Jenn Peter is wrapping up her first year as superintendent of the Belmond-Klemme School District.
Peter took over for Chris Bergman, who was serving on an interim basis during the 2023-24 school year. Peter worked as a regional administrator with Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency before taking the superintendent position at B-K and tells RadioOnTheGo News enrollment is steady heading into 2025-26.
“It has been full of joy and it has been very welcoming community. Lots of great things happening in Belmond-Klemme that I’m super excited about and I’m ready for year number two. This year we had 609 that we served and looks like we have a pretty large kindergarten class coming in. So that’s always good when that happens. But next year our senior class is going to have 72 in it, which is a pretty large class for us. So after that, we’re going to probably really have some issues with enrollment.”
Peter says like most school districts, B-K is looking to fill some positions ahead of the next school year.
“We do need an industrial tech teacher and that’s always a difficult position to fill. And then we’ve had a science position open for several years that we’re still trying to get filled so that we can have chemistry and physics in district. Right now we are sharing with Mason City. Mason City will send a teacher virtually to us for the kids to take some chemistry classes. When I was first looking for an elementary teaching position, there would be like two or 300 people applying for one job and now for an elementary teaching position, you know, if we get eight, we’re pretty excited about it. So it’s changed a lot, a lot more of having to do what the employee needs us to do. We’re not necessarily always in the driver’s seat like we maybe used to be.”
The last day of school at Belmond-Klemme is May 30th.
