Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker listens to comments from State Board of Education members in this AP file photo from April 9, 2014, in Topeka.

After 30 years of admiring the Lawrence district from afar, Diane DeBacker says she’s excited at the prospect of working more closely with the “progressive” school system.

DeBacker, a former teacher and administrator who served as Kansas education commissioner from 2010 to 2014, is one of two candidates in the running for the Lawrence district’s interim superintendent position.

“My trajectory, or my resume, looks more like a millennial resume than the age I actually am,” says DeBacker, 56. “I really like to be in a system that is willing to change and willing to maybe march to the beat of a different drummer, to say, ‘This is our individuality, and this is how we want to do it, and everybody else may be doing it differently, but this is what’s best for our kids.’ And I believe Lawrence has that philosophy, and I believe I’d be a really good fit.”

Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker listens to comments from State Board of Education members in this AP file photo from April 9, 2014, in Topeka.

The Topeka resident has been impressed over the years, she says, with what she considers a pioneering spirit in the Lawrence schools.

The district’s implementation of blended learning is one such example. DeBacker also points to the district’s management of the once-struggling Lawrence Virtual School. Since the district’s takeover in 2013, the formerly privately operated school has seen a significant improvement in graduation rates, and in 2015 became the first virtual school in the state to earn NCAA accreditation.

While DeBacker says she’s still working to familiarize herself with the Lawrence district’s most pressing issues, she also says school systems across Kansas share many challenges.

Originally from St. Marys, DeBacker holds a bachelor’s degree from Emporia State University, a master’s degree from Washburn University and a doctoral degree from Kansas State University.

DeBacker, who spent her early career as a high school business teacher in Manhattan and St. Marys, has worked mostly in administrative roles over the last 35 years. Her professional background includes two years as an associate superintendent in Tecumseh’s Shawnee Heights district, plus 10 years as a principal and assistant principal in Topeka’s rural Auburn-Washburn district, among other roles that include three years as the Kansas Department of Education’s director of school improvement and accreditation.

If appointed to the interim superintendent position, DeBacker would join the Lawrence district after serving the last year and a half as director of education research for RTI International, a North Carolina-based nonprofit organization that provides research and technical services to clients around the globe. Prior to her work with RTI, DeBacker spent one year serving as senior adviser to the director general for the Abu Dhabi Education Council and as acting executive director of the P-12 Sector, advising the United Arab Emirates’ senior officials on educational issues.

“I had never lived more than 50 miles away from my home when I did that, so it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” DeBacker says of her year abroad. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

As education commissioner for the state of Kansas, DeBacker led efforts in creating a task force meant to address the achievement gaps among different racial and socioeconomic groups, as well as achievement gaps among different districts across the state.

The Lawrence district has faced similar challenges for years now, with equity becoming an increasingly talked-about issue at school board meetings and in other public forums. The Lawrence school board’s signature goals of “Excellence, Equity and Engagement,” DeBacker says, are ultimately worth pursuing. But, she adds, “really defining those and refocusing on those might be something to do in the next year.”

Like “a bug drawn to the light,” DeBacker says she’s never been one to shy away from a good challenge. She has always loved the tight-knit communities and distinct personalities of Lawrence’s neighborhood schools, she says, and feels “very honored and very privileged” at the prospect of serving the district’s families and staff.

“I do believe that communities, whether that be a community of parents or students or businesses, can be defined in different ways, but communities have a responsibility to the youth and the children,” DeBacker says.

“They have a responsibility to those students to provide educational opportunities,” she adds. “That’s what I love about Lawrence and what I’ve seen of it.”

DeBacker interviewed with the Lawrence school board Tuesday for the interim superintendent position, which would tentatively go into effect July 1 as current Superintendent Kyle Hayden steps down and transfers to his new role of chief operations officer. The school board will interview its second candidate, Anna Stubblefield, who is Lawrence’s assistant superintendent of educational support and equity, on Wednesday. Both meetings, as well as visits with district administrators and Lawrence Education Association representatives, will be closed to the public.

The school board will meet June 20 to deliberate and appoint the new interim superintendent. A search for the next superintendent will begin in the fall, with plans to announce Hayden’s replacement by February 2018.