Cedar Rapids Schools Superintendent Brad Buck named finalist for Waukee job

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Community School District Superintendent Brad Buck is one of three finalists for the Waukee Community School District superintendent's position.

Buck, 50, was hired by the Cedar Rapids school board in 2015. At the time, he told The Gazette he planned to stay in Cedar Rapids for at least a decade.

Buck told his staff in an email Tuesday that he is a finalist for the Waukee job, noting his decision to apply 'was not made lightly.”

'Please know that my passion for and commitment to the Cedar Rapids Community School District and the important work underway remains unrelenting,” he said in the email. 'At the same time, the opportunity presented in Waukee is one which my family and I have determined is important to pursue.”

The Cedar Rapids native and Jefferson High School graduate previously worked at the Waukee district as an associate and assistant superintendent for five years, according to the School Superintendents Association.

Before joining the Cedar Rapids district, Buck was director of the Iowa Department of Education from 2013 to 2015 under then-Gov. Terry Branstad and formerly was superintendent of Saydel Community School District in Des Moines.

Buck's annual salary was $253,000 for the 2017-18 school year, according to public records.

Buck will be interviewed in Waukee next week, according to his email. The district's current superintendent, Cindi McDonald, submitted her resignation effective at the end of the school year after the district came under fire for misusing district funds according to reporting from The Des Moines Register and a special investigation by the state auditor.

Other finalists, according to an announcement from the Waukee district, are Matthew Smith of Des Moines and Christopher Hines of Shenandoah, Texas.

' Comments: (319) 398-8330; molly.duffy@thegazette.com