When Brian Pekarek was hired as superintendent of the Iola school district in February, he saw an opportunity to “reinvigorate” USD 257.
With a focus on academic achievement and public transparency, Pekarek hopes he can further success for the district and the more than 1,300 students relying on it.
Pekarek walks his talk. A native of Abilene, Pekarek has multiple degrees from Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Baker University and Emporia State University.
Because southeast Kansas has a declining population and other social problems not unique to the area, Pekarek wants to show outsiders all the positive attributes the district and the town have to offer. And that starts with good, honest communication, he said.
“Southeast Kansas is slowly declining. So trying to do everything we can to bring people into southeast Kansas is important to me,” he said, pointing to public relations and community development as keys to achieving those goals.
And it might just work. Prior to coming to USD 257, Pekarek was the superintendent at the Clifton-Clyde school for two years where he was able to implement a few of his strategies and see results. Before taking over at Clifton-Clyde, the district had seen consecutive years of declining numbers. During his two years as the superintendent there, USD 244 saw a 7 percent increase in students.
“Partially (the increase) could have been the economy,” Pekarek said. “But partially it was because of (USD 244’s) good community development, working closely with the Clyde Economic council and then of course preaching the vision.”
As a result, the district won an award from the Kansas Association of School Boards for “the best strategic public relations program” and was the highest academic achieving school district in the state last year, his final year there.
As superintendent, the budget is a top priority for Pekarek, and although the budget he is dealing with at USD 257 is more than $12 million more each year than that of USD 244, he said he is confident in his ability to get the most out of those taxpayers’ dollars and possibly even rustle up a few more.
While at Clifton-Clyde, the district faced nearly a half-million dollars in cuts, and it was Pekarek’s job to figure out how to deal with it.
“I got together with grant writing professionals and they taught the (USD 244) staff about grant writing 101 skills and how it’s successful,” he said.
There’s so much grant money out there, especially for things like technology, it’s just a matter of having the skills to acquire it, he said.
In the two years he was at USD 244, Pekarek’s staff was able to secure almost $500,000 in grants, he said.
Pekarek said he understands the Iola area school district is unique and faces its own challenges that will need to be met with its own solutions and avenues for success, and in order to do that, he, the school board members and the community at large will have to be on the same page.
“Those are the things I think are important but only when I have the board’s support and my administrators are on board and our vision is aligned. That’s what’s key,” he said. “You don’t have to do it all at once. It’s important to go through the chain of command and the proper protocol.”
Pekarek finds home at USD 257
