Woodbury hired as District No. 1 superintendent

Sublette County School District No. 1 announced this week that its had made an offer to one of the three candidates for superintendent and the offer was accepted. Doris M. Woodbury of Cody will be the new superintendent of schools effective July 1, succeeding retiring Dr. Charles Grove, who has served in that capacity for the past four years.

Woodbury has worked in Evanston and Cody schools since 1983, progressing from special education teacher in Evanston to assistant superintendent in Cody since 2001. She received her master’s in education degree from Utah State University in 1986.

In her public forum presentation, Woodbury described herself as collaborative, proactive and hard-working. She tries to model the behavior expected from her staff and promises no surprises or impulsive decisions in this position.

Woodbury holds firm positions on several issues of interest. Regarding teacher compensation, she does not favor automatic increases for longevity but understands the difficulty of implementing a merit pay system.

Education of the children needs to begin with a focus on the basics of success in reading, writing and arithmetic, with arts and science to follow. Another area of concern is the need for more foreign language education to keep pace with other nations. Length of the school year and days in class are too short to give our students the learning package they need to keep up with the rest of the world. Our 180 days is very short compared to Japan with 260 days. The offer of after-school classes or summer enrichment programs will be things to consider.

Regarding the surplus of funding available to this district, Woodbury noted that baggage comes with the money. It can tend to take focus away from the most important matter of giving children the best education possible. She believes this district, along with the nine other districts with surpluses, are going to need to be proactive in working out a fair plan for the future.

Woodbury suggests spending priorities be focused on doing good permanent things for the community, acquiring and retaining the best staff possible and investing with the end of the boom cycle in mind.