West Des Moines Survey Asks What Qualifications Next Valley High Principal Should Have

WEST DES MOINES, IA — A search firm will help the West Des Moines School Board find the next principal of Valley High School and the community's input is sought on what characteristics should be stressed in finding the right person for the job. A survey is available online.

The Valley position will become vacant when Principal Tim Miller retires at the end of the school year. The school board hired Grundmeyer Leader Search to help in filling the position and they began a search immediately with the goal of having a new leader selected by February.

School officials said the feedback of students, parents, staff and others connected with the district is valuable in determining what qualifications are most important for the position to ensure the person selected for the job is a good fit for the school district.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from West Des Moines Patch, or click here to find your local Iowa Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Miller has been the principal at Valley since 2014. He was a special education teacher in Waterloo and coached baseball and football there before moving to the Des Moines district to coach football at Lincoln High School. He became Lincoln's athletic director in 1992 and in 1998 became vice principal of Brody Middle School. A year later he was named principal of Stilwell Junior High School in West Des Moines and he continued in that role for 15 years.

In the West Des Moines district Miller has been involved in the development of the district’s Essentials of Effective Instruction (EEI), which provides a framework for effective instructional practices.

The survey asks people to choose five qualifications from a provided list and explain why they are important. It also asks for feedback about the position and what advice the respondent would give to the new administrator. To complete a survey, click here.

Image from West Des Moines schools