North Tama’s secondary principal Jeromiah Bliss (center) delivers his monthly report to members of the school board including Doug Dvorak (left) and Cheryl Popelka (right) as well as Superintendent David Hill (second from right) during the March 21 board meeting in the Jr. High Commons in Traer. Earlier in the meeting, Bliss’s resignation as the district’s 7-12 Principal was approved by the board effective at the end of the school year. –Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

For the second time in as many years, the North Tama County Community School District finds itself in need of a new secondary principal following the announcement that current 7-12 Principal Jeromiah Bliss will be resigning from the position at the end of this school year in order to take a job with Clear Lake Community Schools.

On Friday, March 4, Bliss announced to North Tama High School staff he would be leaving at school’s year end in order to take an administrative position in a different district.

At the March 21 board meeting, the North Tama Board of Education approved Bliss’s resignation as well as the resignation of his wife Melissa Bliss who currently works as North Tama High School’s family and consumer science teacher and reading interventionist.

Bliss was hired last summer as the high school principal following the resignation of Andrew Meister who had been North Tama’s secondary principal and activities director since 2018.

North Tama was Bliss’s first principalship – prior to coming to Traer, he was Hampton-Dumont Middle School’s student advocate and athletic director in Hampton, Iowa.

At their March 9 board meeting, the Clear Lake Community School District approved hiring Bliss for the 2022-2023 school year as the assistant high school principal. Clear Lake is a rural public school district located in Cerro Gordo County in far north central Iowa with an enrollment just under 1,375 students.

Following the North Tama school board meeting on March 21, Bliss told the Telegraph he plans to finish the 2021-2022 school year at North Tama with the “same vigor” as he began the year.

“[I am] profoundly grateful to have been chosen for the position of 7-12 Principal at North Tama for the 2021-2022 school year,” Bliss said. “My decision to leave the district was not an easy choice by any means and carries a lot of weight for me as a professional, person, husband, and as a father to my two daughters.”

Bliss described the decision as a “make or break” decision for him as an administrator.

“The administrative world is small, and as such, you have to prove your value and worth,” Bliss said. “To leave after a year doesn’t do much for that if I don’t do something with it. That is just the bottom line. So, I plan to go to Clear Lake [High School] and become a better leader for staff and students.”

Bliss said the decision to take the North Tama High School principalship as a first-time administrator put a great deal of stress on his young family.

“As a husband and a father, being a first-time administrator has come at the expense of a lot of my family time. I knew that coming in, but you never truly know until you are ‘in it’,” Bliss said. “Shutting down my principal side is extremely tough to do, as my family wants a piece of me, and yet, so does everyone else’s family in the district. That is also a reality that comes with the territory of ‘not knowing what you don’t know until you know it.'”

In his new position, Bliss will not be the only administrator responsible for student learning in his assigned building which was a factor in taking the Clear Lake job, he said.

“I will not be the only administrator making decisions for the students of Clear Lake,” Bliss said. “There will be another [administrator] at my direct level, as well as four additional principals at the elementary and middle school levels in that district. I feel strongly that for me, personally, that will assist me in many areas as an administrator.”

The Bliss family is actively seeking to buy a home in the Clear Lake area, Bliss said. Melissa Bliss has taken a position in the nearby Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock School District as their family and consumer science teacher for the 2022-2023 school year, while the couple’s two daughters attend Clear Lake.

“In the end, it is a tough thing to make a decision that is best for you as a person when you know that your decisions affect so many other lives,” Bliss said, “and yet, at the end of the day, if you don’t do what is best for you, who will? That is the unfortunate aspect of being a servant leader.”

North Tama’s 7-12 Principal position was posted on Teach Iowa on March 4. The application deadline for the position closed Sunday, March 27.