News : VSHS principal Johnson reflects on past 3 years as he leaves for Waukee

Kirk participating in the 2009 Homecoming Festivities Photos courtesy of Marcy Horst

Kirk Johnson in his Viking head courtesy of Melanie Davis

On Monday morning, one of his last days in Vinton, Kirk Johnson did the same thing he did in March of 2008 when he was hired as the principal of Vinton-Shellsburg High School: He spent some time in an interview with this reporter.

Kirk is leaving this week for his new job as the Waukee high school principal. His wife, Amy, will be Waukee's middle school principal. Kirk, a 1995 graduate of Tripoli High School earned his teaching degree from Northwestern College in western Iowa, then taught business and coached for a few years. He earned his Master's at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005, spent the summer at Waukee, doing his practicum, then went to Remsen-Union in western Iowa, where he was principal of the middle school before coming to Vinton-Shellsburg.

We met for coffee at the Fifth Street Koffee Haus (another one of the changes we have seen in Vinton over the past three years) as his black pickup with the familiar U of Iowa Captain Kirk license plate was getting a brake job at Koop's (another addition to Vinton since Johnson arrived). Kirk was dressed in casual getting-ready-to-move two hours away clothes: An orange T-shirt from the 2009 Iowa High School Baseball tournament and a well-worn New England Patriots cap, along with the college class ring from the school where he got his master's degree in school administration.

We talked about the changes the Vinton-Shellsburg district, and especially its high school, has seen since Johnson arrived in the middle of June 2008.

He was at his then-new job in Vinton the day that the flood was at its worst.

"We thought that maybe we should go to Theisen's to get some work clothes and help sand-bag," recalls the principal. At the time, however, there was no electricity in Vinton; even though the store was open, only cash transactions could be made.

But even while the water filled city streets, Kirk was looking toward September, wondering what the school could do to help students whose families were being affected by the flood.

Much of our Monday conversation focused on community and how that what happens around the school impacts what happens inside its classrooms.

One of Kirk's most challenging times as an administrator came in the weeks after he announced his plans to leave VSHS. A bomb threat. A fire involving six vehicles in the student parking lot. A bizarre rumor of a planned school shooting. A few other challenges that impacted individual students.

The hardest part, says Kirk, is not facing the specific challenges posed by these incidents.

Principals, says Kirk, are trained in how to handle many specific situations. The hardest thing, he says, is knowing how these things affect the students and their education. His main concern is how to help the students, including the students whose made bad choices, get through those difficult times.

Several times in recent months, he says, VSHS staff members were in "crisis mode," finding ways to help students through uniquely challenging situations that affected them at home and at school.

I do not usually approach my interviews with a list of questions resembling a test. I had a few things I wanted to ask Kirk first, assuming that his answers to the questions would lead me to more questions. (This is a great way to learn more than you expected on good days; on not-so-good days, it leads to very short interviews.)

My first question is one that, undoubtedly, dozens of students have wanted to ask Mr. Johnson since he first became a principal six years ago.

"Were you ever sent to the principal's office?"

Kirk laughs and says "No."

"I was a good kid in school, although I once had a government teacher that I did not always see eye-to-eye with," he recalls.

Kirk is a banker's son. When I asked what first inspired him to choose a career in education, he says he found the business and accounting classes very interesting as a sophomore in high school, and decided then he wanted to become a business teacher. As he progressed through high school, he recalls being inspired by a Tripoli principal, Randy Stanek (who is now the middle school principal at another WAMAC school, West Delaware).

I didn't bring my camera to our interview; I told Kirk I was hoping he had a favorite photo from his days at VSHS to share. He tells me he does not have his favorite photo with him, but he thinks there is one out there somewhere: He was at a pep rally and he wore the head of the Viking mascot costume.

"Sometimes, a principal just has to get a little bit wacky," he says with a laugh.

I ask Kirk what he thinks Waukee could learn from Vinton-Shellsburg.

He says V-S has done a great job of providing a variety of classes designed to reach all students, from the Tiny Vikes preschool to the engineering classes of the Project Lead the Way program to the new aqua-science curriculum being prepared for next year's students.

Kirk and Amy have bought a house right on the edge of the line that separates West Des Moines from Waukee. They will be moving this week with their pre-school age children, Karson and Amiah. Karson attended the Tiny Vikes preschool this year; Kirk said he can seen the way it helped his son develop. Although their children are young, Kirk says the move may be difficult for them.

"To them, Vinton is home," he says.

We talk about the differences between Waukee and Vinton-Shellsburg. Kirk says the districts are quite different but will share the same main challenge: The annual budget. And even thought Waukee is a suburb of Des Moines it has something in common with many of the smallest districts in Iowa: One of its buildings, says Kirk, is in the shadow of a grain bin.

Kirk says a few people have asked him why he is leaving after just three years. He said that the opportunity to go to Waukee, where he and his wife could serve as school administrators in the same city, was the kind of "open door" he has learned to recognize as an opportunity.

Waukee administrators who remembered working with Kirk in 2005 actually contacted him to see if he would be interested in returning. And when the Johnsons found out that there would be a possible opening for Amy, it made the offer seem even better. Still, said Kirk, leaving Vinton was not easy and anytime a change like this faces the Johnsons, it leads to many long discussions.

Also, Kirk says, he entered the education field to help as many students as possible.

By the year 2020, Waukee is expected to have up to 10,000 students. One of Johnson's first jobs will be to work with the other administrators and community members there to plan the exponential growth of the district.

That is what Kirk actually did in Waukee in 2005, while doing his practicum. He helped the Waukee high school principal (who retired a couple years later) re-design the high school there. Because of the fast-growing student body, Waukee changed its high school from a grade 9-12 system to a 10-12 system, with the freshmen attending a separate building for ninth grade.

"I actually helped reconfigure the building where I will now be working," he said Monday.

I run out of questions. The 9 a.m. bells from Wesley United Methodist Church (which the Johnsons have attended the past three years) are ringing, as Kirk and I stand outside the Koffee Haus after our interview. The bells are playing "Onward Christian Soldiers." Kirk remembers one more thing he has loved about Vinton-Shellsburg, and VSHS.

"About every two weeks, it seems, we have veterans coming to speak to our students," he says.

In the past three years, Kirk has seen students raise money for Honor Flights, participate in annual Veterans Day ceremonies and hear countless stories from those who served their country, from World War II to the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. He helped a recent graduate connect with his girlfriend during Prom.

Kirk hopes the connection between VSHS and local veterans continues and says he hopes the school will hold a dedication ceremony for a U.S. flag recently donated by a family of another recent VSHS graduate who has served in Iraq.

And even though Waukee is halfway across Iowa, and in different class based on population, it's quite possible that Vinton-Shellsburg families may see Kirk around sometime. One of the successful programs at Waukee is its Jazz Band, which like Vinton-Shellsburg, participated in the 2010 and 2011 Jazz Championships, finishing second last year and third this year.