Principal recommended for new N. Liberty school

NORTH LIBERTY - Superintendent Lane Plugge is recommending that Mindy Paulsen be the first principal of Buford Garner Elementary School, which will open in North Liberty next fall.

Paulsen is in her 10th year as principal of Roosevelt Elementary in Iowa City.

The move must be approved by the school board.

Plugge, in an e-mail announcing his recommendation, said he wants Paulsen to transition into the role after winter break. She will stay involved with Roosevelt, Plugge wrote, but a plan will be developed for day-to-day operations for the rest of the year.

Roosevelt Elementary was the center of controversy earlier this year when the board voted to close it and open a new school a few miles to the west.

Plugge said the new Roosevelt principal would be asked to take over at that new school.