Murley not selected as Grant Wood AEA’s next chief administrator

IOWA CITY - Iowa City schools Superintendent Stephen Murley was not selected to head the Grant Wood Area Education Agency, Murley said Monday.

Murley was one of three finalists for the agency's chief administrator role. John Speer, the superintendent of College Community School District in Cedar Rapids, and Susan Meade, the superintendent of Winterset Community School District near Des Moines, were also finalists.

'I congratulate the Grant Wood Area Education Agency on their selection of a new Chief Administrator,” Murley said in an email to The Gazette on Monday. 'I consider myself very fortunate to continue to serve the students of the Iowa City Community School District. I remain fully committed to our mission and work and look forward to continued service on behalf of the students, staff, and community.”

The Grant Wood Area Education Agency's board recommended extending a contract to one of the finalists after a closed meeting Monday morning, but the agency did not name its chosen individual in open session.

The agency plans to publicly announce its new chief administrator - to succeed Joe Crozier, who is retiring in June - at a Wednesday morning meeting in Cedar Rapids.

The full-time position comes with a salary 'in the range” of $240,000, according to a job listing shared by the agency.

All public and many private school districts in Iowa are supervised by one of nine Area Education Agencies in the state. The Grant Wood AEA supports more than 72,000 students in seven counties: Johnson, Linn, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones and Washington.

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