In Memoriam: Gary Sibigtroth, PhD

After a courageous and honorable fight, Dr. Gary Sibigtroth, married to Darlene, Patricia McCarty’s sister, passed gently on, Jan. 29, 2008 from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). He was the second person to join StarShine Academy’s board. The ideas that created StarShine were not proven and at the time were a very unusual way of approaching building a school model. When Patricia asked Gary to become a part of the Board of StarShine, she knew that he would be risking his stellar reputation for a dream. He never hesitated to support the dream or the mission, and only a few days prior to his passing, he joined the board meeting by telephone to voice his support, opinions and votes. Gary’s leadership in forming a translational change in education will be felt for many generations to come. He will be missed.

Assistant Commissioner - Colorado Department of Education Dr. Sibigtroth and wife Darlene have raised four girls and are proud grand parents of nine grand children. Darlene is retired from a banking executive career and is currently working part time for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Denver, Colorado affiliate, and is a 23 year breast cancer survivor. Dr. Gary H. Sibigtroth, Assistant Commissioner for the Colorado Department of Education, Denver, Colorado, has been in Colorado public education for 35 years. This public school education experience includes teacher, principal, superintendent, executive director for a board of cooperative educational services, and currently with the Colorado Department of Education. His doctorate degree is in Educational Administration with expertise is leadership at the school and district level, and in the corporate world through training and certification as a leadership instructor with the Dale Carnegie organization. Leadership training is based on the challenges of today's and tomorrow's demand for new ways of leading organizations, building collaborations, and creating communities. Dr. Sibigtroth has been a member of the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) throughout his career. From 1990-1992 he served as a member of the CASE Coordinating Council and in 1992 elected president of the Department of General Administrators Board of Directors. From 1983-1985, and chairman in 1984 of the CASE Department of General Administrators School Issues Committee. Other professional and consulting most recent work includes:

Lamar Community College-Lamar, Colorado: Assisted in the development of an Alternative Management Structure for rural school districts;
Facilitated the development of Educational Foundations, and working closely with business professionals for school districts;
Consultant for the development of alternative school calendars including the four-day school week;
Colorado Department of Education: Represented Colorado's educational reform movement, traveling to Japan in 2000 to visit schools and discuss education reform with the Japanese Government Educational Ministry.
Colorado's Team Leader for the First Annual National High School Reform Summit in Phoenix, AZ April 2004;
Consultant for applying human relations and communication principles to build effective relationships.

It is an exciting time in public education that challenges educators to accomplish equity and excellence in America's schools. Improving student achievement and closing the achievement gap are the central focus of public education across this country. In today's schools, too many children struggle with learning to read. Teachers and parents will agree reading failure has a long-term consequence for children's developing self-confidence and motivation to learn, as well as for their later school performance.

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