Lorenz hired as new Red Oak superintendent

 

 

The Red Oak Community School Board has announced Ron Lorenz has accepted its offer to serve as the next superintendent.

"I am excited to join such a tremendous group of people and look forward to working with every member of the school and community to make the Red Oak CSD the premier district in southwest Iowa,” Lorenz said.

Ron and his wife, Jill, have one son, Levi, who is a sophomore at the University of Iowa. Lorenz is completing his twentieth year in education leadership. During that time, he served as the secondary principal at the Mormon Trail Community School District, assistant middle school principal at the Ankeny Community School District, middle school principal and secondary curriculum coordinator at the Norwalk Community School District, and regional director and assistant director of special education at Heartland AEA 11. He is currently in his eighth year as the assistant superintendent at the Indianola Community School District.

Lorenz is a certified professional human capital leader in education, and has introduced new recruitment, hiring, on-boarding, and performance evaluation systems at Indianola, as well as serving as the lead negotiator for the district. Lorenz has been heavily involved with policy, strategic planning, curriculum, professional development, equity, school based mental health supports, special education, and Section 504 programming in his role as assistant superintendent.

Lorenz earned his Bachelor’s Degree in political science from Simpson College, a second BA in secondary education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a Master’s Degree in educational administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and an education specialist degree in educational leadership from Drake University.

From a field of 26 total applications, the school board narrowed the list to three finalists. Finalist interviews were conducted on Wednesday, April 15, and included a tour of community and district, an electronic interview with a mixed interview team consisting of various district stakeholders, and an interview with the board. The board reviewed all the feedback data provided by the interview team in closed session at the end of the process. Ultimately, the board moved forward in offering the position to Lorenz, which will be formally approved at a school board meeting next week.

Board President Bryce Johnson spoke for the members of the board, and said they were pleased with Lorenz’ hiring.

“Based on the community survey, we were very focused in finding a new superintendent who would check all the boxes on our desired qualifications. It was evident both during the Board interview and in reviewing feedback data from the mixed interview team, Ron checked all the boxes. He is a strong leader that has vast experience that will serve our district well. I would like to thank all the people who donated their time to participate in the electronic interviews with the finalists. Your involvement and feedback were invaluable in the process. We are excited to work with Ron and welcome him to the Tiger family,” said Johnson.

Lorenz will officially begin his duties on July 1. Grundmeyer Leader Services assisted the Board in the superintendent search.

We'll have comments from Lorenz in a future edition of the Red Oak Express.