Head of School

Credentials:

Ongoing Professional Development, High Tech High, San Diego, CA

MA – Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

BA – Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado

Principal Institute, Colorado

Shane Voss

Head of School

Mr. Voss grew up in Colorado Springs.  He earned his B.A. from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and his M.A. from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.  Mr. Voss brings 25 years of teaching and leadership experience to Mountain Middle School with a focus on change management and progressive elements of project based learning. Mr. Voss has been the Head of School at Mountain Middle School going on ten years. He has led our expansion efforts to include 4th and 5th grades along with the construction of our new state of the art facilities in 2016 and again in 2022.

He and his wife have enjoyed raising two daughters in Durango. His passions are rafting, fly fishing, bow hunting, skiing, and traveling with his family.

Educational Leadership

Mr. Voss has worked extensively with Expeditionary Learning, Buck Institute, Deeper Learning, and High Tech High to effectively lead and implement essential Project Based Learning structures and strategies at Mountain Middle School.

He recently completed ongoing professional development at the Principal Institute. He has participated in programs at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, designed to prepare reflective practitioner leaders to work with colleagues and communities to develop innovative, authentic, and rigorous learning environments. This professional development is designed for experienced educators who aspire to lead an innovative school focused on deeper learning and equity.

The Rocky Mountain Region of Colorado’s Expeditionary Learning headquarters noted Mr. Voss’ intense commitment and unusually steep learning trajectory.

Accomplishments

Mr. Voss has been noted for his ability to bring clarity to a vision and his coaching of teachers in a progressive methodologies.  He has been nominated as the Colorado Charter School Leader of the year in 2014,15,16,17, and 18. Under his leadership, Mountain Middle School has earned the State’s highest accreditation rating of Distinction in 2014, 2105, 2016, 2019 and 2020 with the school ranked in the top 12% of all public schools in Colorado.

In his first year at Mountain Middle School, Shane led his school to achieve the “Performance with Distinction” accreditation endorsement from Charter School Institute in 2014. This is the highest accreditation rating possible for a Colorado charter school and is an improvement of 2 levels of performance from the prior year. Under his leadership, Mountain Middle School’s accreditation of Distinction has become the norm.

The Distinction accreditation rating recognizes Mountain Middle School in 3 areas of achievement:

• Academic performance – MMS student academic performance consistently is in the top 10% of all 900 public schools in the State of Colorado
• Sound financial stability and sustainability – MMS achieved a balanced budget with no reliance on fundraising for operational expenses.
• Strong governance and leadership – our students are engaged in highly collaborative and innovative learning, our staff is highly qualified in their fields of expertise with a student teacher ratio of 15:1, we have wait lists for enrollment in all five grades, and we have worked towards realizing the vision of our founders to expand our school to include elementary grades four and five.

Mountain Middle School’s Shane Voss Named Finalist for ‘Leader of the Year’ Award in 2022

 

The Colorado League of Charter Schools today announced that Shane Voss, the head of school at Mountain Middle School in Durango, has been named a finalist for the 2022 Charter School “Leader of the Year” award. The award is part of the League’s annual Colorado Charter Schools Hall of Fame awards. 

 

The Charter School “Leader of the Year” award recognizes an individual who demonstrates significant influence in developing or maintaining a charter school, improving school accountability and performance, or driving other aspects of school excellence.

 

Voss is being recognized because he is an inspirational leader who exemplifies professionalism. He has been the leader of Mountain Middle School for the past 10 years and has been not only a critical part of the school’s success, but also has been a strong advocate for charter school law and equity across the state. His leadership has helped Mountain Middle School distinguish itself as an award-wining school  whose academic excellence and enrollment continue to grow. Voss’ political and financial acumen have also bolstered the school and the community. He worked side by side with the board to partner with the local district on groundbreaking tax initiatives that helped the school receive mill levy equalization with the district in the 2016 mill levy measure and then achieved a $2.5 million award from the district bond initiative passed in 2020, making Colorado history for a non-district authorized charter.