John Carver to lead the district’s transition to digital teaching and learning
Maury County Public Schools has brought John Carver, superintendent from Howard-Winneshiek Community School District in Iowa, on board as Chief Digital Learning Officer. The district announced today that Carver will serve Maury County Schools in a consulting capacity this semester as he retires from his current district and before he relocates early this summer to the Maury County area. He’ll provide leadership to make DIPLOMA (Digital Integration Plan for Learning on Mobile and Accessibility) operational and specifically work to embed technology into daily instruction. Carver has led the redesign of teaching and learning in two different school districts in Iowa and believes that DIPLOMA is the tipping point for the transformation of digital learning here.
“I have been following news out of MCPS for a while and I like what I see—both from the school board members and the leadership team; their commitment to digital transition is strong. My lessons learned and superintendent experience are right in sync with where Maury County Schools is headed, and I am eager to work alongside everyone there,” said Carver. He is currently superintendent of Howard-Winneshiek Community School District in Cresco, Iowa where he has served since 2012. He also served as superintendent at Van Meter Community Schools in Van Meter, Iowa for four years. Before that, he served as principal in districts throughout Iowa. In his previous posts, he empowered teachers to connect with systemic use of technology, which yielded learners who were able to take ownership in their learning and accelerate their learning.
Carver will be charged with leading the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment in relation to DIPLOMA. And, he will work with professional learning, resources, infrastructure, leadership capacity and community partnerships. He remarked about the new position, “It’s exciting to see kindergarteners through high school seniors move from the traditional classrooms to global connections. It makes them ready for their next step, whatever that looks like for that student.”
Dr. Chris Marczak, superintendent of Maury County Public Schools, shares Carver’s enthusiasm, “We’ve begun our DIPLOMA transition, but John is going to take us where we need to be. I’m very well acquainted with his work in the area of digital transformations for school districts. He’s put both of his [Iowa] school districts on the map by successfully creating a culture of creativity that resulted in innovation and achievement. We are ready to get started and are pleased to have him join our team.”
Carver has had several appointments by Iowa Governor Branstad and served on many state-level education work groups and committees. Carver received his Advanced Studies Certificate: Superintendent from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. His masters of science in Education and School Administration is from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He earned his bachelors of science with majors in history, political science and physical education from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
To follow news about Maury County Public Schools’ DIPLOMA, follow the Twitter page at @DIPLOMA_MCPS and the DIPLOMA website at http://www.diploma.cool/.
Visit Maury County Public Schools online at mauryk12.org, like MCPS on Facebook at facebook.com/maurycopublicschools, and follow the district on Twitter @maurycoschools
