New Mount Vernon Superintendent Matt Leeman returns to small town roots

MOUNT VERNON — New Mount Vernon schools Superintendent Matt Leeman, growing up with two parents who were teachers in rural Iowa, originally “fought” going into the education profession.

Leeman initially went to the University of Iowa to pursue a degree in law enforcement, but quickly learned it wasn’t a career he was interested in full-time. He changed his major to elementary education.

Two decades later, Leeman, now 43, began July 1 as superintendent of the Mount Vernon Community School District. It’s a district where he hopes someday to see his sons — rising second and first-graders — graduate from high school.

  Buy Photo

“I don’t see this position as a steppingstone,” Leeman said while talking about community needs like child care and housing growth and adding a fourth school building in the district.

After teaching elementary school in his hometown of Postville in Northeast Iowa for several years, Leeman said the principal at the time asked him if he’d ever thought about becoming a school leader.

“The best job I’ve ever had was to be a kindergarten teacher,” Leeman said. “But I would also say that’s the reason why I left the classroom. I very quickly realized I could make a bigger impact on a larger scale being in those roles.”

So that’s what he did. First as a building principal in Postville, then in school leadership roles in the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Community School District before going to Clear Creek Amana, where he was for more than a decade. Most recently, Leeman was Clear Creek Amana’s associate superintendent and 6-12th grade curriculum director.

Leeman replaces Greg Batenhorst as superintendent of the Mount Vernon Community School District. Batenhorst retired this summer after almost 40 years in education and seven years as superintendent in Mount Vernon. Leeman’s salary is $195,000 plus benefits.

Leeman’s office already is decorated with colorful drawings made by his two sons. “It’s more personable than having notices and flyers up on your bulletin board,” he said. “I told them I still have some open space, so they were working tirelessly.”

Leeman sees coming to Mount Vernon as a way to return to his small town roots, going from a school district with seven school campuses spread across multiple cities to Mount Vernon, where the three school campuses are within walking distance.

“I don’t anticipate coming here and making a ton of changes. I’ll take time to assess the situation and really get to understand what we already have in place. Is there room for improvement or are these things working really well?” he asked.

Some changes Leeman eventually would like to see, however, include the addition of a fourth school building to the campus. This possibly would allow for fifth grade to be moved from Mount Vernon Middle School back into an elementary school, he said.

It also could create more room for child care in an area of the state where only 43 percent of families are able to find affordable, quality child care that met their families needs, according to a survey conducted by the League of Women Voters of Mount Vernon-Lisbon in spring 2022.

“That could be an early childhood center that serves 3- and 4-year-olds and alleviates day care needs while drawing more families into the community because they know they have a place for their children,” Leeman said.

For now, however, Leeman said the school district’s finances are “tied up” in completed projects, including a $12.8 million general obligation bond referendum to build a new performing arts center — which opened in spring 2020 — add a two-classroom addition and secure entry to the middle school and two-classroom addition to Washington Elementary School.

The bond was part of a 20-year vision that began in 2017. Other projects completed under the vision include:

Leeman said school leaders are working in partnership with leaders of the city of Mount Vernon and Cornell College with “the same common goal” — to grow the population in Mount Vernon and enrollment at the college.

With a portion of Iowa’s school funding driven by per pupil enrollment, Leeman said community growth is “where the finances start to straighten themselves out and where you create longevity.”

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com