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dzԹ Leadership Announcements

dzԹ Leadership Announcements

Grant Wood Area Education Agency is pleased to announce several additions and changes to its leadership team

Bill Poock will join dzԹ as a director of teaching and learning.Bill currently serves as the Mid-Prairie West Elementary school principal and Mid-Prairie Community School District preschool director.

He also has served as elementary curriculum coordinator and K-4 learning strategist with the College Community School District, and has taught in 4th and 6th grade classrooms.

Tracy Liebermann has been promoted within dzԹ and also will become a director of teaching and learning. Tracy has been a regional administrator at dzԹ since 2012, and has worked extensively with the state and dzԹ staff on social emotional behavioral health efforts. Previously Tracy also worked in our agency as a special education facilitator and school psychologist.

In their new positions, Bill and Tracy will provide leadership for the implementation and operation of effective educational programs, and will support staff in their delivery and evaluation of agency programs and services.

Nicole Brown will be joining the agency as the professional development coordinator. Nicole is currently the teaching and learning coordinator for Mississippi Bend AEA, and has worked in both administrative and consultant roles with the AEA since 2009. Nicole also has experience as a K-12 curriculum director, an assistant elementary principal, and as a classroom teacher.

In her new position Nicole will coordinate professional learning opportunities for educators to enhance their skills and practices to improve student learning.

Megan Clark,Julie Stoneking, and Kristi Hickswill be joining the agency as regional administrators.

Megan is currently Iowa City Community School District’s assistant director of special education, a position she's held since 2018. Megan also has worked with the Iowa City Community School District as a secondary special education lead support teacher and an instructional design strategist. She also has worked as an elementary special education teacher in the Iowa City and West Branch school districts.

Julie is currently the K-6 virtual learning administrator for the Muscatine Community School District. Her past experiences include working as an elementary school principal, curriculum leader, instructional coach and classroom teacher.

Kristi Hicks currently works as the Associate Director of Students Services at Linn-Mar in Marion, IA. Recently, we honored Kristi as the2020 PBIS person of the yeardue to her work in establishing district leadership teams that supported PBIS implementation.

As regional administrators, Megan, Julie, and Kristiwill serve as liaisons for school districts to GWAEA programs, services, and staff, and help connect districts with AEA staff, programs and services.

“We look forward to a more typical academic year,” commented Chief AdministratorJohn Speer,”and to continuing our work with our districts with these exciting additions on our AEA leadership team.”

All positions have been approved by the dzԹ Board of Directors, and will become effective July 1, 2021.