ANKENY, Iowa — A survey from Forbes.com shows that the Ankeny Community School District was ranked No. 11 on the “Best Employer in Iowa for 2025” list that came out in September.

The ranking also includes national companies that have branches in Iowa; so, out of Iowa-based companies, Ankeny School ranks No. 7.

Ankeny Schools Superintendent Dr. Erick Pruitt said that the ranking is due to the culture and leadership at all levels in the district.

“We have leadership from the classroom up to the district office, and that includes our teacher leaders, our paraprofessional leaders, our leaders in the nutrition staff, even our operations teams,” Pruitt said. “We have leaders all across the school district in Ankeny that contribute to the positive culture that we have here in the Ankeny Community School District.”

Pruitt also stated that last year, they hired a third-party firm, Culture Amp, to assess the culture of employees within the district. He said that the firm comes up with specialized survey questions, then the survey gets sent to all employees in the school. Culture Amp then gathers the results and comes up with detailed plans and a strategy for the district to strengthen and improve culture in some areas.

Pruitt also holds office hours at every building within the district. These hours are for staff, including teachers, custodians, nutrition staff, and anyone else who needs to talk.