Sims retires after 30 years with Red Oak District

As the new school year kicks off for the Red Oak Community School District, there will be one less familiar face in the hallways.
Earlier this year, Red Oak instructor Barb Sims called it a career after 30 years with the Red Oak District. A graduate of Urbandale High School, Sims spent two years teaching at New Market before joining the Red Oak District.
“An opening came up to teach sixth grade in Red Oak in 1993, and I took the job and have been here ever since,” Sims commented.
While a number of things drew her to being a teacher, Sims said her own parents were some of the biggest influences.
“My mom and dad were both teachers. My mom taught reading and language arts at Saydel, and my dad taught math and science at Urbandale, and they were at middle schools, so I’ve always had a fondness in my heart for middle school kids,” Sims said.
Still, Sims said she went to college to study science and geology to pursue being a geology major before deciding to pursue a career in education.
“I was in Geology Club at Northwest Missouri State University. We’d gone out to a lake and the club was doing some stuff with the elementary school. I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing in geology? These kids are a blast.’ So I changed my mind and went into teaching,” stated Sims.
While she grew up in Urbandale, Sims said she always felt a connection to Southwest Iowa and NWMSU.
“My mom and dad were both NWMSU grads, and my grandparents were from the Bedford area. I was already familiar with Southwest Iowa. It’s friendly down here, and a nice place to be,” said Sims.
Sims added she felt teaching at the middle school level was the best, and she really enjoyed doing so.
“If you do it right, the kids show their enthusiasm for learning. You can get them to use their brains and you can see it in their faces. That’s what made me want to teach older kids. At that age, they’re still kind of excited about school, and even if they’re not, you can get them excited again.”
Sims taught at the middle school for 12 years and had been taking classes in school administration before moving to another role as principal.
“I already had my master’s degree in administration, and I loved teaching in Red Oak and didn’t want to leave. I liked the people I worked with and the board. The principal at the middle school was leaving, and so I thought it would be good experience to apply for the principal’s job,” commented Sims. “I didn’t have anything to lose, as if I didn’t get it, I still loved my job. I went through the interview process and I got the job.”
Sims served as middle school principal for Red Oak for five years before moving to a new principal position.
“The principal at Washington Intermediate was leaving. There wasn’t really a curriculum director at Washington, and it was around the time the State of Iowa started doing the Iowa Core. I was the senior administrator at the time, and the superintendent at the time, Terry Schmidt, wanted me to serve as Washington Intermediate principal and do the duties of curriculum director,” advised Sims.
Sims served in that role for eight years before feeling a bit of burnout. She was considering a career change before an opportunity arose to stay with Red Oak.
In her role as an administrator, Sims said discipline was a focus, as teachers and administrators were limited in what they could do.
“My challenge as a principal was making connections with families, and making sure the teachers understood how important the connection with home was. You have to have the support from home.”
“It was around the time they were building the new building. At that point, I was only a year away from my rule of 88 for IPERS, and I wasn’t really ready to retire. I had applied for other positions but my heart wasn’t in it, it was with Red Oak. An opening came up for my former science position, so I decided to move to that position. Rather than finishing out my rule of 88, I stayed for five more years,” explained Sims. “I like to say it was divine intervention. That’s the only thing I can say. I prayed about it, and it came about. The job of principal just wasn’t as fulfilling as it was in the beginning.”
Despite serving collectively as a principal for 13 years, Sims said the transition back to teaching was extremely easy.
“I loved every second of it. I didn’t want to wait until I was done with the profession. When I do a job I put in 110% into it, to the point you could say I was a workaholic and missing things with my own family to do the best job I could teaching. This last year I was honored and humbled to receive the secondary teacher of the year and innovative teacher award, which kind of let me go out on top,” Sims said.
The biggest transition for Sims when it came to going back to teaching was working with Iowa Core, while making teaching relatable to students.
“We had Core curriculum mandated by the state that was way different. It was a scary thing for teachers to upset the apple cart and start over, and for me, as a science teacher, I never used a textbook per se. I pulled my information from various places and tried to relate to the kids as I was teaching. It was hard to teach a concept when the example is in California, and 99% couldn’t relate to it, so I would try to bring in whatever we were talking about into as close a proximity as I could,” Sims advised. “But as a teacher, with Core, I liked the challenge. I could understand where they were coming from and why they wanted the kids to learn the concepts. The challenge came with relating it to their world and figuring out why they’d need to know about it in the future.”
For Sims, one of the most rewarding things about her teaching career is the impression she’s made on the students.
“I’ve had kids come back who specifically remember something I did in the classroom or said to them that made an impact on them that sometimes I don’t even remember. I didn’t really realize what an impact I was having on everyone else, and it was humbling that they remember that. They come back to me as adults and tell me the things they remember. I always tried to keep that in mind when I returned to the classroom. Everything you do or say, you’re modeling it for the kids or providing support and you don’t even know it,” Sims commented.
Sims said as the Red Oak District begins the 2023-24 school year, she’ll miss the interaction she had with the kids.
“I’ll miss the daily contact and impact I had on the kids, and their beautiful smiles when they came in for the morning, and their happy chatter. My last day, we went out to the sports complex and played kickball and I had fun pitching for them and talking smack. I couldn’t have had a better last day than playing kickball. I’m going to miss that.
While there is a void, Sims said there are a number of things she’s been enjoying as she continues her retirement.
“I’ve been doing some traveling and hanging out with grandkids. I gave up a lot of time with my family as a teacher, and I’ve been enjoying spending more time with family. I have a couple of grandsons who are excited to spend time with grandma and grandpa. We took them to Colorado this summer, and they play sports so I’ve been able to go out and watch their games. Also, I’ve got a brand new backpack, so I’m going to be doing more hiking. We’ve also done some work on our house and have more to finish,” Sims stated.
Even though she’s retired, Sims added she hasn’t ruled out doing some more teaching in the future.
“My teaching license was up for renewal, and I went ahead and renewed it for the next five years, so that door is open. I started out substitute teaching after I graduated, so if the right thing came along, maybe. I haven’t closed the door,” Sims stated.
Sims had a message to pass along to anyone who may be on the fence about pursuing teaching as a profession.
“Teaching is not for the weak or the meek. You have to love kids and love what you do. If you’re on the fence, find places where you can volunteer and work with kids for a while and find out where your heart is. Jump in with both feet and if your heart is in it, go for it.”