New superintendent, principal join Pekin school

PACKWOOD ? Pekin Community School District will open the new school year Aug. 20 with new leadership bringing experience and enthusiasm.

Dennis Phelps is superintendent and JoAnne Morenz is the middle school/high school principal.

Dennis Phelps

Phelps was hired by the school board in late February and began his duties July 1.

?I?ve been able to attend board meetings since March and become more familiar with the district,? said Phelps. ?I?ve been in and out of the buildings during that time and worked with Fred Whipple [interim superintendent]. It?s been a great opportunity.?

Phelps brings three years of experience, 2010-2013 as a superintendent/elementary principal/activities director/coach from the Harmony Community School District in Van Buren County.

?I know this region, Harmony and Pekin are in the same conference and play one another in junior high sports,? he said. ?Our sons grew up running track down here against Pekin.?

Phelps is glad to move his job closer to home with his wife, Jan, in Victor. She is a guidance counselor in West Branch Community School District.

?I?ll be able to spend more time with my wife now,? he said.

But Phelps is mostly enthusiastic about meeting Pekin students and families.

?I?m attracted to this district because I know the participation, support and great pride in the activities here from fine arts to sports,? he said. ?The school is the hub of six to eight communities in the district. It?s very attractive to me to have all the district students in one building. That provides more opportunities in working with staff and students.?

His main goal for the year is to become familiar with Pekin.

?I want to learn what it?s about, identify leaders and work with our administrative team,? said Phelps. ?We have a great team with Kim Ledger, elementary principal, JoAnne Morenz is our new 6-12 principal and another new member, Heather Buckley, was hired as a shared curriculum director with Cardinal Community School District.

?It?s exciting to look forward to what we can bring for staff, families and students in the community. Hiring a curriculum director is a big step. It will be important to review our curriculum, make sure we are aligned and meeting Iowa Core and No Child Left Behind and using Response to Intervention.?

The Pekin school district serves 640 students, Phelps said. He acknowledges declining enrollment is a shared regional challenge.

?For now, our open enrollment in [to the district] is greater than our open enrollment out,? said Phelps.

?I?m excited to get started,? he said. ?We have the kitchen/lunch room being remodeled right now and it?s probably not going to be quite complete when school starts. I don?t think we?ll have a lot of issues with that. It?s a wonderful addition.

?I?m looking forward to this year. I?ve heard so much about Pekin pride. I look forward to helping new teachers, young teachers get a good start,? said Phelps.

On his background information provided to the district for the position, Phelps listed several goals in addition to familiarizing himself with the district:

? Continue to build a strong positive commitment to developing various strategies that will meet the needs of all learners.

? Continue to move forward as the Pekin CSD implements the Iowa Core and 21st Century Skills.

? Continue to explore opportunities to maintain financial solvency.

? Move forward with plans that will increase technology to enhance educational opportunities in areas of additional curriculum, advance course offerings, and 21st century skills.

? Review curriculum, curriculum alignment and instructional strategies to increase efforts to reach each student.

? Begin the process of developing plans to move forward with the new state legislation regarding teacher leadership, teacher compensation, and teacher evaluation requirements.

Before working at Harmony, Phelps was a kindergarten-12 principal in Belle Plain Community School District, 2008-10; a teacher/coach/activities director/assistant principal in the Hartwick-Ladora-Victor Community School District in Victor, 1996-2005; a teacher/coach in Montezuma Community School District, 1993-96; he worked two different time periods and held different positions as teacher/coach/activities director/secondary principal in the Tri-County Community School District (serving What Cheer, Keswick, Gibson and Thornburg) 2005-08 and 1986-87; and taught and coached 13 years in Grinnell Community School District, 1973-86. He taught physical education and health and coached boys basketball throughout his teaching career.

Phelps graduated from Montezuma High School; earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at University of Northern Iowa, 1973; earned a master?s degree at Iowa State University, 2003; and a specialist degree at Drake University, 2010.

JoAnne Morenz

Morenz comes to Pekin with experience as preschool-12 principal for part of last year at Laurens-Marathon School and three years as elementary principal/curriculum director in the Villisca Community School District. She taught secondary English classes and coached for 19 years in the Atlantic Community School District.

?I?d heard about Pekin from Pekin High School graduates,? she said. ?I was looking for a change, and Pekin?s website impressed me.?

She began officially Aug. 1, and said she jumped right in.

?We have a new administrative team, and I?ve been meeting people, such as staff, and I?m looking forward to meeting more students,? she said. ?I?ve been able to meet some volleyball and basketball players as they come in for practices. I hope to meet more students at registration.?

She has moved to the area and looks forward to the start of the school year.

?I believe in setting high expectations, as Pekin does, and I want to keep things moving forward, improving and learning,? she said. ?All of us can learn each day. When everyone goes home for the day, I want each to think about what was learned in that day.

?Challenges are a positive thing,? said Morenz. ?We have new construction, which is an exciting change.

?One thing I really love about working in education is no day is ever the same. We never know what contact we have with someone might make a change for that person.?

Morenz does not anticipate making big changes in the schools.

?I?ll initiate small things, such as everyone should have a goal, a daily goal, or a weekly or monthly goal and work toward it,? she said. ?If you have a goal, you can always be referring back to it and seeing if what you?re doing is working toward that goal.?