People Column

After 12 years on the school board in Clinton, Iowa, LaMetta Wynn wanted to do something different. So she ran for mayor--and won, becoming in the process the first black female mayor in the state's history.

Ms. Wynn, 62, said last week that after more than a decade on the 5,000-student district's board, the past three years as its president, it was simply time for a change. "I thought maybe new people needed to be on the board."

Ms. Wynn added that she wanted to make changes for all the city's 29,000 residents. "I felt we needed leadership," she said, "and that...