Communication focus for Iowa City superintendent candidate Murley

Stephen Murley believes he knows the key to being a good educational leader.

It's like the saying that real estate is location, location, location, the Wausau (Wis.) school district superintendent said.

“Education is all about relationships, relationships, relationships,” Murley told the Iowa City school board Wednesday night as he interviewed for the superintendent post here.

He is one of three finalists for the job. The others are superintendents in Minnesota - Mark Bezek from the Elk River school district was in town Tuesday, and Brad Meeks from the Farmington school district will interview Thursday.

They are hoping to replace Iowa City schools Superintendent Lane Plugge, who is leaving at the end of the school year for another job.

Murley, 43, has been the superintendent of the 8,500-student Wausau school district the past five years. He also has worked as a school human resources director, an associate principal, a teacher and an athletics department supervisor.

Murley may stress communication, but some of his teachers didn't like what he was saying last summer when state funding cuts meant the Wausau school district had to reduce its spending by $3 million.

Among Murley's proposals was giving some teachers an extra teaching assignment and freezing salaries. He also sought early retirements.

The Wausau teacher's union responded with a vote of no confidence in Murley and asked the school board to remove him, according to the Wausau Dailey Herald. The school board did not bow to the pressure and ranked Murley as “proficient” in a subsequent evaluation, the newspaper reported.

Murley said it was only the union's leadership that cast the no confidence vote. He said the relationship is better now, and one of the outcomes was the creation of a leadership group made up of members of the union, school board and administrative team that meets regularly, he said.

Also, the teachers got a 3 percent salary increase for next year.

“I think we've rounded the corner and we have a chance to move forward,” he said.

Murley pointed to strengthening the elementary school science curriculum as one of his successes. Middle school teachers found students from certain elementary schools were struggling with science work, and the district implemented a plan that includes having specialists traveling building to building to teach the subject.

Murley said part of the attraction of the Iowa City job was that the area clearly has a “passion” for education. He also said that having the University of Iowa here opens up a lot of opportunities for the school district.

When asked about his long-term career objectives, Murley said his wife told him to find a district with a great educational system for their elementary school-aged children and ne he'd be happy in for a long time.

He said he thinks the Iowa City school district is that place, and he's looking for a “capstone” to his career.