Main comparable, however smaller, faculty district ready finalist for Waterloo superintendent position | Training Information
WATERLOO — Jared Smith didn’t have to think long about whether he’d be up to the task of leading a racially and ethnically diverse district like Waterloo Community Schools, where the majority of students are from low-income families.
As superintendent of South Tama County Community Schools since 2018, he’s already doing that.
“Demographically, it’s almost identical,” he said in a phone interview. “When you look at socio-economic status, when you look at minority populations, when you look at English language learners, when you look at special education (it’s) nearly similar demographics.”
The 39-year-old is one of four superintendent finalists, all of whom will visit the district Thursday for a day of interviews. Smith, a one-time Waterloo Schools’ administrator, earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Iowa State University and a master’s degree from National Louis University.
Although it has only about 1,500 students, South Tama County Schools look a lot more like Waterloo Schools, with an enrollment of 10,100, than its similar-sized peers. White students are the largest racial group in both districts, but aren’t the majority with the percentage in the mid-40s, according to state data. The largest minority group of students is Hispanic in South Tama County, at 37%, and Black in Waterloo, at about 28%.
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Students from low-income families totaled 63% in South Tama and 73% in Waterloo. South Tama and Waterloo have around 15% and 11% English language learners and 15% and 17% special needs students, respectively.
Smith said other districts he has worked for also look more like Waterloo than small-town Iowa. Before coming to South Tama, he was principal for two years at Muscatine High School. He started his career as a high school math teacher in Sarasota, Florida, in 2004 and then moved on to teach fifth and sixth grades in Chicago Public Schools. In 2008, he began working as an assistant principal at Fort Dodge, serving Phillips and Fair Oaks middle schools.
After that, Smith was an assistant principal at Waterloo’s East High School from 2012 to 2016.
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He already had deep ties in the community, though. He grew up in Waterloo and graduated from West High School. He also earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa.
“So, I’m very familiar with the district,” said Smith, who would focus on the district’s culture and climate after a “challenging couple of years” due to COVID-19. In addition, “I’ve built a lot of relationships with staff members, with community members, with business owners – which makes the transition (to a new superintendent) easier.”
His connections to Waterloo were an important factor in deciding he wanted to seek the position.
“Living in a district, you just kind of build up that internal passion, desire to see the district do well, that internal motivation,” he said. If chosen, he is excited “to give back, to work with the students, work with the buildings that I was once in.”
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