Henriksen is ready to set the pace for Mt. Pleasant School District

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

To say John Henriksen is excited to be back in the Mt. Pleasant Community School District is an understatement.

?It feels great,? said Mt. Pleasant?s new superintendent. ?I?ve said a hundred times, we moved to southeast Iowa, to Mt. Pleasant, 20 years ago and we fell in love with this community. It means a lot to me and my family to be back.?

Henriksen and his family made the move to Mt. Pleasant so he could work for the school district. At the end of his 10-year tenure he was the associate principal at the high school. It was at that time Henriksen and his family moved to the Central Lee School District, where he led the district as superintendent.

?That was a fantastic experience; it is a top-notch school district,? he said.

But as much as he enjoyed Central Lee, when the superintendent position at Mt. Pleasant opened up, he couldn?t say no. ?What a great opportunity and it?s great to be back here and to be able to serve this community again,? he said sitting in his office at the district?s new headquarters.

A new superintendent and new district offices are the only changes Mt. Pleasant is seeing this year.

?I think we?ve done a great job with hiring people to fill our administrative team,? he said.

Along with Henriksen, Katie Gavin was hired as the director of instruction and Brady McFarland is the information technology director. Nathan Lange was also selected to fill Jason Martinez? spot as principal at the Middle School.

?I like our team, (they?re) committed professional educators who are going to work hard for the students and work well with the parents and families,? he said.

Most recently, the Harlan/Salem Elementary principal resigned so Henriksen and his team were tasked with filling that position before school begins. ?Tyler Rodgers is going to fill in as an interim (principal). Tyler is fully certified and endorsed to be a principal and I think it will be a great opportunity for him,? said Henriksen. ?I think he?s going to do a really good job with it.?

Henriksen said he was excited to see Lange and Rodgers advance into principal roles. ?They have already worked with some of our families and those kinds of experiences are invaluable as we work to try and meet the needs of our kids,? he said.

But even with a superb team around him, Henriksen said there?s still a bit of trepidation with taking on a new role, even if it?s in a familiar district. ?It?s overwhelming to try and grasp everything that is going on in the district,? he admits. ?I know it will come; some of that stuff you just have to let come, but it is a little overwhelming.?

But that feeling hasn?t given him any pause. Henriksen said he is ready to hit the ground running this year.

?I?m excited to take some of the things we did well as a team in Central Lee and try to do some of those same things here,? he said.

One of those things is taking a systemic approach to decision making. ?Every building has it?s own issues, nuances. They are all their own individual entities, but when we make decisions we need to make them as a team and think about how they affect the system,? he explained.

Ultimately, a systemic approach is about thinking what is best for the students. ?When I say system, I (mean) our kids,? he said. ?That?s why we exist. It?s why we do what we do.?

Besides thinking in a systemic way, Henriksen said one of his goals is to try and rebuild some of the bridges in the community.

?The district has come through some challenging times the last few years, building and rebuilding relationships and culture is challenging and it happens over time.?

Looking at the short-term, Henriksen said this year he would like to work on the culture of the school district. ?I want to build good culture and teamwork within my team,? he said.

Henriksen said he believes the best and most impactful way he can affect the classrooms is through his work with the administrators.

?That?s what I see my role as, really working with the principals so they can work with their teachers to provide good instruction and affect the classrooms,? he said.

?I want to get to the point where we?re viewing instruction together, we?re talking about instruction, and ultimately we?re doing the same with teachers so throughout the district we know what good instruction looks like,? he elaborated. ?We can identify it, and we can give good feedback to teachers about their instruction so they can become better at what they do. ?

With school beginning tomorrow, Henriksen said he is excited to not only settle into his new role, but also see what the district can do and where it can go.

?I?m excited to serve kids and families with the highest quality instruction that we can.?