Mike McGrory
The Ottumwa Board of Education has named Mike McGrory as the next superintendent, pending a completed background check and release from McGrory's current contract. The board's motion included a salary of $210,000 plus benefits. The final contract will be written by the district's legal counsel, then reviewed and approved at a future board meeting.
McGrory is replacing Nicole Kooiker, who has served as Ottumwa's superintendent since 2016. She recently accepted a deputy superintendent position with the Cedar Rapids Community School District.
McGrory has spent the last seven years in Muscatine. He served as principal at Muscatine High School from 2013-2016, then as associate superintendent from 2016-present. During his tenure as principal, McGrory lead intiatives that dramatically improved student success rates and postsecondary readiness; grew the AP programing from eight courses to 21 and from 150 AP courses taken by students to 750; implemented the PLC concept; and chaired Curriculum Leadership, Building Leadership, and Professional Leadership teams. He also served as principal at Central High School in Hinsdale, IL, Ames High School, Evans Middle School, and Lone Tree.
His focus shifted to the district level when he was named Associate Superintendent in 2016. Muscatine is a district with over 5,000 students and 850 staff. In this capacity, he led Curriculum and Instruction, Master Facility Planning, K-12 Principals, Maintenance, At-Risk, Title, Human Resources, Gifted and Talented, and Elementary and Secondary programing. As the facilitator of the district's facility plan, Muscatine spent over $40 million in infrastructure improvements, creating a state-of-the-art learning environment for students. He oversaw the development of a consolidated preschool center for three- and four-year-olds, and received state-wide recognition of efforts to promote attendance and address the social/emotional needs of students and families. To address the food insecurity issue of Muscatine families, he developed and facilitated a bi-monthly food bank.
“Throughout the search process, I have been very impressed with Dale and Quinlan from Ray and Associates," said David Weilbrenner, school board president. "They were very professional and presented us with some excellent superintendent candidates. All four semi-finalists were well qualified and a pleasure to interview. We feel Mike McGrory is the best choice to lead the Ottumwa Community School District and continue our strong tradition of providing a quality education to all students."