Charles City School District hires Lundquist as interim superintendent

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City School District’s search for a new superintendent is over — for now.

The district announced Thursday that the school board has named Dr. Anne Lundquist as interim superintendent for the 2022-23 school year, effective July 1.

“There are number of wonderful projects and initiatives and good, solid work under way in Charles City,” Lundquist said Thursday. “I am confident that we can continue to ensure that good work meets with results and success.”

Lundquist is currently a second-grade teacher at Immaculate Conception Catholic School, where she started in 2020. She recently served as chief officer of academic services for the Ankeny Community School District (2017-2020). She also was superintendent of the Red Lake School District in Minnesota (2014-2017) and was a special program manager for the Minnesota Department of Education’s Regional Centers of Excellence (2012-2014).

Lundquist retired from Ankeny two years ago. She and her husband, Jim, had purchased some property in Charles City several years ago, with the intention to build a retirement home here. Their daughter, Jeanne Hansen, and her husband, Scott, have lived in Charles City for more than 10 years, and Lundquist thought the community would be an ideal place to retire.

“We love Charles City,” she said. “We love the size and we love the kind and welcoming people.”

When she saw that help was needed to teach grade school at Immaculate Conception last year, Lundquist jumped at the chance.

“My goal has always been simply to serve,” she said. “I want to serve, and I hope that I can make a difference.”

Lundquist received her Doctor of Education from Drake University. She also holds a Master of Science in Education and a Master of Art Education from Drake; a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Bachelor of Arts in Art from Graceland College in Lamoni.

She and her husband have two children, four grandchildren and one “grand-puppy.” One grandson is currently enrolled at Charles City Middle School. When Lundquist saw the interim superintendent position become available earlier this month, she said she became very interested.

“This is just a dynamic administrative team here at Charles City,” she said. “I know several of them personally, and I am also familiar with several of the board members. I decided to give this a shot, because we have a year ahead where we can continue to make a difference for kids.”

She will replace Mike Fisher, who resigned after four years in Charles City in order to take the position of superintendent in his home town of Oskaloosa. His employment in Charles City will officially end on June 30.

“I’m very excited,” said school board President Pat Rottinghaus. “I think she’ll be a great person on the job. We’re also excited to have the first woman superintendent in Charles City.”

Rottinghaus described Lundquist as “very data-driven and very transparent.” She said there was a consensus among the school board members and administrators, and strong agreement that Lundquist was the best fit for the position among the three interim finalists.

The school district is offering her a contract that will pay her $170,000 for the full school year. Rottinghaus said she would get the same benefits as a full-time ongoing superintendent. Her contract will need to be approved at the next school board meeting.

According to a press release from the school district, Lundquist’s areas of expertise include fiscal and budgetary management, district and school leadership development, organizational development, 21st century learning skills and program evaluation.

At Ankeny, she led the revision and reintroduction of the district’s strategic plan, implemented a revised principal evaluation system for 18 school leaders, and established quality indicator metrics for the district’s secondary schools.

The school district has been working with Grundmeyer Leader Services to conduct the interim superintendent search. The board and administrator interview teams conducted final interviews with each of the three finalists on Monday. The other two finalists interviewed were Joel Appelgate, current superintendent of the Oberlin Public Schools in northwest Kansas; and Joseph Brown, who has served as superintendent of the Fairmont Area Schools in Minnesota, and is currently interim superintendent of the Clear Creek Amana Community School District near Iowa City.

The initial search to hire a full-time ongoing superintendent came to a halt earlier this month when the board learned that three out of the four finalists it selected had accepted other jobs before even interviewing in Charles City. This prompted the board to direct Grundmeyer to search for interim candidates.

The board will re-open the process of searching for the next permanent district superintendent in November or December of this year. Rottinghaus said that Lundquist would be eligible to apply for the permanent position if she chooses to.