Plugge seeks Council Bluffs job

Iowa City school district Superintendent Lane Plugge is a finalist for a job in Council Bluffs.

Plugge confirmed he was interviewing Tuesday for the position of chief administrator at the new Green Hills Area Education Agency.

Plugge, Iowa City's superintendent since 1999, said his primary interest is to be closer to family. His mother and siblings live in Omaha, Neb., where Plugge grew up. His children and grandkids are in Lincoln, Neb.

“The big motivation for me is family,” Plugge said in a phone interview.

AEAs are regional agencies that provide services and support to local school systems. Green Hills will result from the merging of two existing AEAs.

The chief administrator will oversee 360 employees who serve a 15-county area in southwest Iowa, according to the Web site for Ray and Associates Inc., which is conducting the search. The Green Hills AEA will include 51 school districts with about 44,000 students and 3,900 teachers and administrators.

The job will pay about $180,000 a year plus benefits and the person hired is to start July 1, according to the Web site. Plugge's current salary is $174,021 annually under a contract that runs through June 30, 2012.

A Green Hills AEA newsletter says the selection will be made by the first of the year. Plugge said he believed four or five people were interviewing this week.

School board President Patti Fields said in an e-mail message that Plugge told the board about his interview and “we will move forward and stay focused on our budget challenges ahead, whatever the outcome.”