The Sioux City School Board members have picked the person they want to serve as the next school district superintendent.
They have selected Juan Cordova, who is the assistant superintendent of instruction for Hazelwood School District in Florissant, Missouri.
Less than a day after an evening of community meetings and then closed interviews with two finalists, on Friday afternoon the selection of Cordova as the chosen finalist was announced in a press release.
School board president Jan George said Cordova has proven he will work collaboratively to improve the delivery of instruction to the 14,500 students in the Sioux City School District.
The hiring of Cordova is contingent on the school board finalizing a contract with him and voting to approve it.
The other finalist was Corey Seymour, who is superintendent of schools for Clear Creek Amana Community School District near Iowa City, Iowa.
Current Superintendent Rod Earleywine is retiring after three years in June. More than 20 people applied for the post, then seven people were interviewed in closed session over two days last week.
*Also concerning education, Iowa House and Senate Republicans have proposed two different funding plans for K-12 schools for the next school year.
Senate Republicans advanced Governor Kim Reynolds’ suggested 2-percent increase for base per-student funding.
House Speaker Pat Grassley is calling for a 2.25 percent bump. The House version also increases some other school budget areas and has one-time money to help districts deal with higher costs. Grassley says House Republicans want to provide more funding than Reynolds and the Senate would, because school leaders are saying they have distinct needs this year.
“So we tried to come up with more of a menu that suits each district,” he said.
Democrats say that’s not enough to keep up with rising costs in schools. They’ve called for a 5 percent school funding increase.
*In other news, a federal court will rule for a second time on whether or not an Iowa law can prohibit teaching topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Schools in Iowa are currently banned from instruction on LGBTQ+ topics after an appeals court lifted an injunction on the law last summer.
A lawsuit from Iowa Safe Schools claims that the law is too vague. One school banned their gender-sex alliance club.
Assistant Solicitor General William Admussen in the Thursday hearing said the law only applies to mandatory curriculum, not extracurriculars like GSAs.
Opponents against the law say educators are still confused about how far the law goes, and are scared to say anything that could cost them their license.
*Additionally, the Super Bowl on Sunday will feature former Iowa Hawkeye and northwest Iowa native Cooper DeJean, who plays for the Eagles
The Eagles are playing the Chiefs in New Orleans.
DeJean is a rookie having an impressive season. He grew up in the small town of Odebolt in Sac County.
His former high school coach and longtime Chiefs fan, Larry Allen, says the whole community is proud of what DeJean has accomplished.
Allen says DeJean has always been motivated by being overlooked because he played football for a small school district.
“Just such a humble young man. Nothing fake about him. The kid that you would want your daughter to bring home, just everything about him is just so true. What you see is what you get. He doesn't put on a facade or anything like that, and, just a quiet and humble young man,” Allen said.
*Two historic buildings in downtown Sioux City were originally set to be demolished on Tuesday. However the demolition was stopped that same day due to public concern.
Sioux City Councilmember Dan Moore told Siouxland Public Media that the demolition project was put on hold for a two week period, “so that we as a city could see what portions if any of the demolition site could be saved and not demolished,”
A City of Sioux City press release previously said an engineering study showed the buildings pose a danger to the public. One of the buildings in the 600 block of Douglas Street is the former longtime KCAU television building.
Sioux City Councilmember Alex Watters said a developer and other partners came forward with a potential plan to save 615 Douglas for redevelopment. Additionally, they hope to save the original façade wall on the east side of 625 Douglas.
