Spotts says goodbye
Nick Johansen
The Red Oak Express
Red Oak Schools administrator Jeff Spotts tenure at the district has come to a close.
The board accepted his resignation, effective immediately, at its meeting July 28. Spotts, who has been with the district since 2011, shared how he first became a part of Red Oak Schools.
“I came in as the activities director for the Red Oak District during summer of 2011, ahead of the 2011-2012 school year as the activities director and assistant principal. During that first summer, we had a mishap with the football coach, which created an opening. The day before camp started I was announced as the head football coach. I did that for two years, and in my second year we made the playoffs for the first time in school history. After that, I handed that program off to Barry Bower,” Spotts said.
Spotts said the decision to leave the district was not an easy one, but it came down to family.
“I have a chance to work in the same district my wife works in and my kids go to. We looked at everything. It was hard to say goodbye, but at the same time, it was easy. It was time to come home and be there for their activities. It’s good to be back home and be more involved in their activities than I had in the past.”
Spotts has joined the OABCIG School District, and will work at the high school in Ida Grove.
“For the first year, I’m going to be a mix between a guidance counselor and student services. I’ll be working with kids on their schedules, looking at their credits, careers, and doing some counseling,” said Spotts.
Spotts added he may get back into coaching, but for this first year, he’s going to get into the swing of things.
“The district has talked to me about some coaching opportunities, and I think I probably will. Since I’m working as a counselor and being in a student support role, I really want to know the kids. I’ve been gone long enough that I don’t know all the high schoolers like I used to. When it comes to coaching, I’d like to find something I can volunteer at and get out to practices and work with the kids so I get to know more about them so I can help them plan out their four years of high school and after,” commented Spotts.
While he’s happy to take on his new role in the OABCIG District, Spotts said there are plenty of things he’ll miss in Red Oak.
“The biggest thing I’ll miss is the kids. Whenever you’re in education, if you’re not in it for the kids, I don’t think you’re in it for the right reasons. I had so many good interactions with the kids ever since I’ve been there. You’re glad to see them graduate and move on, but it’s always a tough time because you’ve become so attached to them over the years you’ve gotten to know them. That’s going to be the hardest. The other thing I’ll miss is the people I worked with. There’s a community and family feeling at the school that will be very hard to replace,” Spotts said.
The move to OABCIG , Spotts said, has brought a lot of excitement to his family.
“We’ve lived in Ida Grove the whole time I was in Red Oak. For the past six years, I’ve packed up on Sunday and come home on Friday night or Saturday morning. To have me around full-time is exciting for them. They were really pushing for me to get to more of their events. I appreciated my time down in Red Oak and all the opportunities, and I’ll miss the Hawkeye Ten. It’s one of my all-time favorite conferences, but it will be nice to be at home.
Spotts expressed his appreciation to the community for the opportunity to work in the role that he did, and the school board and the staff.
“I really did appreciate everything we were able to do there. We had some good things and some bad things, and we tried to work on them all. It’s going to be hard not for me to think about the students and staff and not be emotional. They were my family the whole time I was down there.”