Cedar Rapids district adds Pickering in revamped administrative role

A new face is set to join the Cedar Rapids Community School District's leadership.

Pending board approval, Trace Pickering will become the associate superintendent of innovation, school improvement and technology. He is taking over for Associate Superintendent Mary Ellen Maske, who will take over as deputy superintendent following Gary O'Malley's departure to serve as the superintendent of the Mount Vernon Community School District.

The district will also add an executive director for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, Valerie Dolezal, who will take on some of the duties Maske handles as associate superintendent.

The school board is set to vote on those hires at its Monday, July 15 regular meeting. If approved, Pickering will begin his new role on Thursday, Aug. 1, earn a $145,000 annual salary and oversee the district's technology and human resources departments.

Pickering is the director of community building for Iowa SourceMedia Group, the parent company of The Gazette. In the past, Pickering has worked as an administrator for the Grant Wood Area Education Agency and in the College Community School District.

"Cedar Rapids has been slowly and steadily moving towards (being) more innovative," Pickering said. "That's what appealed to me."

(Pickering later contacted the Gazette to clarify that he meant to describe the Cedar Rapids Community School District's progress as "clear and steady," not "slow and steady.")

Pickering said his first order of business is looking for areas within the district where innovation is already happening.

"My philosophy is it's kind of presumptuous for me to say I know what Cedar Rapids needs or what every school needs," he said. "I want to find these folks and support them right away."