Introducing Our New Head of School

It is with great pride and enthusiasm for ISDenver’s future that we announce our next Head of School: Bob Carignan joined our community on July 1, 2018.

While he was a stand-out candidate to the entire HOS Search Committee from early in the process, his two-day-long, on-campus, finalist interview made it clear to all involved that he is just the person we sought to find. Parents, faculty, and administration not only heard from Bob, but also observed first-hand, that he puts learners first. He was offered the position following unanimous recommendation from all 16 Search Committee members, and was ultimately selected following a unanimous vote by the ISDenver Board of Directors including both incoming and outgoing members. Among our applicants, Bob is the most qualified, the most committed to internationalism and global citizenship, has the most translatable experience, and brought the most strategic focus to his interviews. Beyond all of those credentials, he is also simply the right person: authentic, intelligent, kind, and balanced. As a unified Committee and Board, we are confident that he is committed to all that is wonderful about ISDenver – including our mission, vision, and our immersion and IB programs.

A bit about Bob: He brings the unique and sought-after combination of business and academic acumen and success, and is equally skilled at understanding the interplay between curriculum and child development, overseeing the operations of a school, and cultivating a culture of philanthropy. An Ivy-educated options trader, he and his wife, Laurel, put family first and moved west to Boise, ID for their children’s elementary educations and in order for Bob to follow a lifelong dream of earning his Masters of Education.

He has now served in education for more than 15 years, beginning as a teacher, and spent the past six as the Head of School with Riverstone International School. Bob demonstrated a solid appreciation of our unique educational model and represented clearly how he would honor our guiding principles. Riverstone is well-respected among the international schools community, and Bob is well-versed in both bilingual and international baccalaureate learning. Across both formal and informal references, he has been commonly commended for his abilities to unify, explore, and understand the community, while also executing and communicating decisions, including those that were controversial, but necessary.He demonstrated clearly that above all else, he is focused on students and ensuring that teachers have the resources they require to deliver an exceptional learning experience for all learners.

Bob will helm an experienced and dedicated leadership team, and will work closely with our academic and administrative leaders, each of whom participated in his interviews. We are fortunate to have a wealth and diversity of educational, international, and multilingual experts across our school; Bob will partner with this tremendous academic team to steward ISDenver’s unique educational model. He has already expressed that he is eager to begin getting to know our community, from our newest learners to our longest-tenured faculty, and that the children and interviewers he interacted with cemented his ambition to lead ISDenver. ISDenver – and all of our community members, from learners to the board – is certain to benefit from Bob’s leadership.

We greatly appreciate our fellow community members who helped to inform this decision. Our Search Committee was comprised of 16 members, including David Magill, all four of our Heads of Programs, our MYP coordinator, at–large parent representatives, and members of the Board. Hiring Bob is the culmination of a ten month-long search, which ultimately focused on seven national and international semi-finalists with diverse skills and backgrounds. After conducting on-campus or Skype video interviews with all seven short-listed semi-finalists, Bob’s standout qualities, overwhelmingly positive community feedback during his two day on campus visit, and the unanimous ‘top pick’ left us with a difficult choice. For so many different reasons, we were in agreement that Bob was our collective first choice. Ultimately, we drew on our school’s values of integrity, responsibility, and compassion to determine that with such strong momentum, it would be insincere and disrespectful to invite additional candidates to our campus. Our goal has always been to conduct a world-wide search to find the right leader for ISDenver, and Bob was the clear choice.

We hope that you feel - and share - our optimism for how our school will evolve as we continue to prepare bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural global citizens who will make positive contributions in a complex world. We will take every opportunity to invite Bob and Laurel to interact with our incredible community in the upcoming eight months. Here’s to the future of ISDenver, and to all of our young learners who will continue to thrive.

Sincerely,

ISDenver HOS Search Committee & ISDenver Board of Directors

Head of School Search Committee Members

Kurt Pletcher Chair, Parent, Board President	Hongyu An Parent-at-Large	Ari Blum Parent, Board Vice President	Sarah Donaldson Parent-at-Large
Christie Engel Parent-at-Large	Kenton Epard Parent, Board Member	Hope Forgey Parent, MYP Coordinator	Dan Kozlowski Parent, Board Member
David Magill Interim Head of School	Rachel Ratnathicam Parent, Head of English	Xinming Ren Head of Mandarin	Maria Rodriguez Marcos Parent, Head of Spanish
Patrick Rodriguez Parent-at-Large	Chalyse Thomas-Robinson Parent, Board Member	Christéle Turner Parent, Head of French	Wendy Ware Parent, Board Secretary