LCHS Leadership Next Steps

Dear Parents, Students of Lake County High School and community, 

We hope you have been enjoying some refreshing summer activities over the past month. With the start of school around the corner we wanted to update you on some important changes that are occurring. As of this morning, Colorado Mountain College announced their hiring of a new Campus Dean for Leadville and Salida. They have selected our Ben Cairns to serve in this role.  

We are excited for Ben and this amazing opportunity he has to advance his impact in education and our community, and we also feel the sense of loss of the great leadership he has brought forward to LCHS. Ben’s professionalism, creativity, and whole-hearted approach to serving our students, staff and community will be greatly missed. We are excited for the opportunity to connect and continue our work with CMC with Ben leading this work. We are appreciative of his willingness to fulfill this huge leadership role at CMC as this partnership is critical for the experiences we offer our students at LCHS. Ben’s willingness to be open-minded, innovative and collaborative is what we asked CMC to find in their selection of the candidate to fill this position and they have done this well.

With staff starting back next week and students to begin shortly after this, we have moved forward in structuring interim positions to kick off the school year.  Erin Dillon (our current Assistant Principal) has accepted the position of interim Principal. Lisa Berman (our Dean of Students) has accepted the Assistant Principal position.  Both Erin and Lisa have been instrumental in the strong leadership team that has functioned so beautifully at LCHS and I believe they will be able to continue the work and effort that this team has already been successfully implementing. We are fortunate to have such talent in our staff and grateful that they are willing to engage in these leadership roles. 

We will engage in a full hiring process similar to other processes we have used in the past that include stakeholder input. We will look to engage in this process after school is up and running, and transition to the new principal by second semester. The new principal will have the opportunity to structure their leadership team once this individual has been hired. 

We look forward to seeing LCHS thrive under their leadership this year as they continue the work plan efforts and all of the amazing work you all have been doing. 

This next chapter in leadership for both CMC and LCHS offers such innovative and collaborative potential. The possibilities for our students and community will be powerful. Feel free to send over an email, text or phone call congratulating Ben, Erin and Lisa for their new leadership roles they will be stepping into this year as we are grateful for these individuals and their willingness to rise to the challenges ahead.

Sincerely,

Bethany Massey

Superintendent of Schools

Lake County School District