New roster of principals ready to start at CCSD

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Charles City students returning to school this week will see some new faces as the district welcomes four new building administrators.

Joe Carney, Dan Phipps, Jeromiah Bliss and Susan Johnson are new to the district, taking on administration duties at Washington and Lincoln Elementary and the high school.

“I’m super excited,” said Washington Elementary Principal Joe Carney. “This is my first head principal job so I’m excited to get started.”

Growing up in Cedar Falls, Carney has taught a wide range of age groups and for the last two years has been the associate principal of Hansen Elementary along with working as a preschool coordinator for the Cedar Falls Community School District.

Carney said he is looking forward to his new position as Washington Elementary principal and working with the teaching staff to educate the pre-K through first grade classes.

“They’re already doing great things,” said Carney. “I just want to grease the skids and keep going.”

Carney said he is coming into the district with a focus on establishing relationships with the kids, making sure that his students feel comfortable in class.

“I think if we emphasize relationships, the test scores will come,” said Carney.

While taking on a principal job often comes with either relocation or a long commute, for Lincoln Elementary Principal Dan Phipps the new job will reduce his daily drive.

Previously serving as an assistant principal and athletic director in Mason City, Phipps has been living just outside of Charles City for years and jumped at the opportunity to take on a role in the district.

“Charles City has been that progressive district,” said Phipps. “They’re moving the needle and I was really attracted to that.”

Originally from Camanche area, Phipps has more than 20 years of experience in education, with stints of military service in between.

In Charles City, Phipps is looking forward to the implementation of the district’s new math curriculum.

“That will be huge this year,” he said.

Over at the high school, Principal Jeromiah Bliss and Associate Principal Susan Johnson said they are looking forward to meeting students and staff as they ready for the start of the school year.

Bliss, a native of Clarksville, has a background as a behavioral disorder teacher and has worked at Hampton-Dumont, North Tama and was most recently an assistant principal in Clear Lake. The opportunity to take on a job that was both close to home and utilized his experience was very alluring to him.

“The stars were aligned,” said Bliss. “What they were after, I had for a skill set.”

Joining Bliss at the high school is Associate Principal Johnson, who started her education career as an English teacher and has taught in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri at various points in her career. Most recently, Johnson has worked as the K-6 principal in North Tama, along with serving as the district’s technology director and ethics coordinator.

Having both worked in the North Tama district at the same time, Bliss and Johnson said they were excited to find out that they would again be working together in Charles City.

“It was awesome when we realized we were going to get paired back up,” said Bliss.

“Being able to work with somebody you know and trust and respect was a golden opportunity for me,” said Johnson.

With different backgrounds and experiences to draw from, the two educators are looking forward to teaming up to achieve their shared goals at Charles City High School.

“We really feel like we’ve got all the angles covered,” said Bliss. “It’s made the transition so much easier.”

Both Bliss and Johnson are eager to get started in the district and said they are impressed by the wide selection of programs and opportunities that the school has to offer its high school students.

“We’re excited,” said Johnson. “We’re pumped.”

Having new principals in three of the four district buildings this year is an unusual circumstance for the administrative staff. Typically there is an established hierarchy that new educators will come into, but in this case the new principals will have more opportunity to build from the ground up.

“It gives us a slate to unify initiatives,” said Phipps.

“We’re trying to build a new uniform team from pre-k through 12,” said Carney. “We want to make it uniform so that we’re all on the same page.”