Superintendent John Cain.

In March 2022, John Cain was hired as superintendent to replace the outgoing Jared Smith. After a full year in his new role, Cain reflected during a Q&A Session.

For someone who might not know John Cain, how would you introduce yourself and inform them what your job is?

Personally, I grew up on a farm in Eastern Iowa near Preston and am the youngest of 8 children. My wife Kathy and I have three sons. Our oldest, Aaron, lives in Denver, Colo. Our middle son, Kameron, is in the process of moving to Des Moines. Our youngest, Keaton, lives in Cedar Rapids. We have four grandchildren. We enjoy time with our family, traveling and spending time outside.

As a first year superintendent, I spent time transitioning from life as a building leader to life as a District leader. A big piece of this is working with our school board, clarifying the vision of where we are and where we can be and building trust. Our students and families deserve our very best. In my first year, we accomplished many things related to school improvement. We have a community that needs our dedicated staff, our solid administrative team and our School Board as together we lead this effort. Our students are in good hands, now we need to dig in and get better as a system.

My tasks include supporting this work through guiding, supporting and evaluating our administrative team. Additionally, working with our directors to advance our efforts and goals is an aspect of my work. I anticipate year two will include meeting more with building level teams to support the work that we are engaged in and further build trust.

What has your journey in education looked like?

I have been an educator for all of my career. My mom was a teacher and I have two sisters that teach so teaching has always been in my family. As a teacher, I taught third and fifth grade in Clinton, IA for 12 years. From there, I moved into a K – 12 consultant position with the AEA. My first administrative job included being an elementary principal and K – 12 District Curriculum Director for Calamus Wheatland. Most recently, I served as an elementary principal with Bettendorf for 12 years. Last Spring, I was named South Tama County Superintendent; it has been a challenging and rewarding experience thus far.

When you were offered the job of superintendent at STC, what went through your mind. What emotions did you feel?

Excitement! Pride! Passion! Energy! My experiences prepared me to transition to the role of Superintendent. The first year moved fast. I am anticipating year two will slow down so I can deepen the work on a few areas like getting more connected with our community and further developing relationships with more of our staff.

Have you moved to the community, if so do you have some favorite places?

Yes, my wife and I purchased our home in Tama. However, we still own our Quad City home. We spend a lot of our time on the weekends with our grandkids. As far as favorite places, we have enjoyed many of the restaurants in town and in the area and are always looking for suggestions. We like being a short drive from Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

What big accomplishments come to mind with a year in the books?

All of our buildings completed the foundational work related to the Every Student Succeeds Act. The staff at all three buildings passionately put their improvement plans together as it relates to teaching and reaching all students. We will begin implementing this fall and it is a multi-year process.

We were able to get our district wide efforts related to school improvement up and running again following COVID. We will continue our efforts to involve community members in this process this year as well.

A third area is receiving our Stronger Connections Grant. This funding will allow us to provide much needed Social Emotional support within our community and professional development for our staff. A final area that is coming together is hiring a School Resource Officer for the District. Collaborating with the local police chiefs to make this happen and working with our Safety Committee for feedback along the way has been a rewarding experience.

What’s been challenging in this first year?

Adjusting to a new community, getting to know as many staff members and community members as possible, staying connected to students while being a superintendent and embedding school improvement processes. As I reflect on year one, our district has accomplished a lot to be proud of.

What are you excited about in the future for the district?

The middle school project

Future ready learning opportunities including student internships and community work based learning opportunities.

The growth of the Girls Wrestling Program

Our Professional Development Plans for 23 – 24

Implementing the Stronger Connections Grant

If needed, how can a community member get in contact with the district and you in particular?

Contact the administrative office and I would be happy to have a discussion. In addition, I invite community members to join one of our school improvement teams. Please contact the administrative office to learn more.

To wrap up, do you have any thank yous for anyone after a year as superintendent?

I’d like to thank the staff, the administrative team and the school board for being open to learning and growing. I’d like to thank the community for sending their children to South Tama and expecting quality opportunities for their children.