moved to Las Vegas in June 2023 and applied for a Nevada State Charter Authority position in September. He served as associate superintendent for Instructional Support in Gillette, WY for five years and prior was a principal for 12 years in the Campbell County School District. He says he has more than 30 years of experience in education.

“Those are the two candidates who were selected,” School Board trustee Susan Jansen told The Record Courier Thursday. “They were both selected with top scores by all trustees on the Douglas County School Board.”

Jansen said during the meeting scheduled for Tuesday board members will ask the candidates up to two questions each. Then the board will vote on the candidate of their choice.

After selecting a superintendent, the board will discuss and take action on the process for negotiating a contract with the new superintendent, should the board’s first choice accept the position.

If the board’s first choice does not accept the position, the board will discuss and take action on whether to offer the position to the other candidate or to re-open the application window and continue with the prior selected process of hiring a Superintendent.

The process of hiring a new superintendent began in December after the contract with Keith Lewis ended Nov. 1.