Iowa City school district hires two administrators

The Iowa City school district has added two new administrators to its roster.

The district has hired David Dude to be its director of information services and Kathryn Moreland as its community relations coordinator, Jim Pedersen, the district's human resources director, said Monday. The school board still must approve the hires, which typically is a formality.

The information services job combines duties previously handled by two positions that have been vacant, Pedersen said. The community relations coordinator is a new position.

Dude will be paid $109,000 annually. Moreland will receive $48,000 a year and will only work half time. They are scheduled to start with the district Jan. 17.

Superintendent Stephen Murley said there will be no net increase in the number of administrative positions from last summer because Dude and Moreland will fill spots that had been vacant.

The district has been carefully watching its personnel expenses as it, like many governmental entities, has struggled through the recession. The district cut staff and offered incentives to encourage veteran teachers to retire as it and started this school year with 10 fewer teachers than the year before despite its enrollment increasing about 1 percent.

“Given our size, I think it would be very easy to make the argument that we are very lean with our administrative staff,” Murley said.

The teachers union doesn't have a problem with either of the hires and considers the director of information services a vital position, said Tom Yates, president of the Iowa City Education Association.

Dude will help teachers with using technology in the classroom as a learning tool and the district with other technology-related issues, Pedersen said. He currently is the chief technology officer for the school district in Kansas City, Mo. Before that he was chairman of the math department at Davenport Central High School.

Moreland's duties will include dealing with the news media and communicating with the public, Pedersen said. She currently is the development director for United Action for Youth, an Iowa City-based nonprofit organization that works with kids. She previously was a partner in a local law firm.

Murley said having a community relations coordinator would help the district do a better job communicating internally and externally. Administrators and the school board have been accused of poor communication in recent years on some issues, such as the controversial decision to close Roosevelt Elementary School.