Steamboat Springs — Incoming Superintendent Shalee Cunningham intends to begin interviews for the new Steamboat Springs High School principal as soon as she begins working for the district July 10, it was announced at Monday's Steamboat Springs School Board meeting.

The position is being advertised within the Steamboat Springs School District until Thursday, and Cunningham will first try to fill the position from within the district, interim Superintendent Sandra Smyser said.

The position also may be an interim position this year until a permanent replacement can be found for outgoing principal Mike Knezevich, whose contract was not renewed by the board.

The job posting will be closed Thursday because state regulations limit in-house postings to five days.

Smyser said Cunningham may open the position to applicants from outside the school district after she arrives and will seek community input for the final decision.

Cunningham could not be reached at home in California on Tuesday.

Smyser said she has been coordinating with Cunningham on this and other issues in order to hand over responsibilities before she leaves for the Eagle County School District.

"She and I have been working together closely and the goal is not having to take a step back," Smyser said, explaining there are several large programs and policies she is working on that will not be finalized until after she leaves the district, but she does not want to see them halted during the transition.

Smyser also will be in Steamboat for the first two days Cunningham is working.

License dispute

Officials at the Colorado Board of Education confirmed Tuesday that Smyser has applied for her administrator's license, contrary to remarks made at Monday's board meeting.

In the public comment section of the meeting, resident Jim Bronner read an exchange of e-mails he had with Jami Goetz, the director of the office of professional services and educator licensing with the state board. In those comments, Goetz said the records indicated Smyser had not yet applied for her license.

Contacted Tuesday, Goetz said computer records showed Smyser's application was incomplete, but after a search of the paper records she located Smyser's complete application.

The records were not yet entered into the system because of a backlog, Goetz said, and it would take four or five more weeks to process the application.

Smyser's licensure was first questioned during the ouster of Knezevich, when Bronner said her review of Knezevich was invalid because she did not hold a valid Colorado license at the time.

The personnel review of Knezevich was co-signed by Curriculum and Instruction Director JoAnne Hilton-Gabeler, who is a licensed administrator, thus fulfilling the legal obligation, according to School Board attorney Richard Lyons.

Superintendents in Colorado are not required to hold an administrator license.

Also at Monday's meeting, Bronner clarified that he is not representing Knezevich and is not licensed to practice law in Colorado.