90s18 Transitions

My first day on the job at Longfellow was July 1, 1993. I like the idea of being at a school named after a poet. I thought it would set a nice tone for the building.

For the first month and a half I commuted from our home southeast of Sperry. It was an 85-mile trip each way and took about an hour and a half. I enjoyed the ride. I had a flat tire once near Mt. Union but got it fixed and was on my way fairly quickly. Another time a pheasant jumped up and slammed into the rider’s side mirror. It was shattered!

I spent most of my time trying to familiarize myself with the building, the neighborhood, and the district. I read about everything in the office I could get my hands on and studied the student directory. I wanted to know as much as possible about the school.

During the day several people would stop in. I was welcomed by visits from other building administrators and people from the central office. The person I replaced, Marian Coleman, gave me a tour of the district. The city administrator even stopped in to welcome me to the community. I was amazed at how supportive everyone seemed to be.

I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the building. It was as old as some of the buildings I had worked in but in much better shape. It was clear the district valued the property. I was used to districts letting older buildings decay by neglect.

I was surprised at the lack of technology in the building. Coming from Mediapolis, Waco and before that Mt. Pleasant where every classroom had a computer it was a shock to come to a building where there was only one computer and it was on the secretary’s desk. I had expected Iowa City to be way ahead in every way but that definitely was not the case when it came to technology.

During those summer days in July I did two storytelling sessions for Longfellow students in the neighborhood. It was a good way for students and a few parents to meet me. The superintendent even came to one of the sessions. I also stayed at the building three evenings to meet students and parents.

One day I took some extra time after lunch, walked around downtown Iowa City and just savored being there. It was a dream come true to be working in Iowa City. I felt blessed.
It was something I had heard talked about many times among educators. It was known as a premier district and good salaries. Many of my colleagues envied me.

The staff hosted a barbeque for Becky and I at one of their homes. It was fun and we got to meet several of them. Becky met with a local realtor and he showed her some places we could live. Housing prices were sky high in Iowa City and we wondered how we could ever afford anything in town.

Eventually, we settled on a new apartment on the corner of Scott Boulevard and Court Street. It was small, 900 sq. feet, but we thought we could make it work for a while. We also rented a garage off of Bowery Street for our boat and some of other stuff.