Ohio's Dahms Chose IndianaLEESBURG - It could have been Ohio for Leesburg Elementary School Principal Randy Dahms.
Now, however, he's in his third year at Leesburg and looking forward to the new school building scheduled to be open for the 2010-11 school year.
Originally from Findlay, Ohio, Randy went to Heritage Christian School. His mother taught there, his aunt and grandmother also were teachers, so was his father for awhile.Randy graduated from Grace College in Winona Lake. While there, he discovered how great Warsaw is, and met his future wife, Brenn, he said. She also was an education major.
Randy is a big Ohio State Buckeyes fan. Brenn and Randy talked and prayed about where to settle down once they got married. They looked at both Ohio and Indiana. Whoever landed a job first, that's where they would move.
Randy got a job at Benton Elementary in the Fairfield school district.
Indiana it was.
While Randy was at Benton, Brenn got a job at Akron Elementary before moving over to Jefferson Elementary. The town of Leesburg was in the middle of their two jobs, so the Dahms bought a home there.
After teaching three years at Benton, Randy had to make another tough decision. To stay at Benton or take a job offer at Jefferson? He made the change to Jefferson.
"I admit I fell in love with it," Randy said of Jefferson.
While making photocopies at Jefferson one day, Randy saw a posting for an administrative internship for one year. Already working toward his master's degree in administration, Randy decided to go for it.
For one year Randy did the internship under Harrison Principal Randy Polston and Jefferson Principal Dennis Duncan. He saw he liked the work, but he also saw the impact both men made.
"That really influenced me in a big way," Randy said.
After the internship, Randy taught third grade. He then landed a job as the principal at Westview Elementary in Shipshewana.
A year passed, and Randy knew the drive from Leesburg to Westview was a haul. Westview was wonderful, he said, but he never got to see his two daughters enough. The Dahms faced another decision - should they move closer to Westview?
Then the Leesburg Elementary principal position became open. Having found home in Leesburg, Randy applied for the Leesburg job, and he was hired.
"This is our home here. This is our community. I've come to love the community so much," he said.
Randy chose to become a principal because of the impact he felt he could have in that position.
"It's hard because, as a teacher, you directly impact the kids and I miss that about teaching," he said. "It really is a calling. In life, people can purchase things, but when we do pass eventually, what impact have we left behind?"
During his internship with Polston and Duncan, he saw how a principal may not have a direct impact on students, but principals do make a different kind of impact. They work with teachers, hire new teachers and get to see the impact the teachers have on students.
As for challenges, Randy told a story about an incident that happened over the summer.
"One time in the summer I stopped in the school to work. I talked to a girl who said she missed school. When I asked her why, she said at school she gets breakfast and lunch," Randy said.
Another challenge is the constant changes.
"Education is constantly changing. To stay in front of it and constantly improve is a lot of work, but the benefit is that it works," said Randy.
Leesburg will get a whole new school when the construction is completed for the 2010-11 school year. Until then, the old school is a bit of a challenge.
Students get about 20 minutes for lunch in the small cafeteria. There are only two bathrooms for girls, and two for boys, so bathroom breaks have to be scheduled. Some learning has to take place in rooms that weren't meant to be classrooms.
Randy said Leesburg is doing the best it can and will continue to do so wherever they are. The school students, faculty and staff are excited about the new building.
Some of the programs Leesburg has implemented are the Positive Behavior Intervention Systems and Readers and Writers Workshops. Leesburg is carefully looking at its core standards this year, especially math, Randy said.
Diana Davis is working with Leesburg to develop classes for Latina moms to learn English.
Fridays, Leesburg has the Friday Morning Moms program. Moms - and dads - can come in to the school at 9:30 a.m. and find out what's going on at the school. The next one is Friday at 9:30 a.m.
Randy knows how important it is for parents to know what is going on at their children's school. Randy and Brenn now have three children of their own. Cami, 8, is a second-grader at Leesburg. Cati is 3 years old, and Caleb is 1 year old.
"For me, personally, I want to provide for kids an environment that is safe, where they won't be bullied. And to offer them an education that is first class," he said.
