Principal from Hiatt School in Des Moines Named to Lead Johnston's Summit Middle School

Come July there will be a new leader at .

The Johnston school board approved the hiring of Joy Wiebers as principal for the sixth- and seventh-grade building during Monday's meeting.

Weibers will take over for current principal Linda Hansen, who started at Summit during the 2006-07 school year. Hansen will retire at the end of this school year.

Weibers comes to Johnston after serving as principal at Hiatt Middle School in the Des Moines Public School District since 2009.

Previously, Weibers served as school improvement leader at Hiatt from 2009-10 and was elementary released dean of students at Garton Elementary School in the Des Moines Public School District from 2007 to 2009.

The search for a new principal started with 51 applicants for the position. That number was pared down to 10, then four candidates met with a team of administrators, board members, teachers, parents and students for the interview process.

"I feel very confident we hired a competent individual," Jim Casey, associate superintendent said during Monday's board meeting.

Board president Marci Cordaro called the process interesting.

"We came to some very good conclusions," she said. "We had excellent candidates. She will be a great addition."

From 2005 to 2007, Weibers served as a special education support teacher in the Des Moines school district. From 2003 to 2005 she served as an autism teacher at Brubaker Elementary. From 2001 to 2003, she served as a third- to fifth-grade resource room teacher at Oak Park Elementary School in Des Moines.

Weibers received a masters of science in education in educational leadership, pre k-12 principal/special education supervisor license, and current evaluator approval from Drake University in 2007.

She revived a bachelor of arts in elementary education with certifications in K-6 multi-categorical resource and K-6 reading from Central College.

The board also approved the hire of Julie Dalbey as the school nurse for Summit Middle School beginning July 1. Dalbey will replace Barb Allen, who is retiring this year.