BRIAN KOENIG
CITY/TOWN: Logan
CANDIDATE FOR: Logan-Magnolia School Board
EXPLAIN WHO YOU ARE: I’ve been married to my wife, BobbiAnn, for 17 years and have two daughters, Claire (12) and Kate (9), and we reside in Logan. I currently serve as the school board president and as a volunteer football coach. I work at Koley Jessen, a large law firm in Omaha with over 130 attorneys, and oversee the firm as a member of the firm’s five-person executive committee. Previously, I served as a judicial law clerk to the Nebraska Supreme Court. I graduated from Creighton University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Simpson College, and received my high school diploma from Logan-Magnolia. I serve as a governing board member of my church, Christ Community Church, and as a founding board member of the largest nonprofit counseling center in the Midwest, CityCare Counseling, which has more than 60 counselors. During the day, I help clients win high-stakes disputes and solve complex problems. During the evening, I can be found volunteering or following my kids around in their various activities.
WHY DID YOU RUN FOR THIS POSITION? I firmly believe that the school is our communities’ greatest asset, and I want to ensure that Logan-Magnolia continues to provide a high-quality educational experience that affords all students the foundation to achieve success in whatever post-high school endeavors they pursue, while maintaining a high degree of respect for the taxpayers of the district. I want to finish the upgrades to our facilities, ensuring the existing bond funds are used to complete the updates to our science classrooms and labs, and the updates meet the needs of our students. I want the needs of our students and staff continue to be met in all areas, continuing to provide an environment that is attractive to students and top-quality administrators and staff. because people are what matters most. Attracting and retaining top-quality staff and administrators is becoming more difficult and requires competitive compensation, high-quality physical facilities, a great culture, and innovative programs. Logan-Magnolia has been extremely fortunate to have quality staff and administrators, and needs to continue to attract and retain top-quality people and continue to look for ways to improve. While Logan-Magnolia continues to rank at the top of Harrison County in proficiency in the State of Iowa’s standardized testing, we look for continued improvement and should never become complacent.
WHAT FROM YOUR BACKGROUND QUALIFIES YOU FOR THIS POSITION? I have experience in this position and a proven track record. I served in this position for the previous four years, the last two as president, and oversaw the successful construction of the elementary classroom addition, new parking lot, Hall of Champions, and Panther-Dome, all the while keeping our district’s tax levy below the state average and less than both Missouri Valley and Woodbine. I also led the charge to hire Mr. Hedger and helped craft the District’s new mission and vision statements. I am a graduate of Leadership Omaha and have corporate executive and board-level leadership experience from my time (a) serving on Koley Jessen’s executive committee that oversees the 130+ attorney law firm, (b) serving on Christ Community Church’s governing board for 11 years, and (c) serving as a founding board member of CityCare Counseling, the largest non-profit counseling center in Omaha, for the past 10 years. As a Logan-Magnolia graduate, and a parent of two children currently in the district, I draw on my (and my children’s) experiences, including those from my 22 years as a volunteer high school football coach and 12 years as a volunteer youth coach.
WHAT ARE YOU GOALS IF ELECTED? My goal is to fulfill the new vision and mission statements adopted by the district while maintaining a reasonable tax levy.
Vision: To be the premier school in the region, by providing an environment in which students and staff become the best version of themselves.
Mission: Inspire student growth through high-quality academics and activities.
The school board should ensure that every student is provided a baseline education that affords them the opportunity to have success in life. That will look different for each student. Not every student will go to college, but all students should be provided opportunities that enable them to be the best version of themselves. That should be our collective goal.
To achieve this goal, we must ensure: that we continue to attract high-quality staff and administrators, providing high-quality academics and activities, that our culture and facilities compare favorably to others, and that we adopt fiscally-sound budgets and policy and align our resources (people, time, and money) to achieve our goal.
More specifically, we need to (a) continue to evaluate our existing programs and curriculum for their effectiveness - adopt new curriculum and programs where necessary, (b) complete the planned renovations to our science classrooms and labs with our existing bond funds, (c) build partnerships with the community and donors to assist in funding other facility improvements, including enhancements to our security, playground, and track, so as to avoid any need for another bond, (d) establish new board member orientation training to increase the effectiveness of our board, (e) monitor and hold our superintendent accountable to goals that fulfill the vision and mission through the use of quantitative and qualitative data; (f) communicate to the public clearly; and (g) foster an environment in which everyone is focused on providing our students the opportunity to be the best version of themselves and not on any hidden agendas.
