After serving the Iola school district for nearly four years, USD 257 Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn announced on Monday that he will be retiring, effective July 1.
Current Iola High School principal Stacey Fager will become the new superintendent at that time and assistant principal Scott Crenshaw will rotate to full principal.
Koehn announced his decision at Monday’s school board meeting. “It’s been a privilege and an honor to serve the communities of Iola, Gas and LaHarpe,” said Koehn, reading from prepared remarks. “Serving this board of education has been the most rewarding experience of my 35 years in public education. I believe we have accomplished many things together for the good of USD 257 students and the communities we serve.”
Giving credit to the many individuals whose loyalty and imagination he depended on during his years in Iola, Koehn laid out only a very partial list of the many successes that bloomed under his tenure: improving the food service program; raising salaries; moving grade-level attendance centers; helping start the Rural Regional Tech Center; improving reading and math performance; establishing a one-to-one Chromebook program for middle and high school students; an increased spending on technology, generally; MARV, the “meals and reading vehicle,” which garnered statewide attention as it delivered healthy meals to underprivileged students across Allen County; not to mention the increasingly difficult job of maintaining, “and actually growing,” the district’s financial position in a climate of extreme fiscal austerity in the state of Kansas.
“There’s much more to be done,” said Koehn, his voice husky with emotion. “I’m confident that we’re headed in the right direction, but it’s time for someone else to be given that chance to lead.”
The superintendent paid his thanks to the district’s many teachers and administrators, its staff, and to the board members themselves.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity,” said Koehn, “and for giving me the chance to lead. My goal was to make a difference and to leave USD 257 better than I found it. I hope I’ve accomplished that in your eyes.”
IOLA MIDDLE School principal Jack Stanley also will be retiring at the end of the year, as will “Instructional Coach” Debra Atherton. Band instructor Matt Kleopfer resigned from USD 257, too. But the district did get a new bus driver. The board approved the hiring of Richard Klingensmith. And a new bus! The board voted to accept a bid from American Bus Sales for a 2012 Bluebird, burdened with only 21,763 miles, at a cost of $52,666.
IN OTHER NEWS, Jamie Westervelt, the grant coordinator for the area Drug-Free Communities program, briefed the board on the group’s many activities intended to stanch the trend of underage substance abuse in Allen County. She also invited the board and community to a town hall meeting — “Learn the True Dangers Facing Youth Today” — at the Iola High School, Jan. 24, at 6:30 p.m.
