Johnson City offers Dr. Slater post

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison Superintendent Dr. Erin Slater has been chosen to be the next superintendent of the Johnson City, Tenn. school district.
That district voted Thursday to hire Slater, who has been at the Fort Madison Community School district helm since 2016.
Slater was one of three candidates identified by the Tennessee School Board Association for the position in Johnson City, a district about four times the size of Fort Madison.
According to the Johnson City Press in a copyrighted story Thursday,  a voting survey which had each board member pick their top two candidates resulted in a tie between Slater and another candidate, which prompted the school board to open a discussion, and Slater was eventually hired following a 6-1 vote.
Johnson City District board chairman Jonathan Kinnock said Slater was the best fit out of the final three candidates, in his opinion. Kinnick liked that Slater did not come from Tennessee and brought a different vision to the school district. Rick Smith, another school board member, said Slater's charisma was the reason he voted for her.
“I do believe Dr. Slater would be the best candidate based on her experience, the feedback from all levels of these surveys, and her charisma and presence. Because every meeting that I went to with the public, she made connections. That was noted by others and it was noted by myself,” Smith said.
According to the Press' article, the board finally came to a unanimous decision to offer Slater a total compensation package of $200,000, which included a salary of $185,000, a $9,000 car allowance, and a $6,000 deferred compensation. That package is less than the package she has with Fort Madison.
In September Slater received a contract extension and a pay increase from the Fort Madison school board. The extension set her base pay at $204,237 which was a 5.4% pay increase. She was also receiving $14,000 additional as compensation for a vacation buyback at $2,000 per day, making her total compensation $218,237 in Fort Madison.
Slater was nominated by peers and selected by the School Administrators of Iowa as a finalist for the 2025 Superintendent of the Year and she received the Iowa State Education Association TEAM Award in 2018. Slater also ushered in a $34 million facilities improvement for the district that resulted in the shuttering of Richardson and Lincoln Elementary schools and moving all students into two buildings - the preK-6 building on the city’s west side and the new Jr./Sr. High School.
Slater also navigated the school district through the COVID pandemic.
The Fort Madison district almost allowed her contract to expire in 2021 after some of the allegations surfaced about playing time demands for her son in the sports programs. But the district eventually reaffirmed her contract with an extension and a pay raise.
Slater came to Fort Madison from the Aurora, Illinois school district where she served as a teacher, assistant elementary principal, elementary principal, director of elementary education, and ultimately K-12 Curriculum Director.
“I am so grateful to have spent the last nine years serving the Fort Madison Community School District,” Slater said. “We now boast a state-of-the-art K-12 campus and we have retained and recruited the best teachers and administrators in the area. Along with hard work of community leaders to improve the city, such as the renovation of the marina and riverfront park, the FMCSD has become an incredible draw in the tri-state area to bring new families to Fort Madison.”
 Board president Josh Wykert said Slater will finish the year with the district.
“We want to thank Dr. Slater for all her tremendous work and leadership over the past nine years,” said Board President Josh Wykert. “In that time, we have made great strides in providing a truly exceptional educational experience to our students. While we are sad to see her go, we wish Dr. Slater the very best as she takes this next step in her career in educational leadership.”
Johnson City will officially vote on Slater's contract at an April board meeting.
The Fort Madison School Board will immediately begin the process of finding the  district's next superintendent.