Pekin, Sigourney sever superintendent sharing agreement

PACKWOOD — Pekin and Sigourney will no longer share a superintendent after the two school districts could not come to an agreement on proposed changes to their contract.

This means Pekin will be without a superintendent after June 30. Kevin Hatfield, who was hired as Pekin and Sigourney’s shared superintendent in 2021, said school boards from the two districts voted to approve their sharing agreement this spring.

The state provides incentives for school districts to share resources such as staff. For instance, sharing superintendents generates little over $50,000 for each district. Under the agreement between Sigourney and Pekin, Sigourney holds the contract.

Hatfield said that, after the boards agreed to the sharing arrangement, Pekin leaders became concerned about language in the contract and proposed changes to the Sigourney School Board. However, the two boards could not come to an agreement on the proposed changes, and on May 11 Sigourney’s board voted to discontinue the sharing agreement.

After the announcement, a group of Pekin students walked out of their classes on Monday, May 16 to protest the loss of their superintendent.