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Outgoing Linn-Mar school board members have combined 97 years with the district
Clark Weaver and Sondra Nelson were teachers in the district before serving two terms on the Linn-Mar school board
Grace King
Nov. 24, 2023 3:48 am
MARION — Two outgoing Linn-Mar school board members are saying goodbye to their positions after a combined almost 100 years of service having started as teachers in the then-fledgling district in the 1970s.
Now-former school board members Clark Weaver and Sondra Nelson opted not to run for re-election in November after each served two four-year terms on the board. They have led the district through a pandemic and derecho, approved new strategic and facility plans, hired two new superintendents and led through political controversy during their time on the school board.
Weaver, 73, said he chose not to run for re-election because he wanted someone younger with new, vibrant ideas to have a chance at the board table.
“It’s the hardest decision I think I’ve made in my life to give that up,” Weaver said as he held back tears.
Weaver had never been to Marion before interviewing for a job in 1974 at the Linn-Mar Community School District, which had opened as the Marion Rural Independent School almost 30 years earlier. Marion Rural became Linn-Mar in 1959.
The district has come a long way since then, said Weaver, whose time on the board included the passage of a $55 million school bond referendum for the construction of two new intermediate schools — Boulder Peak and Hazel Point — which opened in the fall of 2020.
Weaver taught physical education and health at Linn-Mar High School, retiring in 2008 and continuing to substitute teach. He earned his master’s degree in counseling and guidance in 1978 from Truman State University in Missouri.
Weaver also coached boys track for 35 years, girls volleyball for 15 years and was an assistant boys wrestling coach for eight years.
“One of the things I’m really proud of is seeing a person at 18 years old crossing the stage with their whole life ahead of them,” Weaver said, referring to high school graduation.
Nelson, 70, began teaching second grade at Bowman Woods Elementary School in 1975 — a position she held until her retirement in 2015.
Nelson said when she graduated from Mount Mercy University with a degree in education, teaching jobs were competitive. She thought she could set herself apart by applying to Linn-Mar, a newer school district at the time in need of teachers, she said.
After reaching retirement age, Nelson said she stayed with the district as a teacher for another seven years because she wasn’t ready to leave.
The years passed “quickly,” she said. “It was a very positive experience. I wouldn’t do anything differently.”
Both Weaver and Nelson said they initially ran for school board because they still wanted to be a part of Linn-Mar in retirement.
“I wanted to give back,” said Weaver, who was vice president of the school board for the last two years. “I wasn’t done. That’s what motivated me to run.”
Nelson, who was school board president for four years, said she cares about the educators, teachers and students and wanted to be a part of the decisions made that would impact the future.
During her eight years on the board, Nelson said she missed only one school board meeting. That was last month when she was on vacation.
“When I decide to do something, I put everything into it,” Nelson said. “Not everyone has agreed with my decisions, and I understand that. There were a lot of people who weren’t as vocal who did (agree). I think we have to do the best we can.”
The board faced backlash from some members of the local and state community in 2022 — and later from some Republican presidential candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott — when it adopted a policy that allowed students to create a “gender support plan.” The plans gave students a framework through which teachers and peers would address a student by a new name and new pronouns. The policy left it up to the students whether to notify parents of the plan.
An organization called Parents Defending Education filed a lawsuit against the school district, alleging that the policy violated students' right to free speech. And earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature passed and Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 496, which requires school districts to inform parents if students request to use pronouns different from their sex assigned at birth.
In September, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Parents Defending Freedom, granting a preliminary injunction because it said the policy was too vague in its definition of “respect.” The court also ruled that it violated the First Amendment right to free speech.
In the school board elections Nov. 7, Linn-Mar school board newcomers Justin Foss and Katie Lowe Lancaster were elected to Weaver’s and Nelson’s seats. In this move, voters rejected openly conservative candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty, a conservative political organization that advocates against school curriculum discussing LGBTQ rights or race and ethnicity. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights watchdog, identified the nationwide nonprofit as an extremist group earlier this year.
“I thought it was a resounding win,” Weaver said of the school board election. “I know they’re going to do extremely well.”
Nelson and Weaver worry about the future of teaching with thousands fewer people going into the profession each year.
“I don’t like politics mixing in with the things we’re trying to do for young people … It keeps getting worse. You have a few people trying to score political points by getting involved in education,” Weaver said.
“Teachers don’t get enough credit for what they do and the many ways students rely on them for help, not just with academics, but as that teacher they can talk to. There’s not enough credit given to teachers for how well they connect to students,” Weaver said.
Expectations of teachers has always been high, Nelson said.
“Let’s be truthful, the payscale for teachers is not great,” said Nelson, adding she has “always been glad” she got a master’s degree from the University of Iowa during her career. “Many teachers have to go that far to get a wage that is reasonable.”
“You plan and you punt all the time,” Nelson said. “The thing about teaching is you’re never done learning, and you don’t ever want to be done learning. I could not have taught second grade for all those years and done things the same way I did the first year.”
Linn-Mar Associate Superintendent Bob Read coached boys track with Weaver from 1992-2008 and had Weaver as a physical education teacher in 1983 as a student at Linn-Mar High School.
He recalls Weaver being a “very personable” teacher who set “high standards for his athletes.”
Both Weaver and Nelson “have served our district so well,” Read said. “Both are wonderful leaders, teachers and student advocates.”
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com