MEEKER I After rumors had been circulating in the community since late last week, new Meeker Superintendent of Schools Chris Selle emailed the high school staff on Monday to inform them Kelly Boren, who was hired as the new Meeker High School principal by Selle and the Meeker Board of Education (BOE) on May 5, has resigned.
Boren will not be coming to Meeker, Selle said.
Boren was coming from Carson Middle School on the Fort Carson army post just south of Colorado Springs.
Selle wrote that Boren decided he needed to be closer to a major airport through which he could get to his aging and ailing parents in Illinois on a timely basis. Boren had been the assistant principal and athletic director at Carson Middle School in the Fountain/Fort Carson School District.
Selle, who is not obligated to be “on the job” in Meeker until July 1, indicated that he would be here full time starting Tuesday of this week. He will be meeting with middle school principal Jim Hanks and elementary school principal Kathy Collins on Wednesday to begin reviewing the district’s options for filling the position and brainstorming next steps.
The Meeker School District did place an announcement of the opening on the Colorado Association of School Executives’ website on June 17 to see “if we [gain] any additional candidates.”
In the absence of resigned high school principal Kim Ibach and Boren deciding not to come to Meeker, high school counselor Amy Chinn has been the de facto principal with the assistance of high school secretary Mandi Etheridge.
Selle promised to communicate the “next steps,” and encouraged staff to contact him “directly with any thoughts [they] may have regarding how we might proceed.”
Selle reported earlier, after the principal interviews in which he participated back in April, that two primary needs for the job had surfaced. They were being an experienced administrator and being a person who would like to stay in Meeker for several years.
It was not known at press time if Boren is staying on at his current job with the Carson Middle School.
