In just two months, the Telluride R-1 School district has received a pair of Colorado’s most prestigious awards in education. Last month, math teacher Seth Berg won the Colorado Teacher of the Year award, this month superintendent Mary Rubadeau received a similar honor, but in the field of school administration.

Rubadeau was announced the 2007 Colorado Superintendent of the Year this week by the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE).

“It’s wonderful being honored as an individual, but I couldn’t have done it without the fantastic team we have in Telluride,” said Rubadeau who shares the award with district officials, the school board, the teachers and the motivated students of the Telluride school.

Non-local organizations like CASE may not comprehend Telluride’s idea of team effort, but a series of strong test results were enough to prove the point.

“We’ve shown tremendous results and they speak for themselves,” said Rubadeau of the school’s continually strong test scores.

Last year, Telluride students broke their own record in growth, which refers to improvement and moving up in grade level. In reading, writing, math and science, testing showed that students out-paced any other year in growth.

“We’re getting those results because we work together and collaborate so that achievement goes up,” Rubadeau said. ”We have a universal work ethic where we require our kids to work as hard as everyone else in the building.”

One key component is a program, established by Rubadeau, to keep close tabs on each and every student. The Individual Mission and Assessment Plan, called IMAP, puts teachers in small teams each week to assess their students’ progress. If a student is not meeting the standards, the teachers plan a strategic intervention to get them back on track. This could be anything from tutoring to special ed., homework club to One to One youth services.

“It just works,” Rubadeau said of IMAP. “It raises achievement and helps get everyone at grade level.”

Since Telluride, like most destination resort towns, has a high transient rate, IMAP has been particularly helpful at catching kids up. It is also useful for the high frequency of ELL and ESL students. Last year, the growth of ELL and ESL completely out-paced the growth of English speaking students, a sign that the achievement gap is narrowing.
With 650 students in the district, maintaining high academic performance is no small feat, but Rubadeau leads a nonstop effort to make the school the best it can be.

“I’m being honored for having the privilege of leading a system that is at such a high level,” she said. “Everyone in the district really deserves the recognition since they all work so hard.”

Rubadeau refuses to take sole credit, but as the leader of the district, she is largely responsible for the strong test results and success of the school.

With that being the case, Lynda Tueller, school board president, nominated Rubadeau for Superintendent of the Year in September.

“Mary’s just amazing when it comes to leadership, professionalism, community involvement and communication,” Tueller said. ”She’s a fabulous superintendent, so it was just a matter of getting the state to realize that.”

Strong test scores certainly looked good on paper, but so did Rubadeau’s application, consisting of five one-page essays in response to questions related to education and superintending.

Presented to CASE in late September, the application also consisted of a written nomination by Tueller, including this excerpt:

“It has been a unique privilege for me to work with Mary during the past eight years. She has been a tireless mentor to our staff, a committed child advocate in all her interactions with governmental entities, non-profit support services, and private corporations, and is a dynamic catalyst for profound change in public education on the state and national stages.”

Other community members, including John Pryor, Paul Major, Johnnie Stevens, Stu Fraser and Jim Bedford, also contributed. These advocates focused on Rubadeau’s involvement with the Michael D. Palm Theatre. After 25 years of debate, Rubadeau facilitated the opening of a performing arts center in just two years.

“Without Mary Rubadeau’s vision and leadership Telluride would be a much less vibrant place to live. Her ability to formulate a seemingly wonderful but feared impossible idea, and rally virtually the entire community behind it, is unparalleled in Telluride,” wrote Bedford.

With such accolades and credentials, Rubadeau stood out in the competition and was called back for an interview last week along with two other candidates.

The interview was conducted by Rubadeau’s peers from the Colorado Association of Superintendents and Senior Administrators (CASSA), a department of CASE and affiliate of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), which runs the national competition for Superintendent of the Year. Past winners were also on hand with questions.

“It was a little daunting to be interviewed by the top administrators and superintendents in the field,” Rubadeau said. “It’s always gratifying to be recognized by your peers.”
In the end, Rubadeau was chosen to represent Colorado as Superintendent of the Year. Although she holds Colorado’s title, the competition is still going. Now, Rubadeau’s in the running for National Superintendent of the Year, an award determined by AASA to pay tribute to premier leaders in public schools. Criteria for selection include exemplary performance in leadership in learning, communication skills, professionalism and community involvement.

In the national contest, four finalists will be determined, each interviewed by AASA in Washington D.C. Then, in February, a winner will be crowned in Tampa, Fla., at an event celebrating all 50 state winners as well.

“It’s a big deal,” Tueller said of Rubadeau’s new title. “It’s a great thing for Telluride and a great thing for the school, and it’s so nice that [Rubadeau’s] getting the recognition she deserves statewide.”

Rubadeau is in her ninth year as Telluride’s superintendent. She previously served as superintendent of the Juneau School District in Alaska from 1995-1999. She also worked in Alaska as a principal and district administrator.

Hailing from the east coast, Rubadeau earned a bachelor’s degree in education from St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and a master’s degree in education psychology from the State University of New York in Albany.