The Steamboat Springs School District has selected longtime Douglas County educator Kristin Drury as its next superintendent, pending acceptance of a formal contract, according to a statement released on Wednesday. 

Drury currently serves as executive director of schools in the Douglas County School District in Colorado, where she oversees about 16,000 students across 19 schools in the Parker region. In that role, she has led initiatives to strengthen student achievement, sustain academic growth and improve social-emotional support for students and staff alike.

With 34 years in public education, Drury has worked as a teacher, instructional coach, district professional development coordinator, high school administrator and elementary principal. As a principal, her school earned the Governor’s Distinguished Growth Award.

Drury’s tentative hiring comes in the wake of Superintendent Celine Wicks’ impending retirement at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. 

The board hired national search firm McPherson & Jacobson LLC in January to lead the search, which narrowed down candidates to four finalists announced on April 1. 

The board then interviewed the candidates Tuesday with community-submitted questions, preceded by a candidate forum on Monday night attended by over 30 people. 

“Kristin displayed an alignment of vision, a breadth and depth of experience, a track record of long-standing commitment and the desire to be an integral and supportive part of our community,” said Board President Kevin Callahan in the statement. “I am confident she will be the right leader for our district, and I am excited to welcome her into this role and into our treasured mountain community.”

Drury’s career has focused on equity and academic access, with an emphasis on closing achievement gaps, retaining high-quality staff and expanding learning opportunities such as advanced courses and career and technical programs. She described her leadership philosophy as grounded in mentoring, shared decision-making and instructional excellence.

During Monday’s candidate forum, Drury said she intends to ensure all Steamboat students — regardless of which school they attend — have access to consistent, high-quality programs and resources, and that “loose and tight agreements” among district schools are critical to achieving that goal. 

“Education has changed … you don’t have to guess what is effective and what works,” she said. “There’s a lot of research. So we need to lean into research, lean into what we know works … so we can have some consistency districtwide.”

Although her current work is based in the more suburban Parker area, Drury said her upbringing and roots on the Western Slope have shaped her understanding of rural communities. She was raised in Grand Junction and said her family founded the town of Rifle.

“My values very much align with a rural community,” Drury said. “Relationship-building and working with parents and the community is just part of what we do in education … I’ve always seen parents as integral.”

When asked about school safety, Drury emphasized the importance of prevention through strong relationships and early intervention, noting that staff must “stay curious,” “vigilant” and connected to students.

“One of the things I currently do with my principals is I ask them to put every kid’s name on a notecard and to stand around with their staff and say, ‘Who has a strong relationship with these kids?'” said Drury. 

“Staff would select the cards … and the kids’ names that were left on the table were the kids we would focus on,” she added. “That’s one of the reasons we think it’s really important to greet kids at the door, because what you’re really doing is doing a scan — every single day, every single passing period.” 

Drury said she was drawn to Steamboat Springs because of its close-knit community and opportunities to serve at both the local and state level as an advocate for public education.

“In a smaller school district, you really have the opportunity to be part of the community,” she said. “That’s something that’s really important to me.”

When asked by the newspaper following the forum if she’d like to add anything for the record, Drury said that relationships, kids and teacher recruitment and retention are among her top priorities. 

The board is expected to finalize Drury’s employment agreement in the coming weeks.