Cerro Gordo Superintendent Robinson Honored on Retirement

ROBINSON CELEBRATION. Superintendent Brett Robinson was honored last Friday evening as he is set to retire at the end of this school year after 20 years with the Cerro Gordo School District. Pictured are (front row) Debbie Greenwood, current board member; Angela Miller, current board member, Todd Henricks, past board president; Tracy Mogged, past board member; and Karen Freese, current board president. (Back row) Tony Piraino, former board president; Rodd Runyen, current board member; Superintendent Brett Robinson; and Dan Mogged, past board member.

It was a special evening Friday as Superintendent Brett Robinson was the guest of honor at an Open House at the Cerro Gordo American Legion. Robinson will retire June 30 after 20 years with the Cerro Gordo School District.

The celebration included remembrances by former school board members Todd Henricks and Tony Piranio. Former board president Henricks remarked, “Brett’s leadership kept us in the black even during the lack of state funding and COVID.”

The staff presentation was made by Principal’s Jodi Neaveill and Brandon Willard along with the school board presentation by Debbie Greenwood and Angela Miller. Grade school principal Jodi Neavill wrote the following acrostic poem and read it to

Brett on what his leadership has meant to her:

SUPERINTENDENT

S=Supportive

U=Upstanding

P=Positive

E=Encouraging

R=Resilient

I=Impartial

N=Nurturing

T=Trustworthy

E=Effective

N=Noteworthy

D=Dedicated

E=Empathetic

N=Number-one

T=Timeless

Karen Freese, current board president, ended the evening thanking everyone for attending the event to honor Brett and his accomplishments at Cerro Gordo schools. She stated, “What a legacy he leaves behind – – he has set our district up for success for many years into the future. I want to thank Brett for that, as well as his patience, expertise, and mentorship of both board and staff members. I think he has an encyclopedic knowledge of school policy and for all that we are grateful. We wish him many years of happiness and health.”

Robinson started his career at Cerro Gordo as the high school principal from 2003-2005. Dr. Leonard Bogle was superintendent during that time. From 2005-2006 he was CGHS Principal/Assistant Superintendent to interim Superintendent Ron Black and he then became superintendent from 2006 to present.

During his time at Cerro Gordo, a new grade school was built in 2004 and the junior high and senior high school went through an extensive renovation project. The renovation was possible by the passage of an $8M referendum in April 2017.  The project began in 2018 and was mostly complete in 2019.  The brick refacing project for the 1962 CGHS gym/cafeteria portion of the school which fully connected the buildings, took place in 2021.

Superintendent Robinson commented he was ready for this next step in his life and plans on spending more time enjoying life with his family and traveling. Some of those travel plans will include attending their daughter Paige’s Dallas Wings WNBA games.

“In my 20 years as a Cerro Gordo Bronco, I have been blessed to work with many excellent educators, support staff, parents, board and community members in providing the students of Cerro Gordo with the highest quality education in ‘top of the line’ facilities.  Cerro Gordo truly is a great community and school district!”, he stated.

Dr. Emily Weidner will be the district’s new superintendent effective July 1.