Pekin and Keota schools to share superintendent

PACKWOOD – The Pekin and Keota school districts have agreed to share Dave Harper as superintendent for the 2025-26 school year.

The two school boards held a joint meeting at the end of May where they both signed off on an agreement whereby Harper will spend three days per week at Pekin and two days at Keota. Pekin will cover 60 percent of the cost of Harper’s contract, while Keota will cover the remaining 40 percent.

Harper is no stranger to this kind of superintendent sharing agreement between districts. He was previously the shared superintendent between Pekin and Sigourney for five years before he left that job to become Chief Operations Officer for Ottumwa Schools. Back then, Pekin and Sigourney shared superintendent costs 50-50, and Harper split his time evenly between the two districts.

That will not be true of this new sharing agreement between Pekin and Keota. Harper said that, when the two sides came together, they felt that having Harper spend 60 percent of his time at Pekin, and for Pekin to bear 60 percent of the cost, better suited the needs of both school districts.

“I try to be as visible as possible, and I think this is a win-win for both districts financially,” Harper told The Union. “We have very competent staff at both districts. I feel like we’ll be able to do all the day-to-day stuff that our kids need.”

The state government provides incentives for school districts to share positions. In this case, the state will give the equivalent of nine additional enrolled students to both Pekin and Keota, meaning each district will receive about $70,000 toward the sharing agreement.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com