Tawana Grover to start as Cedar Rapids interim superintendent April 3

CEDAR RAPIDS — Cedar Rapids schools interim Superintendent Art Sathoff is stepping down next Friday, and incoming Superintendent Tawana Grover will begin April 3 — three months early — pending board approval.

The Cedar Rapids school board is expected to accept Sathoff’s resignation Monday in a board meeting. In that same meeting, Grover will be named interim Superintendent effective April 3. She will drop the “interim” title and start as superintendent July 1, according to board documents.

Grover, 47, was named the next superintendent of the school district in January, becoming its first female Black leader. She made history as the first Black superintendent in Nebraska and the first woman superintendent at Grand Island Public Schools and was unanimously appointed by the Cedar Rapids school board after a two-month search led by Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.

Grover’s salary is $305,000 for the first year and will be renegotiated for the second and third years of her contract, but not for less than the annual salary of the previous year.

At the time of publication Friday, school officials had not responded to questions about Grover’s salary as interim superintendent or if Sathoff will be paid the remainder of his salary.

Sathoff, the retired superintendent of the Indianola Community School District, was named interim superintendent in November. His contract calls for a $167,000 salary, as well as benefits, through June 30.

In February, the school board approved a contract for Grover to provide up to 15 days of consulting services to the district, being paid $1,168.58 for each day of consulting services she provides the district from now until June 30.

As superintendent, Grover will oversee the second-largest school district in Iowa and an annual budget of about $315 million. She will report to the elected officials on the Cedar Rapids school board.

There are 32 schools in the Cedar Rapids Community School District serving about 15,700 students. The district’s minority enrollment is 40 percent. Also, 39 percent of students are economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are about 3,100 employees in the district.

Former Cedar Rapids schools Superintendent Noreen Bush, 51, died Oct. 23. She was diagnosed with cancer more than two years ago.

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