Maeder settling in as W-MU superintendent

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

WINFIELD ? With half a year under his belt as superintendent, Jeff Maeder knows stepping into the helm at Winfield-Mt. Union was the right decision.

?It?s going great,? he said as the hallways hummed with the excitement of winter break. ?I?m getting to know the school, the culture and like wise, they?re getting to know me.?

Maeder, who had been the high school principal at Columbus Community School District in Columbus Junction, stepped into the superintendent position at W-MU on July 1, after a yearlong search by the school board following the departure of then superintendent, Pat Coen.

Maeder was selected from a group of three finalists in January 2015.

?We?re still adjusting,? Maeder said of the move, not only to a new position, but a new district. ?It?s nice to come to work each day and know, for the most part, the kids are doing what they?re suppose to be doing and the staff, I?ve got a lot of confidence in our staff.?

Maeder said one of his favorite things about W-MU is the environment.

?I don?t know if I realized this coming in, but I can definitely see it now, there are no real egos here, everyone is in it for the kids,? he happily admits.

And as for the kids, he is pretty impressed with them. ?The kids are just really friendly. I have a lot of great parents that brought their kids up well,? he said.

Maeder said coming from a different district, it can be hard not to compare the two and how things are done or handled, but his philosophy is to make his first year at W-MU about learning. ?This is one of the big learning points, just because something works well in one place, doesn?t mean it can be done differently and still work,? he explained. ?I?m trying to take the approach, as much as possible, to see how things work before going in and changing it.?

One of the things he?s learned about W-MU is how involved the community is. ?The community steps up when you need them,? he said, noting that despite being a smaller district, there are still plenty of events the school puts on that may not be possible without community support.

?All of these events and activities take a lot of volunteer hours. Our community is always ready to step in and help,? he said.

Maeder continued by saying in a lot of ways, the school feels like the heart of the community, and there was no better way to see that than when the football team went undefeated during regular play this fall.

?I think it made me and everyone else that much more excited to go to school every day,? he said. ?It made everyone take that much more pride in their school and themselves.?

Maeder said you could just feel the pride and excitement all around town. But athletics isn?t the only place W-MU is excelling.

?The expectations are high,? he said of not only the students, but also the faculty and staff as well. Maeder said currently the district is mostly at or above state averages, but he doesn?t want the district to rest on its laurels.

?We want to keep pushing our students,? he says as a small smile breaks out on his face. ?The world is constantly changing, there are more opportunities and also more challenges and we want our kids ready to meet the world and succeed.?