Hanover School District superintendent resigns just three months into contract amid issues

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The superintendent of one El Paso County school district has handed in their resignation letter -- just three months into the contract they signed this summer.

Board members of Hanover School District 28 say that Superintendent Paul Calvert submitted his letter for resignation on October 19th with a 30 day notice. His final day will be November 18th, at the start of the district's Thanksgiving break.

Calvert had signed a 2 year contract with the district in July of 2023, for a salary of $112,000.

A district employee shared with KRDO an email sent by Calvert on the afternoon of October 22, which explained that he has handed in his resignation letter, and had received a job offer outside of education that he was looking to pursue.

When KRDO asked Calvert via email for comment on why he specifically decided to resign, he did not reply.

You can view that email below:

Calvert's resignation was accepted by the district's board of education on Monday, October 23, in a. special meeting. It becomes the latest wrinkle in a series of conflicts the district has faced since the start of the school year.

In early September the districts bus drivers went on strike for a day, alleging that the district was mistreating one of their fellow drivers, who was also a member of the school board. The strike forced the district to cancel school for the day.

Then, on October 12th the drivers held out once again, citing the same reasons, and a lack of communication with Calvert over their displeasure.

Just a few days later on October 16, a majority of the bus drivers in the transportation department (6) were let go. The district then hired new transportation services, which they estimate will cost them $100,000 over their budget if paid for through the end of the school year.

In addition, an investigation into the district failing to submit tax forms for its employees for four of the last five years surfaced, and the district was then forced to hire an outside CPA to try and remedy the situation.

Now, the district looks ahead to finding a replacement for Calvert, a process the board of education went through earlier in 2023, when the instated junior-high school principal Mark Koopman as an interim replacement for Superintendent Kyle Cooper who served from June 2021, through the districts spring break in 2023.

When the board's President Randy Underwood was asked about the turnover at the position, dating back to 2020, he stated:

"I will tell you that most superintendents in the state of Colorado really are at a district for more than about two or three years anyway -- So we've had a little bit higher turnover than normal." said Underwood.

The board says the next step is to put together their search committee, which is made of seven members decided on by the board -- typically consisting of a mix of administrators, board members, and community members.

"Between everybody's schedules and everything and the work that has to be done and the reviews and the inputs, I mean, it can take three or four months." explains Board President Randy Underwood.

He also adds that it was a similar timeline while they searched for, and eventually hired Calvert.

The board says they're requesting a quote from the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB), for their service that puts out a notice nationwide for the vacant position -- in the hopes that it is not too expensive.

In a work session on Thursday, October 26, the board will review that cost for CASB, as they intend to have a quote by then, and they will begin searching for an interim candidate, who will ideally overlap with Calvert before his departure.

Underwood says that overlap will be crucial -- that way the candidate can be properly informed about the budget issues created by the new transportation services, and the ongoing work being done by the CPA for the districts missing employee tax forms.