Petty

CONRAD — Longtime BCLUW Superintendent Ben Petty, who previously served in a shared role with GMG from 2011 to 2021, will soon take on a new split position with another area “alphabet soup” school district — AGWSR — beginning July 1.

At AGWSR, Petty will replace Erik Smith, who accepted the shared superintendency at New Hampton and Turkey Valley and will start there at the beginning of the new fiscal year. During his tenure, Smith was shared between AGWSR and Gladbrook-Reinbeck from the 2020-2021 school year until 2023, when the G-R board voted to terminate the agreement and eventually hired Caleb Bonjour as a full-time superintendent to replace him.

In an email to the T-R, Petty shared his thoughts regarding the opportunities and challenges of taking on another dual role.

“Shortly after their superintendent announced he was leaving for another position, AGWSR reached out to ask if I’d consider sharing. While I was admittedly a bit hesitant at first, after a few days to think it over and consult with my board leadership, I decided to start with a more informal visit with a couple of the BCLUW and AGWSR board members, then had some opportunities to meet with their full board and administrative group. It feels like it will be a good team to work with, there are a lot of positive things happening in their education programs, and the district sizes and demographics have a lot of similarities,” he said. “While some of my hesitancy was based on there being a lot happening at BCLUW over the next couple of years in regards to construction projects and planning for the consolidation into a two building format, I think we have a good team here at BCLUW as well to assist throughout that process. Besides cost sharing, the state has additional financial incentives for districts to share the position, and in a time of ongoing low levels of new state aid, it’s certainly a significant financial benefit for both districts.”

The Iowa Falls Times Citizen has reported that the agreement with Petty is for three fiscal years. The GMG school board voted to terminate its sharing arrangement with BCLUW back in 2021 and subsequently hired Kym Stein as a full-time superintendent. She officially resigned from the position in 2024, and former AEA Chief Executive Joel Pedersen and then retired former Superintendent Gary Sinclair filled the role on an interim basis before Chris Petersen was hired through a sharing agreement with Baxter.

AGWSR currently operates an elementary school in Ackley, an elementary/middle school in Wellsburg and a high school in Ackley (along with preschools in both communities), while BCLUW operates an elementary school in Conrad, a middle school in Union and a high school in Conrad. As part of current facilities improvement plans, the building in Union, the oldest of the three, is expected to close by the 2026-2027 school year. According to the latest figures from the Iowa Department of Education, AGWSR serves a total of 586.7 students, while BCLUW serves 442.3 students.