Erin Kane is the Superintendent of the Douglas County School District. She has found success and shown she is a proven leader in many different fields. From engineering to education, Erin has risen to the top and brought those around her with her.
Erin handed her résumé to the guy in the IBM booth at a job fair she was attending. Having just graduated with an engineering degree in applied mathematics and computer science from the University of Colorado, Erin was in high demand and had her pick of companies to start her career path. That would prove to be one of the best decisions of her life. Yes - she got hired by IBM, but more importantly, the guy who took her résumé would end up being her husband.
Both Erin and her husband are Colorado natives so after a short professional stint away, they moved back to Douglas County to raise their three children in this community. Not long after their youngest daughter was born, Erin says she made the hardest decision of her life. She walked away from a promising management career in the software industry (data science) to spend more time with her kids.
As her oldest child became ready to embark on the public education path, Erin became driven with a passion for STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering, Math). Not finding a school that put enough focus on that curriculum, Erin decided to start her own and co-founded American Academy. The charter school began in a Lone Tree strip mall with 391 students. Money was tight so parents did all the painting, laid carpet squares, and found furniture to supply the school. But the success of the school grew quickly while Erin served in capacities as President of the Board and Executive Director, ultimately growing it to serve almost 3,000 students across three campuses with a waiting list of over 2000 students.
Content with her situation and enjoying her family time, Erin never imagined she would venture into the district world. But an opportunity arose that would enable her to serve as Interim Superintendent for our school district from 2016 - 2018. Then in 2022, she was named as the permanent Superintendent. Erin loves her job and wants to do it for a really, really long time. "I am incredibly grateful to be in this position. I absolutely love this district," Erin said.
Erin has always been a huge proponent of parent choice in education. Whether that means going to public school or attending one of the many charter schools in the area, she believes parents should have the choices they want for their kids' education. She views her job as taking care of the people who take care of our kids.
When she's not roaming the halls of the district, you can find Erin spending time with her family and traveling.