New superintendent starts in Pekin, Sigourney school districts

PACKWOOD — Pekin and Sigourney Community School Districts have a new shared superintendent, a man with 33 years of experience in education who said he has “one more song in me” before retirement.

Kevin Hatfield replaced Dave Harper as Pekin and Sigourney’s school superintendent on July 1 after Harper announced he was stepping down from the position to take a job in the Ottumwa Community School District.

Hatfield is a native Iowan and was West Branch’s superintendent for seven years. Before that, he taught and coached at Pleasant Valley and was later the school’s middle school dean of students. He also worked as a principal in Bettendorf.

Hatfield said Harper was gracious with his time before he left, sharing his insights into the two districts. Hatfield said covering two districts at once will be a new feat for him, but he can already see that Pekin and Sigourney have great staffs who will make his job easier.

“When I’m in Pekin, I know I’ll be getting hundreds of calls and emails from Sigourney and vice versa,” he said. “Things are in good shape in both districts, and that’s a credit to the school board and staff, who are so caring.”

Standards

Hatfield said he will put up posters in the districts describing the standards he wants the students, parents and faculty to hold him to during his tenure as superintendent. Specifically, he wants to be held accountable for:

• Elevating teaching and learning in the district.

• Elevating effectiveness in leadership.

• Elevating communication and feedback, between students and teachers and between the schools and the community.

• Elevating collaboration and engagement with students.

• Elevating aspirations, opportunities and outcomes for every student.

Not ready to retire

After three decades of teaching, coaching and work as an administrator in three school districts, Hatfield thought he was nearing the end of his time as an educator. He stepped down from his post as West Branch’s superintendent to work in a cabinet-level administrative services position at Grant Wood Area Education Agency. After that job, Hatfield felt he might be ready to retire. He told his wife Lynn he was ready to reinvent himself.

Lynn is a nurse in the anesthesiology department at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. Kevin felt like he wanted to do something in the medical field but as a volunteer. He approached the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital about volunteering at the front desk, and that led to a position in a service desk where he helped guide patients and their family members through the hospital. It was fulfilling work and a nice change of pace for Hatfield, but after less than a year on the job, the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. Hatfield said he has a somewhat suppressed immune system and decided it was best to step down.

Hatfield did not stay idle for long, though. He found a job with Ray & Associates in Cedar Rapids helping school districts find superintendent candidates.

“All of a sudden, a couple of my superintendent colleagues said, ‘Say Kevin, have you looked at Sigourney and Pekin? They have a shared superintendent,’” Hatfield said.

Hatfield had not known Pekin and Sigourney had an opening, but he was intrigued.

“My daughter Maddy told me, ‘You know, Dad, you want to get back in the schools. You should be a principal or superintendent again.’ That’s when I realized I had one more song in me.”