Pekin Superintendent Dave Harper stepping down

PACKWOOD — Dave Harper, the superintendent for Pekin and Sigourney school districts, will step down from his post at the end of June to take a job with the Ottumwa Community School District.

Harper has been the shared superintendent at Pekin and Sigourney for the past five years and was the superintendent for only Sigourney for two years before that. Harper announced he has accepted the position of executive director of human resources and operations for Ottumwa schools, a district he worked in previously when he was the principal at Evans Middle School for two years.

Harper’s new position will involve overseeing staff, facilities, hot lunches and the technology department.

Pekin and Sigourney schools will conduct interviews next week for Harper’s replacement. Harper said the two districts hope to reach a decision on a new hire by May 5.

Harper said he will miss Pekin and Sigourney and will especially miss the co-workers he’s come to know so well. Three women that he works with — Cherie Westendorf, Ann Swanson and Missy Sellers — made a pin for him with their picture on it, so he won’t forget the friends he’s made during this stop on his journey.

Harper is a native of Southeast Iowa, having graduated from Fairfield High School in 1990. During his junior year in high school, Harper enlisted in the Army National Guard and just two years later was deployed during Operation Desert Storm, spending six months in Europe with the 224th Engineer Battalion.

Before Desert Storm, Harper enrolled at Waldorf College, and upon his return to the United States, finished his associate degree at Indian Hills Community College and later his teaching degree at Buena Vista University in Ottumwa.

Harper credits his wife, Crista, with rekindling his interest in education. He started off wanting to be a history teacher but found himself working at a few different factories early in life.

“I realized I didn’t want to work at a factory anymore,” Harper said. “My wife is an elementary teacher at Sigourney, so she sparked my interest in that as a career.”

Harper began teaching at Pekin in 1998, a school district where he would become an assistant principal, principal and most recently, superintendent. While working as an educator, Harper continued serving in the National Guard, which included a deployment to Iraq in 2005 and a two-year stint from 2012-2014 when he worked for the National Guard full-time.

In Iraq, Harper and his unit were tasked with finding and disabling improvised explosive devices along the road. He said it was a tense and dangerous job, but he would do it all over again to protect his fellow soldiers. Harper retired from the National Guard after 24 years of service.

Harper said he’s proud of what he and the administrations have been able to accomplish at Pekin and Sigourney. At Sigourney, he’s glad to see the remodeled science room and track, and at Pekin, the addition to the junior high and the improved safety at the building’s entrances.

“During my time at Sigourney and Pekin, the No. 1 thing that stands out is the wonderful staff I had to work with,” Harper said. “That is the foundation of my memories here.”