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School names Jimmerson new superintendent
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · May 31, 2018
A superintendent from north central Iowa received an offer May 23 to take over day-to-day leadership of West Branch Community Schools starting July 1.
Marty Jimmerson, superintendent of Ackley-Geneva-Wellsburg-Steamboat-Rock Community School District, on May 23 received a two-year contract offer from the West Branch Board of Education to replace current Superintendent Kevin Hatfield, who resigned effective June 30 to take another position.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Jimmerson said in a phone interview. “I feel very blessed and very excited.”
In the school board’s announcement the morning of May 24, the press release noted Jimmerson also holds the title of high school principal and brings 22 years of experience in education, including nine years as principal at St. Ansgar Community Schools and Ballard Community School District.
The board met for more than two hours after its final candidate interview to review input from stakeholder groups and decide on Jimmerson, School Board President Julie Sexton said.
“Quite honestly, they were three very qualified candidates,” she said. “The stakeholder groups (students, parents, community members, staff and administration) by far helped us. Hearing what the stakeholders had to say carried a lot of weight with us.”
Hatfield, who will leave to work for Grant Wood Area Education Agency, offered his congratulations to Jimmerson in an e-mail to school staff and the West Branch Times.
“We had a great field of candidates!” he wrote, alluding to the field of 39 applicants. “Marty’s overall professionalism, his aligned experience and the sincerity of his commitment to the West Branch Community School District and the community is what makes him an outstanding selection! I could not be more thrilled for our students and staff!”
He said he wants to help Jimmerson transition to the new job and community.
“I look forward to working with Marty and sharing even more regarding our great school district and community!” Hatfield wrote. “I thank Marty and his family for making this commitment!”
AGWSR enrolls about 625 pupils, about 150 fewer than West Branch.
“I did a lot of research on the district before applying, and I heard a lot of great things about the district and the community,” Jimmerson said, adding that he grew more pleased with what he heard throughout the interview process. “I’m elated and very honored.”
Sexton said the school board will meet next week to vote on the contract after the district’s attorney reviews it. She said the board “is still working” on the salary and benefits.
Jimmerson said the West Branch position drew him because the city “has so much potential.”
“It already has a lot of great things, from programming to leadership at the school board and the administrative team,” he said. “I want to be part of something like that ... I couldn’t pass it up.”
He said wants to focus on “meeting with people and foster relationships with the various stakehoders.”
“That’s a big part of (the job),” he said. “In the first year, there’s a lot of listening and learning about the district.”
He said he will need that time to get a better understanding of the district’s strengths and weaknesses “and understanding the culture of West Branch.”
He hopes to visit the city a couple times in June to meet with Hatfield, talk more with the school board and to look for housing.
According to Jimmerson’s resume, he earned his bachelor of arts degree from University of Northern Iowa in 1996, then earned his master of arts degree in educational leadership from Viterbo University in LaCrosse, Wis., in 2005. He then earned a specialist degree in educational leadership from Drake University in 2014 and is working on a doctorate degree in educational leadership, which he anticipates completing in 2020.
He taught sixth- through eighth-grade match at Woodward-Granger Community Schools from 1996-1998, then taught fifth grade at Newell Fonda Community Schools from 1998-2001, then taught fifth grade at West Marshall Community Schools from 2001-2005.
From 2005-2006, he served as fifth- through 12th-grade associate principal at St. Ansgar community Schools, then from 2006-2007 took over the positino of middle school principal at St. Ansgar.
From 2007-2014, he served as principal at Ballard West Elementary in Slater, then, from 2014 to the present served as superintendent and high school principal at AGWSR.
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