Dianne Anderson said it's been a busy week for her first week on the job. The new East Marshall School District superintendent started Monday, taking over for Alan Meyer who retired at the end of June.
She arrives after working as superintendent for the Howard-Winneshiek School District in the northern Iowa town of Cresco.
Anderson said she has met with the school board to outline goals, both from the board and her own.
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Anderson
"It was partly me finding out about the board and their direction and them hearing my input," Anderson said.
Among her goals set early on are: improving student achievement, helping with the professional development of staff, strengthening community connections and boosting technology.
As far as community connections, Anderson wants to get more information in the newsletter and interact with the community at events.
"It we can't communicate well with our patrons, then they don't know what's going on and don't understand why decisions are made," Anderson said.
East Marshall has maintained steady student enrollment through the years, thanks to more than 200 students who live outside the district open enrolling into East Marshall. Although she has yet to do much research on this figure and how it affects East Marshall, Anderson does call it a feather in the cap for the district.
"It's a good thing for the district," Anderson said.
She said overall the district is in a good place, but does not want it to get stagnant.
"We want to continue that, and also we want to improve," Anderson said.