W-MU Superintendent finalist for Burlington position

By TRISHA PHELPS

Mt. Pleasant News

Winfield-Mt. Union CSD Superintendent Pat Coen is one of two finalists for the superintendent position in Burlington.

The other finalist is Patrick Sweeney from Arizona.

?When the opportunity (at Burlington) came up, the first thing I did was talk to my wife about it,? said Coen. ?As soon as I finished talking to my wife I talked to Klay Edwards (W-MU school board president) and he understood that small schools are a bit of a training ground for superintendents.?

According to Coen, W-MU has agreed to allow him out of his contract for next year if he succeeds at obtaining the Burlington job.

Without Coen as superintendent in Winfield, W-MU would have a few options.

?This could mean that W-MU would need to find someone in the next few months or find an interim superintendent,? said Coen. ?There are people out there, its just a matter of finding the right person for the job. I can?t speak for the board, but there are people out there so W-MU will be taken care of.?

Coen has been leading the charge at W-MU for five years and came to W-MU from Mt. Pleasant where he had been a middle school principal.

He earned his undergraduate degree in education from Iowa Wesleyan College and his master?s and education specialist degree from Drake University. Coen also has 21 years of military experience in the Iowa National Guard as a combat engineer, from which he retired as a colonel in June of 2005.

A Burlington native, Coen looks at the opportunity in Burlington as going back to his roots.

?Five generations ago, the Coens came to Burlington to work on the railroad,? said Coen. ?We thought that this is a chance to go back. Around 1970, I walked into Grimes School and started kindergarten in Burlington, so this is a chance to go home.?

Coen also looks forward to the opportunity to impact a greater number of students at the bigger school district.

?Hopefully I will be able to have a greater influence on a child?s adult quality of life,? he said. ?Every move that I make is more responsibility but also is an opportunity to have an impact on a larger scale.

?I keep asking myself if I can help on a bigger scale, and boom, I get it done,? Coen continued. ?The circle of influence just keeps getting bigger. It is driven to make as much of an impact as I can on our communities.?

A look at Coen?s resume shows how often he increases his workload in order to have a greater influence on the communities he serves.

?I taught for 10 years, and then I was an assistant principal for five years, then principal for about five and now superintendent for five years,? said Coen.