Newsrooom

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Denver, CO - Bruce Randolph's exceptional Principal, Dr. Kristin Waters, is joining Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg's team, as the Assistant to the Superintendent for Reform and Innovation. Dr. Waters became principal of Bruce Randolph School in 2005. At that time, Bruce Randolph was the poorest performing middle school in the state of Colorado and on the verge of being taken over by the state. Waters took on the challenge of turning around student academic performance. Students have made steady academic improvement during her tenure, last year demonstrating some of the highest overall growth in Denver's high schools. 

"Bruce Randolph School has benefited greatly from Kristin's passion and expertise over the past four years," said Superintendent Boasberg. "I look forward to working with her to accelerate our district's reforms and to give other DPS schools the benefit of her leadership and vision." 

As the Assistant to the Superintendent for Reform and Innovation, Dr. Waters will be involved in efforts to ensure that DPS is a national leader in education policy, reform and innovation. Additionally, Dr. Waters will oversee the district's New Schools Office on the strategic development of new schools and work closely with Chief Academic Officer Dr. Ana Tilton.

"The decision to leave Bruce Randolph is a difficult one," said Waters. "All of my passion and energy has gone into our students and their success over the past four years.  It has been the most challenging and most rewarding experience of my career but I am ready to make a difference on a larger scale. I feel that what I accomplished at Bruce Randolph will inform the acceleration of the reforms of the Denver Plan throughout Denver."

Dr. Waters has worked in education for twenty-two years. She began teaching language arts and French at the middle school level in South Central Los Angeles and then moved to Glendale, California where she taught at both the middle and high school levels, and, later coordinated Title 1 and Gifted and Talented education programs. After moving to Colorado in 1997, she began working for the Denver Public Schools as assistant principal at South High School. From 2001 to 2005 she served as principal at Morey Middle School and raised the state ranking of the school from low to high in two years.  In the fall of 2007, Dr. Waters and her staff were the first Denver school to gain autonomy over certain district policies and provisions of the district and Denver Classroom Teachers Association collective bargaining agreement.

"Kristin is a tremendous leader who has been at the forefront of successful education reforms and has courageously led the charge to break down barriers to student achievement," said DPS Board of Education President Theresa Peña.  "Kristin will be a tremendous asset to the Superintendent's team."

Interviews to fill the Bruce Randolph principal position will take place over the next few weeks and DPS expects a new principal to be named prior to the end of the school year.

For more information, contact the Communications Office at 720-423-3414. 

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