News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tracy Cowdell, Chair of the School Board, (801) 550-9864
               Josh Ewing, Love Communications, (801) 870-5195

NEW SCHOOL DISTRICT ANNOUNCES HIRING OF FIRST EVER SUPERINTENDENT

The new east-side school district welcomes David S. Doty as its new Superintendent of Schools

SANDY – Tuesday, August 19, 2008 – With an impressive resume that jointly specializes in education and law, Dr. David S. Doty has been named the new superintendent of the new East-Side School District. The decision was made final at a school board meeting Tuesday night, during which a unanimous vote of the board hired Doty as the district’s new administrative leader.

Although its members were sworn in only one month ago, the new school board moved quickly to find the district’s first superintendent. Despite the short amount of time, Board Chair Tracy Cowdell described the Board’s vetting process as “extremely thorough and intense.”

“We had applications from around the US, including New York and Pennsylvania,” said Cowdell.” “We took the vetting process very seriously and went beyond the typical interview process. In the end, we were fortunate to find the ideal leader for starting our new district, right in our own backyard. We are fully confident that David will set the standard for excellence in the new district.”

Doty is currently the Assistant Commissioner & Director of Policy Studies for the Utah System of Higher Education, where he has worked since 2005. He also previously worked as an attorney with the Columbia, South Carolina law firm of Duff, Turner, White & Boykin, where he represented public schools and colleges across South Carolina, and as an administrator and lawyer with the Davis School District in Farmington, Utah.

After earning a B.A. in Spanish from BYU, Dr. Doty attended graduate school at Stanford University, where he earned an M.A. in Education and taught high school Spanish at a Bay-area public high school. Dr. Doty subsequently earned a law degree and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from BYU.

"I am deeply honored to be selected for this position, and am grateful for the full confidence of the board in appointing me,” said Doty. “I look forward to working closely with the board, parents, teachers, administrators, other employees, mayors, legislators, and community leaders to build upon the foundation of outstanding schools that has been established by my predecessors and improve upon it to ensure world-class education for all of our children. Public schools are vital to the health and strength of our community, and I am excited about the opportunity to collaborate with all stakeholders in creating and shaping this new school district from the ground up."

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The decision to create a new school district on the east side of the Jordan School District was determined by voters last November. Members of the new district’s school board were elected in June and took office on July 15th.

The new district includes the cities of Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, Midvale, Draper, Alta and portions of unincorporated Salt Lake County. When it starts operation July 1, 2009, the district will serve approximately 33,000 students in more than 40 schools.

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You can download David Doty's curriculum vitae here.