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Wolff named acting superintendent
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| Visiting schools regularly is one of new acting superintendent Lora Wolff's priorities for the 2008-09 school year. A class at George Washington Elementary in Keokuk is shown above. |
By Diane Vance/Gate City Staff Writer
The Keokuk School Board unanimously approved Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lora Wolff as acting superintendent of the school district for 12 months at a special school board meeting Thursday.
“We need a designated leader of the district,” said Board President Dr. Bill Davis. “We have visited with most of the administrative team. We have one person with certification to be a superintendent. Fortunately, Lora is someone who's performed at high level. We'll discuss a contract and salary at the next board meeting.”
The board also accepted Superintendent Jane Babcock's resignation, effective Thursday, July 3. Babcock accepted a job as superintendent in the PCM School District, about 20 miles east of Des Moines.
Davis said advice from other districts and administrators is not to embark on a superintendent search in July.
“That would not bring candidates we want to see,” he said. “We didn't want to hire a superintendent out of retirement, that's not the direction the district wants to go.
“We have a lot of issues and we need someone familiar with our district instead of getting someone up to speed. Lora's not only up to speed, she's going to bring us up to speed. Her work ethic will be hard to keep up with. She's already looking at chances to change things. This can be a chance to restructure. We're starting a new strategic plan in November. Everything is open to discussion.
“We will conduct a search. Lora can certainly be a candidate,” said Davis. “We should begin to talk about the search in the fall. We can decide whether to hire a search firm or do our own. It will depend on how things are going with Lora.”
Davis said the administrative team will be one person short as Wolff assumes the acting superintendent role. The position of assistant superintendent will remain vacated while the board and district see what works.
“This is really exciting,” said Wolff. “The administrative team has offered its support.”
Wolff listed more than a dozen tasks that can be reassigned to other staff in the district as she assumes new responsibilities.
She also made a list of short-term goals, such as - review projects related to the superintendent's role that need to be completed or begun; seek input and build background knowledge; develop a transition plan; and survey all staff.
The transition plan includes reviewing Central Office staff responsibilities and making changes needed.
Wolff's priorities for the 2008-2009 school year include:
Rebuild team, improve morale districtwide.
Mentor three new principals, have weekly meetings.
Establish a focus and stick with it.
Address implementation issues on district initiatives by administrators, including curriculum walk-throughs and small group administrative meetings.
Evaluations of teachers, administrators and support staff.
Strategic planning and goal setting.
Visiting schools on a regular basis.
Having community members in to talk and discuss issues, possibly before work in the morning, during brown bag lunches and after school.
Formalize hiring practices.
Improve communication including clarification of responsibilities, channels of communication and chain of command.
Wolff came to Keokuk in 1984, along with her husband, Jim. She taught high school English, journalism and speech. She also was the drama sponsor, advisor for the high school newspaper and speech team coach.
She took a sabbatical from 1991 to 1995, earning a master's degree in English at Western Illinois University, Macomb, and teaching as an assistant in the program. She also was a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in her Ph. D. program. Wolff has a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction.
She added certification for PreK-12 principal and PreK-12 special education supervisor from WIU, and PreK-12 superintendent from the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls.
Wolff assumed an administrative role as director of technology and communications in the Keokuk School District from 1995 to 1999.
In 1999 Wolff was appointed assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
She began her career teaching language arts at Lakota High School from 1980 to 1984. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Wartburg College, Waverly, in 1979.
Jim Wolff is an elementary teacher at Hawthorne School. The couple has a son, Brandon, a student at Cornell College, Mount Vernon.
“We need a designated leader of the district,” said Board President Dr. Bill Davis. “We have visited with most of the administrative team. We have one person with certification to be a superintendent. Fortunately, Lora is someone who's performed at high level. We'll discuss a contract and salary at the next board meeting.”
The board also accepted Superintendent Jane Babcock's resignation, effective Thursday, July 3. Babcock accepted a job as superintendent in the PCM School District, about 20 miles east of Des Moines.
Davis said advice from other districts and administrators is not to embark on a superintendent search in July.
“That would not bring candidates we want to see,” he said. “We didn't want to hire a superintendent out of retirement, that's not the direction the district wants to go.
“We have a lot of issues and we need someone familiar with our district instead of getting someone up to speed. Lora's not only up to speed, she's going to bring us up to speed. Her work ethic will be hard to keep up with. She's already looking at chances to change things. This can be a chance to restructure. We're starting a new strategic plan in November. Everything is open to discussion.
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Davis said the administrative team will be one person short as Wolff assumes the acting superintendent role. The position of assistant superintendent will remain vacated while the board and district see what works.
“This is really exciting,” said Wolff. “The administrative team has offered its support.”
Wolff listed more than a dozen tasks that can be reassigned to other staff in the district as she assumes new responsibilities.
She also made a list of short-term goals, such as - review projects related to the superintendent's role that need to be completed or begun; seek input and build background knowledge; develop a transition plan; and survey all staff.
The transition plan includes reviewing Central Office staff responsibilities and making changes needed.
Wolff's priorities for the 2008-2009 school year include:
Rebuild team, improve morale districtwide.
Mentor three new principals, have weekly meetings.
Establish a focus and stick with it.
Address implementation issues on district initiatives by administrators, including curriculum walk-throughs and small group administrative meetings.
Evaluations of teachers, administrators and support staff.
Strategic planning and goal setting.
Visiting schools on a regular basis.
Having community members in to talk and discuss issues, possibly before work in the morning, during brown bag lunches and after school.
Formalize hiring practices.
Improve communication including clarification of responsibilities, channels of communication and chain of command.
Wolff came to Keokuk in 1984, along with her husband, Jim. She taught high school English, journalism and speech. She also was the drama sponsor, advisor for the high school newspaper and speech team coach.
She took a sabbatical from 1991 to 1995, earning a master's degree in English at Western Illinois University, Macomb, and teaching as an assistant in the program. She also was a teaching assistant at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, in her Ph. D. program. Wolff has a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction.
She added certification for PreK-12 principal and PreK-12 special education supervisor from WIU, and PreK-12 superintendent from the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls.
Wolff assumed an administrative role as director of technology and communications in the Keokuk School District from 1995 to 1999.
In 1999 Wolff was appointed assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.
She began her career teaching language arts at Lakota High School from 1980 to 1984. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Wartburg College, Waverly, in 1979.
Jim Wolff is an elementary teacher at Hawthorne School. The couple has a son, Brandon, a student at Cornell College, Mount Vernon.
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Very Impressive wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:01 AM: