New CCHS principal wants to help Charles City stand out

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

New Charles City High School Principal Bryan Jurrens wants to help his new community stand out, in a good way.

“We need to put ourselves on the map,” he said. “We need people to see that Charles City is a pristine school district and a pristine town.”

As Jurrens spoke to members of the Charles City Lions Club at their weekly meeting on Friday, he was asked what he thought would be his biggest challenge in Charles City. He said, once he gets settled into his new surroundings and makes the transition, he wants Charles City to be a place that makes a positive impression upon the rest of the world.

“Whether that means bringing in jobs, or looking at what we can do in the schools, or just taking a different approach to something — we need people to see that Charles City stands out,” he said.

Jurrens is one of three new administrators who all started work in Charles City at the beginning of July. He succeeds Josh Johnson, who accepted a regional administrator position with the Central Rivers Area Education Agency.

Superintendent Mike Fisher and middle school Associate Administrator Thomas Harskamp also officially started work for the CCSD this month. Fisher previously served as principal at Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, while Harskamp was previously dean of students at Marrs Magnet Middle School, in Omaha.

So far, Jurrens said he’s simply trying to take it all in.

“I’m kind of just a big sponge right now, trying to absorb everything,” he said.

Getting to know his surroundings, as well as the talents of the teaching and support staff, are among his top priorities, he said.

“I’m a really big believer in empowering people. I want to be able to say, if you’re really good at this, I want to put you in charge of it, or I want to give you the tools necessary to be even better at it,” Jurrens said. “Right now I’m working on what I call reality checks. Where’s the reality of our building right now? Who are my leaders? What are you really good at?”

Jurrens previously served for eight years in the Waterloo Community School District, the last four as an administrator. His roles included serving as the administrator for the 9th Grade Academy, advanced placement and international baccalaureate classes, creation and management of school improvement plans, implementation of building-wide multi-tiered system of supports and building-wide data collection and analysis focused on equity.

His father, Jay Jurrens, is currently superintendent of schools in New Hampton.

The new principal is a small-town Iowa boy, growing up in Emmetsburg and graduating from Emmetsburg High School, where he played football and said he was involved in almost everything.

“I was a big jazz band guy. If you ever need a drummer, let me know,” he joked. “I learned to play drums well enough to not embarrass myself completely.”

After high school, he spent a year at Iowa Lakes Community College, then attended Wartburg College in Waverly. He had intentions of playing college football, but injuries convinced him to end those aspirations earlier than expected. He studied secondary science and middle school and elementary school education.

While in college he met his wife, also an educator as well as a Turkey Valley graduate from St. Lucas. They graduated, got married, and Jurrens started teaching eighth-grade science at Central Middle School in Waterloo out of college. They lived in Waverly and he commuted to Waterloo.

As he continued teaching, Jurrens said he saw himself in more of a leadership role, and took a principalship course out of Northern Iowa.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was what I wanted, it was my calling.”

He served as administrative assistant for two years and then as head assistant principal for the last two years. He and his wife have two kids — both boys — ages 5 and 2½. Jurrens said his family was at a place where they wanted to settle into a more permanent home.

“We started tossing around the ideas of where we want to be,” he said. “Unfortunately, when you work in one town and you live in another town, it’s hard to be connected, as a family, to either town. We really weren’t connected to Waverly and we really weren’t connected to Waterloo.”

Jurrens saw the job opening in Charles City and everything seemed right, he said. When he received the job offer, he took a tour of the city with his family that very afternoon.

“By that night, it was an easy decision for us,” he said. “Charles City was the place we wanted to be, and the place we wanted our kids to be.”

Jurrens told the Lions Club that he encourages people to let him know of any events or meetings he could attend where he could communicate with the community.

“I have a passion for meeting people and getting to know people in the community,” he said. “I need more meetings or events like these to get to know people.”

He said he’d spent a couple days at the Floyd County Fair.

“I was out there this morning eating pancakes — not because they’re free — because it gave me a chance to get to know some people,” Jurrens said. “So give me a call — that’s the best way to build partnerships in the community.”