Iowa City School District officials announced the next principal of Northwest Junior High at the School Board meeting Tuesday evening.

Laura Cottrell most recently served as the assistant principal at Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago. Cottrell was also an English Teacher for 10 years at Curie.

The board unanimously approved her.

“Through her teaching and leadership experience, Laura has developed a strong understanding of the challenges many students face inside as well as outside the classroom,” Chief Human Resource Officer Chace Ramey said.

Cottrell’s current salary is yet to be determined; it will be in line with the average for the district.

“We look forward to her utilizing her skills and experience as she serves as the next instructional leader at Northwest Junior High,” Ramey said.

Cottrell will replacing Gregg Shoultz, who will move to West High as its new principal starting July 1.

The School Board also voted unanimously to change the community comment policy for board meetings.

The new policy states that community comment will now take place at the beginning of the meetings.

The time for community comment will be limited to one hour, with each speaker allotted four minutes to speak.

If there is more than an hour of community comment, the remainder will take place at the end of the meeting.

School Board President Chris Lynch said this will make it easier for those who usually do not speak to have enough time to comment.

— by Raphael Gefland