Eidahl will be next Solon school superintendent

SOLON - Davis Eidahl, the superintendent of the Ottumwa Community School District, will be the next leader of Solon schools, the Solon school board said Friday.

Eidahl, a former physical education and biology teacher, has led the approximately 4,600-student Ottumwa district since 2011.

He will replace Sam Miller, who said last month he is leaving to head Area Education Agency 267 in Cedar Falls, on July 1. Miller has led the Solon Community School District - which includes about 1,500 students, according to a head count done this school year - since 2010.

Eidahl said Friday he will spend his first two months in Solon building relationships with Solon staff, students and community members.

'The priorities moving forward will be that continued push for student achievement … and ensuring that our facilities, that the projects go well,” he said via phone after being hired. 'That we're planning for the future and planning for continued growth.”

Two school board members said Eidahl's experience in a larger district and with large construction projects was appealing. The Solon district is in the process of building a new middle school and a performing arts center.

'We're positioning ourselves for our future,” said Rick Jedlicka, the board vice president. Eidahl was a strong candidate from the start of the search process, in which 51 people applied, he added.

Eidahl said he led the construction of a new elementary school and the renovation of another - totaling $21 million - in Ottumwa. He said Solon appealed to him because it would give him more opportunities to interact with students, staff and community members.

'When you have a smaller system like that, there's more of a family atmosphere, more of a family culture,” Eidahl said. 'That's very appealing to me.”

Improving graduation rates and implementing programs that allow students to feel they belong at school also are among his accomplishments in Ottumwa, Eidahl said at a public forum Thursday.

The Ottumwa district was in the bottom 10 for graduation rates among all Iowa districts when Eidahl took over as superintendent, he said. The district's graduation rates have since improved by about 20 percentage points, he added.

The Ottumwa district implemented a 'Belong” campaign to help address bullying and improve students' social and emotional health, Eidahl said.

'That's an opportunity to get ahead of (bullying) and to get it out of our hallways and classrooms,” he said.

Ottumwa schools also use standards-based grading, primarily at the elementary level, Eidahl said. Solon schools use that practice - in which teachers focus more on how much students have learned and less on traditional letter grades - in kindergarten through 12th grade.

'I'm in favor of standards-based grading,” Eidahl said Thursday, adding that he would continue the practice in Solon.

'In standards-based grading, you aren't meshing a bunch of variables together,” Eidahl said. 'You're taking out compliance, you're taking out behavior. … Now that grade truly reflects that student's knowledge and ability.”

Matt Townsley, the Solon district's director of instruction and technology who has led the district's implementation of standards-based grading, said he was impressed with Eidahl's knowledge and experience overall.

Eidahl said he knows Miller, the current Solon superintendent, from their time together as principals in the Davis County school district near Ottumwa.

'We've stayed in touch,” Eidahl said. 'He always spoke so highly of the Solon community.”

Jedlicka and Miller said Miller did not give the board any input on Eidahl.

Miller said he was excited to see Eidahl was a finalist for the job. Miller and Eidahl said they would work on a transition plan starting as soon as next week.

'I think they're getting someone who's really committed to kids,” Miller said.

Greg Morris, a Solon resident whose children attended Solon schools, had mixed thoughts on Eidahl after the public forum.

'He's coming from a different environment with different ideas,” Morris said. 'But he's very capable, obviously.”

The board approved Eidahl's contract at a special meeting early Friday morning. It narrowed the search to six semifinalists last Friday and chose two finalists after initial interviews early this week. Eidahl and Anthony Voss - the other finalist and the superintendent of the Hudson Community School District near Waterloo - met with several groups in all-day interviews Thursday.

Before taking over the Ottumwa district, Eidahl was an associate superintendent and principal there, he said. Eidahl said he earned a teaching degree from Coe College.

Eidahl comes from a family of teachers, he said - his father is in his 54th year of teaching, and his grandfather also taught. Eidahl and his wife, Jodi, have three children, he said.

Eidahl will receive a base salary of $160,000 in Solon and start work on July 1. His contract runs for three years, board secretary Kris Wentzien said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8204; andrew.phillips@thegazette.com