Jack Bay is the newly hired chief operations officer for Falcon School District 49. He spent most of his career in the private sector but has always had a passion for education.Bayís parents worked in education, and earlier in his career Bay worked for Pueblo School District 60. ìI worked in School District 60 in the early 1990s,î Bay said. ìI left public education and decided to do what I always wanted to do, which was having my own home-building company.”In 2003, Bay sold his company and said he would not return to the building industry. ìI felt that I owed a responsibility and an obligation to public education,î he said. ìI started in Trinidad (School District 1) as the chief financial officer. I totally loved it and enjoyed it.îFollowing his time in Trinidad, Bay said he worked as the director of finance for the Douglas County School District RE-1.With a bachelorís degree in accounting from the University of Southern Colorado and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Bay said the D 49 position is a perfect fit.D 49 attracted Bay because of the unique leadership model, he said, adding that he believes the model is the best way to operate a school district. ìIf you donít have the COO position, youíre asking the CFO (chief financial officer) or superintendent to put on three or four different hats to deal with several different areas,î Bay said. ìI can really focus and get down to some of the core issues and see if we can solve them.îBay lives in Pueblo and will commute to D 49. He did express a desire to move closer to the district.ìI have a skill set that will be very advantageous to the position that Iím in now,î Bay said. Using his experience, he said he will have time to focus his energy on assessing the districtís needs. ìWe can focus on energy efficiency because we can save money on utilities,î he said. ìWe can redirect it (money) because we really need to be able to provide instructional facilities that are operating in the best manner they can. The way we can continue to grow is by making sure we are providing a facility that gives us a big bang for our dollars.ìMy mission is to make sure the operations and maintenance (departments) are providing the most efficient operation we can.î
