Meet a Waukee Candidate: Kurt Hiatt

On Sept. 13, Waukee area voters will decide who should serve on the Waukee school board.

There are three seats up for grabs in the election. Susan Bunz, Larry Lyon and Jerry Ripperger are all in the race to keep their seats on the board, while newcomers Todd Dohrmann, Kurt Hiatt and Rob Thelen hope to replace them.

Today on Waukee Patch we profile the last of six candidates running for the Waukee school board.

Name: Kurt Hiatt

Age: 52

Occupation: Retirement compliance officer

Address: 30999 T Ave., Adel

E-mail: jkhiatt@gmail.com

Kurt Hiatt says he's running for Waukee School Board because he wants to be a voice for other parents in the district.

"When the whole standards-based reporting started last year, I started attending meetings and listening to the frustrations of parents," he said. "At that time, a number of people asked me if I wanted to run for school board and in a moment of weakness, I said, 'yes.' I thought someone needed to be there to communicate their thoughts to the school board."

Hiatt, a father of twin daughters, Taylor and Ashley, 13, said his issue with standards-based reporting in Waukee Schools arose because the district didn't adequately communicate the issue to parents with children in the school district.

"As I started to hear from other parents, that was the key complaint," he said. "There have been some major communications issue in the district, even four to five years back. I could never understand why it wasn't better."

Hiatt says if he's elected Tuesday, he understands there will be a learning curve with the position. Despite that, he's ready to dig in and tackle the hard issues. The first thing, he says, is to investigate whether or not the Waukee school district needs a communications director in order to improve ties to parents.

"I would really have to see some justification for it," he said. "I don't know that that is the best solution. I don't know if you can really justify hiring a PR person when the district is lacking money and you may have to lay people off. I think before we do that, we need to have more parent involvement and get their feedback before it's decided."

Hiatt says in addition to the hiring of a communications person, he feels the board needs to focus on the concerns of parents when determining whether or not Waukee needs a second high school. With the current growth rate in the district, leaders would need to consider adding a second high school by 2018.