Smith named superintendent at AGWSR

For all of the stress associated with starting a new job, the most daunting task currently facing incoming AGWSR Superintendent Erik Smith is finding a place to live.
           
“That’s the big issue,” he said. “I think we’ll have our house (in Clarion) sold here (soon), and we’ve just got to find one to move into.”
           
Smith, a Sumner native who spent the last two years as a high school principal at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, is commuting from his old house and learning the ropes at his first superintendent job after being announced as the successor to Marty Jimmerson on June 28. His teaching career began at Don Bosco in 2004 and has since led him to Nashua-Plainfield and C-G-D, and he saw AGWSR as a way to get closer to his Cedar Valley roots (his wife grew up in Waverly) while moving up professionally.
           
“I like the smaller school atmosphere,” he said. “Just kind of knowing about the district and looking at some of the financials, it was in a good place, pretty strong financially… It’s a place that seemed to have a good strong foundation.”
           
He also mentioned leaving his interview with a favorable impression of a school board that would allow him flexibility to do his job and a sense of pride among the Cougar faithful.
           
AGWSR’s large geographical territory and rural location are both challenges and opportunities for Smith, and he plans to be an advocate for school funding—whether it manifests itself through Supplemental State Aid (SSA), transportation equity or other sources. Although he can’t provide a definitive blueprint for which issues he’ll address immediately, he’ll keep an open ear on how to improve the district moving forward. 
 
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