Q: Where are you from + what is your background?
A: “I grew up in North-central Iowa, Iowa Falls is where I graduated high school. I went to Wartburg College and majored in English education and a P.E. minor and taught and coached for a number of years. Then went to the University of Northern Iowa and got a Master’s in English Literature. I was an English teacher. Then went on to Drake University, got my specialist degree, and did my studying for Education Administration. I am retired and unretired, I’ve done that a couple of times here, and helping PCM out this year is an interim. My wife Cindy and I have been married almost 35 years and we have a couple of grown sons and three great-grandkids. I just enjoy being around schools and serving, I am also a pastor in church and have done ministry for a number of years.
Q: What brought you to PCM?
A: “Well, a couple of things that really helped with that are that I recently moved to Pella, the end of last March so I live close by, and that also I am a little less than full-time so this is flexible for me. The other thing that really brought me here was just being able to help out, to stay connected in education, as I interviewed with your school board and I told them that my goal was to just help them have a really good, smooth year and give them time to do a full superintendent search for a long-term replacement. As a recent retiree, I’m not quite ready to be in the rocking chair full-time, it’s good to contribute and feel like you’re serving a little bit of a purpose.”
Q: What’s been your favorite part so far at PCM?
A: “I’ve probably enjoyed the people the most, there are a lot of great people to work with on staff and I’ve made a point of getting out in the different school buildings. My office is in the preschool-2nd grade building so I get to see little kids every single day I am here. I also get over to Prairie City for the 3rd-5th grade building, middle school, as well as high school. I really enjoy getting in classrooms and interacting with students and seeing what they’re learning. So for me, education has always been about the people, that’s my favorite part.”
Q: What’s been your favorite classroom to observe so far, and why?
A: “I’ve been in just about every classroom. I didn’t really enjoy math that much as a student, so some of the math, especially upper-level math, went right over my head. I’ve enjoyed seeing some of the humanities, English and social studies, just because I can see things that I taught myself and that was kind of fun. Just recently I stopped in an exploratory classroom here at the high school when the eighth graders came over, it was pretty amazing to see the things they were making out of cardboard, just the creativity of that. So there have been quite a few but those would be the recent ones
Q: What’s been your initial thoughts of being a part of such a tight-knit community like PCM?
A: “I spent a good part of my education career in small, rural schools. I was at Pekin Community Schools with a Packwood, Iowa address in southeast Iowa for nineteen years and I had a tiny little school in northwest Missouri for two. So I spent twenty-one years in schools pretty similar to PCM so I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like. Our sons graduated from Pekin schools, very similar in size and also a tight-knit, small-town field. I’ve always been kind of a small-town guy. I served as an interim superintendent in Cedar Rapids for five months, that’s a whole different world and it reinforced that I really prefer the smaller schools. I was at Fairfield for five and Indianola for eight years, but even those places are bigger schools that have a small-town feel so that’s something I appreciate.”
Q: What do you hope to bring to PCM in your short time?
A: “I always want to leave things better than when I found them, so I’m looking at processes and procedures and anything we can tighten up a bit. I want to make sure our budget is in good shape, and that we support our students and our staff well. The biggest thing I can offer is just having a kind of calm presence for this year and buying the district time to do a full superintendent search. That really should be concluded by Christmas break so I’m looking forward to helping PCM hire a really good leader.”
Q: What’s been your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?
A: “I’ve gotten to travel to a few different places, not much traveling for a while but I’ve been to Hawaii a couple of times, Australia, spent 10 days in Argentina when I was in college. I got to go to Amsterdam and East and West Germany before the wall fell when there was still East Germany in 1987. Those have all been good memorable trips, I’ve been to Ireland a couple of times. I serve on a non-profit board called Many Hands for Haiti who does mission work in Haiti and Abaco. I’m going to have a few days in Abaco in the Bahamas here coming up too, so that’s going to be my most recent good trip. I like to travel, I’ve had some good opportunities.
Q: If you weren’t a superintendent at the moment, what would you be and why?
A: “Well I mentioned I pastor a little church so I’ve been in ministry for a while. I also work as an education consultant, I work for a firm called Grundmeyer Leadership Services that helps schools hire superintendents, principals, and business managers, so I do that work. And then I really enjoy being a part-time grandpa, we have a seven-year-old and a five-year-old grandson, and a two-year-old granddaughter, they get a lot of our time. An interesting little side light too, I love to buy antiques and collectibles, so I’ll go to auctions and things and then I set up and I’m a flea-market member, so you can check me out at a flea-market three times a year.”
