New associate principal settles into Charles City School District

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

New Charles City Middle School Associate Principal Thomas Harskamp comes here from Nebraska, but he’s hoping the locals don’t hold that against him.

“I’m an Iowa guy who just got lost in Nebraska for about 17 years,” he laughed. “The Charles City staff has been pretty great for the month I’ve been a part of it.”

Harskamp is originally from Sioux Center, in northwest Iowa, and went to college at Buena Vista University, where he studied elementary education and minored in coaching. He played basketball for a couple of years and coached with the men’s basketball program at BV.

Previously dean of students at Marrs Magnet Middle School, in Omaha, Harskamp officially started work for the CCSD in July, one of three new administrators hired for the upcoming school year, along with new Superintendent Mike Fisher and new high school Principal Bryan Jurrens.

Harskamp succeeds Keith Reuter, who has accepted the K-12 principal position with the Clarksville Community School District.

“I love being a part of a team and having Mike (Fisher) as our leader, and having some people who have been around here a while,” he said. “The team of people that we’ve put together is pretty awesome.

“The amount of information I’ve been getting is a little overwhelming at times, but I think it’s great to have new people with fresh ideas and outlooks along with experienced people who know the history of Charles City as a town and as a school district.”

As dean of students at Marrs Magnet Middle School, Harskamp directed and maintained behavior plans for students, coached teachers and developed testing data to establish weekly academic targets for students. Before his leadership role in his Omaha-based middle school, he served as a middle school math and science teacher since 2001.

“My philosophy is every kid gets the opportunity to learn,” he said. “I’m going to teach them how to be a good person and figure out ways they can best learn.”

As associate principal, the discipline of students is one area which will often fall on Harskamp’s shoulders.

“I’ll be working with teachers to help the students,” he said. “One of the things we’re going to focus on is, ‘what’s best for kids?’ Not just some kids, but all kids.”

Harskamp said he believes an associate principal needs to be a leader in the building, and set an example as to how students should carry themselves, in school and in life.

Harskamp and his wife have two young children, a 2½-year-old boy and a 9-month-old girl, and they were primarily the reason for the move back to Iowa.

“Since we grew up in small town Iowa, we started looking at our kids, and we thought about where we wanted them to grow up, what type of environment,” he said.

Harskamp’s wife is also an educator, and was hired as an elementary principal at Wapsie Valley. They will live in Waverly and commute in opposite directions.

“It worked out so we’re both about 30 minutes from our employment,” Harskamp said.

He’s spent his first month here educating himself about his new workplace.

“I’m learning about Charles City,” Harskamp said. “Superintendent Mike Fisher has been a great leader in that realm of thinking outside the box when we’re dealing with different things. My passion is to help people, and so whatever that looks like, I’m going to learn the best way to serve Charles City Middle School staff and students.”