The Mid-Prairie community is set to lose another valued administrator as the need to be forward-thinking weighs on the district.  

With the decision to eliminate assistant principal positions at both the high and middle schools earlier this spring, Nathan Carlson, Assistant Principal and Assistant Activities Director at the middle school, found himself offered a new employment contract: one for Activities Director for Grades 7-12.  For reasons he has not disclosed to The News, he chose not to sign it.

His existing contract would have been extended to the 2023-2024 school year if it were not terminated by May 15; however, the Board of Education held a special meeting that morning and unanimously agreed to terminate the contract.

The decision to eliminate the two half-time assistant principal positions was precipitated by the resignation of Tyler Hotz, high school Assistant Principal and Activities Director, who will begin as Superintendent of the Lone Tree Community School District this fall.  

“With the current school funding environment and the change in student counts, the district has begun to evaluate whether vacated positions are automatically rehired.  With Mr. Hotz’s resignation, this was evaluated not only for expense reduction but for how other districts our size are staffing administrator positions,” Jeff Swartzentruber, School Business Official, told The News.

Swartzentruber explained that other districts the size of Mid-Prairie do not typically have assistant principals.  In addition, the district foresees declining enrollment and lower state funding in upcoming years.  Combined with the difficulty in filling Hotz’s position this late in the year, it made sense to restructure the administrative positions at this time.

See thenews-ia.com and future issues for this complete story.