Having been a teacher, a principal, a deputy superintendent and even an employee in the custodial department while a student, the only jobs Nancy Sebring says she hasn’t done in the school system are food service and bus driving. These diverse perspectives, along with an undergraduate degree from Iowa State University in English education, a master of arts in secondary teaching and administration with a specialty in curriculum and instruction and a doctorate in education from Drake University, give Sebring a strong understanding of how the school system functions. After working in Colorado for about 10 years, she looks forward to returning to her home state, where she first taught 30 years ago, to lead the Des Moines school district.

How did you end up in education?

My mother was a teacher, and I had several relatives that were teachers and school administrators. I think from about the time I was old enough to walk, my mom was encouraging my two sisters and me to become teachers.

What do you like about being a superintendent instead of teaching?

What is wonderful about teaching is the direct contact and involvement with students. When you leave the classroom, you miss that terribly. What I like about the superintendence is there are very few positions in the school district where your job is to look at how all the parts go together.

How did you end up in Colorado?

My husband is a veterinarian and he’s always done research and development. He was offered a job in Fort Collins that he wanted to pursue, so the kids and I packed our bags and went with him. I never thought that I would ever leave Iowa, but it was a terrific opportunity for me to look at education in a different part of the country where the laws are different and schools are a little bit different.

What is the greatest challenge the Des Moines school district faces right now?

The greatest challenge facing all school districts is using resources effectively – human resources, financial resources and assets that you have as a district. Somewhere there’s a balancing act on what’s the appropriate amount of resources to support a program or effort. Although I know educational funding increases every year, so does everything else. The cost of gasoline increases, teachers’ salaries increase, diversity of our student population increases, so in the grand scheme of things, the education offered in America is really still a pretty good bargain. Trying to maximize our efforts with limited resources is always challenging.

What is one goal you would like to accomplish this year?

To have a thorough understanding of our programs. What do we have in place? What partnerships are we involved in with the community? What resources do we access or could we access to be a part of the larger picture of the future of Des Moines?

How do you want the community to perceive you?

I hope they see me as approachable.

What is your greatest fear?

Education tends to be a political hot button, and so often as a school district, we’re put in situations where we have to react to new legislation or an issue that we have very little input into or an opportunity to plan for, so I fear that bureaucracy will get larger and more cumbersome and draw resources away from the classroom.

What do you like most about Iowa?

The people. They’re very supportive of education and have a real belief that education works in Iowa and it’s a community effort.

What is your favorite book?

As a student and even as a teacher, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

What’s your favorite activity outside work?

When we moved to Colorado, we did a lot of skiing and traveling through state. Now that both kids are grown, we don’t do as much. We always spent a week in summer at Lake Okoboji even though we lived in Colorado. We didn’t this summer because our daughter’s a sophomore at Front Range Community College in Denver and our son, who graduated as a chemical engineer, just got married and is working in Fort Collins, so it’s harder to find time where all four of us are really available to spend a whole week together. We’ve had a lot of family activities instead.

Any other hobbies?

As part of my job, I really like to go to school activities. One of my favorite things is football games.

– By Sarah Bzdega