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The Cedar Rapids Community School District’s (CRCSD) didn’t have to look far in its search for a new superintendent. The Board of Education announced on Tuesday it has selected interim superintendent Noreen Bush for the job.
Bush will be the first woman to hold this position in the district’s history, and she is also the first internal hire for this position, according to a news release from the CRCSD.
“The offer to serve the students, staff and families of our great district is one I am deeply honored to accept,” Bush said. “There is so much we can celebrate, thanks to the work of our staff in collaboration with our families, and there is so much work yet to be done. It will be an honor and joy to steward this work as Superintendent of Schools.”
Bush attended school in Cedar Rapids, graduating from Jefferson High School. She joined the school district in 2017 after serving as director of secondary education and innovation in the College Community School District (which includes all schools “Prairie” in Linn, Johnson and Benton counties).
Bush was CRCSD deputy superintendent in 2019, when she was named to her current interim position following then-superintendent Brad Buck’s resignation. Buck left to take a job in the Waukee Community School District.
“Noreen is a visionary, a collaborator, an authentic and dynamic bridge-builder, acts with integrity and fairness, and is deeply invested in the success of all our students,” the board’s president Nancy Humbles said. “She is precisely what our students and staff, our district, and our community need in the next Superintendent.”
The plan was to hold a “more traditional superintendent search,” Humbles said, but it became clear Bush was “the right superintendent for our district at this time.”
“How lucky are we that she is already here?” Humbles said. “And the fact that she’s also a product of our school district is icing on the cake.” (Bush graduated from Jefferson High School, and attended elementary and middle school in the district.)
Bush is being hired on a three-year contract that will become effective July 1.
As interim, Bush was paid $176,800 annually, according to the Gazette. During the 2017-18 school year, Buck was paid $253,000.
Bush will formally be offered the job at the board’s Wednesday meeting.
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