West Central Valley High School has a new member of the administrative team.

Principal Dru McAnelly says that he received his administration degree in October, and feels he was fortunate to be offered the position. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio what made him decide he wanted to work in education.

“I grew up with two parents that were teachers. So I’ve just been around it my whole life. I actually went to college, started in sports management and just kind of quickly realized that the market for that wasn’t maybe great in the early 2000s. My dad was a high school coach. I think I thought I could probably find a job, maybe a lot easier than the sports management route. So after year one, I went into education and yeah, it’s been a great ride and that’s kind of what got me started in the education field.”

McAnelly mentions this is his 23rd year in education, as he spent five years as a middle school and high school physical education and health teacher at Carlisle, then 13 years at Ankeny in the same position, and two years still in Ankeny as their dropout prevention coordinator. He adds that he’s looking forward to becoming acquainted with the students, staff, and the community.