Pella Community’s superintendent, Greg Ebeling, was named the Iowa Superintendent of the Year by the School Administrators of Iowa. Each year, each state names a state superintendent of the year. Ebeling was nominated by his peers as the Iowa Superintendent of the Year for 2018. In late summer/early fall, he went through an application and interview process. He was named in October. The governor of Iowa will present him the award in the spring.

“[The award] is very humbling. It’s really the cumulative work of all kinds of different people. I’ve got a lot of really good educators around me that do great work. The teachers work hard. We’ve got a lot of people leading programs and a lot of people that do a lot of great thinking. I just help facilitate all that and make sure that we keep forward thinking and keep focused on what our vision is. In the end, it feels like a recognition of a lot of hard work that a lot of people do,” said Ebeling.

Ebeling is on his seventh year at the Pella School District since coming here in 2011. Prior to this, Ebeling was the superintendent of Spencer Community Schools. Ebeling began teaching as a middle school math teacher in Oskaloosa in 1991. Currently, as the Pella superintendent, Ebeling is the “conduit between the school board and the teachers and staff.”

“The school board are the elected officials, and so I work directly for them. I help organize and do all the different things that have to be done in the school system,” explained Ebeling.

Ebeling’s favorite part of being the Pella Superintendent is getting see the accomplishments of students, whether it is in the fine arts program, in sports, or elsewhere. While Ebeling is grateful for his award, he does want to draw attention to the work that many people do in the district.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” said Ebeling. “But, honestly, there’s a lot of people that do a lot of good work around here that deserve equal recognition.”