‘It takes a village’

St. Thomas Aquinas school welcomes new principal

St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School welcomed a new principal this school year.

Principal Theresa Schleisman comes to the school with over 30 years of teaching experience and plenty of time working in administration.

A native of Ottumwa, Schleisman attended Indian Hills Community College and Northeast Missouri State University, which is now known as Truman State University, in Kirksville, Missouri.

"My first job was in Hampton, Iowa, and I was there for four years teaching middle school language arts and reading," she said. "I did some coaching at the high school level."

Schleisman then taught in Carlisle for seven years, while attending courses at Drake University on the weekends to earn a degree in administration.

She moved back to her hometown of Ottumwa to be an associate principal before eventually spending 18 years in administration in the Ames Community School District.

Schleisman found her way to St. Thomas Aquinas after she retired last year from Ames Middle School.

"I just did not want to stop doing something in education," she said.

After three decades working in Iowa public schools, it’s been a smooth transition for the principal.

"I’ve always believed in the parochial education and everything that goes with it," she said.

Being in charge of a building with students in preschool through sixth grade, the biggest change she’s had to deal with is the size of the school itself.

"In sixth, seventh and eighth grades for the last 13 years in Ames, each class has had about 350 students," Schleisman said. "So this is quite different because our total population, including the preschool, is like 105 to 110."

She actually enjoys the smaller class sizes at St. Thomas Aquinas.

"It’s awesome because I actually get to learn their names and build better relationships in a more expedient time," she said. "It doesn’t take as long."

Another change Schleisman likes is, being Catholic herself, that the school incorporates its religion into the classroom.

"We just practice our faith here each and every day, whether we’re doing the morning prayer, lunch prayer," she said. "We have mass once a week and our kids actually facilitate that, a grade at a time. We just had second graders in charge last Friday.

"Being able to talk about God and our faith and how it works in our daily life, including school life, I think that’s a plus."

As a first year principal at the school, Schleisman isn’t looking to "ride in on a horse and make a great number of changes."

"Part of me is concentrating on all the little things we already do and do well and what other things we can share and offer with our public to help convince them to come to St. Thomas," she said.

One small thing she has changed, however, was the school’s start-of-the-year parent meeting. In the past, it hadn’t always been really well attended, she said.

"So this year, we decided that one way to get parents here is to get kids here, and one way to get kids here is to serve ice cream," Schleisman said. "We’re hoping that increases attendance just by simply doing one little thing."

At the end of the school year, Schleisman said a successful year would mean the students and staff are safe and happy, test scores show every student has grown academically, there are more activities for parents to be involved in and more activities that involve ways to display what they believe in.

"I just feel blessed to get the opportunity to come here and to be part of this staff and the church, because it’s not that different than any other school environment, I don’t think, except it’s smaller," she said. "It doesn’t matter what size, you have to think about all the stakeholders and it’s going to take a village - I don’t care how big or small the school is - to help develop students to be the best version of themselves, physically, mentally and emotionally."