Central Lee School District retirees were recognized recently by the school board,
Kim Myers
Superintendent Dr. Andy Crozier said Myers served the district for 24 years as a special education teacher.
“About five or six years ago she moved from the elementary to the high school and has really been a rock for that special education department at the high school and, and really is a phenomenal teacher,” Crozier said. “She’s going to be hard one to replace. And obviously, she teaches our most needy kids at the high school so we want to congratulate Kim and wish her nothing but the best in her future and for her many years of service to Central Lee schools.”
Kyle Van Ausdall
Van Ausdall served the district for 22 years.
He started out in business and then made a transition to teaching in 2002. He has worked at both the middle school and the high school.
“He’s done a number of odd jobs around the district including being a district tech support alongside Kris Brewer. You’ve caught him on the radio doing play by play on the HawkCast,” Crozier said. “He did a lot of things here at Central Lee. Not only that he served on several committees for Mrs. Herdrich at the high school and he was an advocate for the Central Lee Education Association. He got the pleasure of meeting with me monthly to talk about labor management issues within the district and was always a strong advocate for not only the kids here and the teachers but the school district as a whole.”
The majority of his career, Crozier said, Van Ausdall taught business at the high school.
“Kyle’s thing that he’s most proud about is his financial literacy courses. He’s leveraged experts in the field to bring the most relevant topics to our kids in the classroom. And make sure they’re well prepared to be good citizens with their money when they leave Central Lee schools,” he said. “Because of his work in financial literacy, we made a board action about six years ago to require financial literacy as a graduation requirement. The state has since followed through with that. Now it’s a requirement everywhere, but Kyle led the way in financial literacy while here at Central Lee. So among that and all the other things that you’ve contributed we congratulate you, Kyle, and we wish you the absolute best in your retirement.”
Julie Kropf
Kropf has served the district for 27 years, with the majority being in kindergarten with the youngest learners.
“The thing I’ll say about kindergarten teachers is we look at test scores, we look at diagnostic data here at the board level. We spend a lot of time looking at third through 11th grade. There’s often times where we’ll celebrate high achievement scores in third, fourth and fifth grade,” Crozier said. “We don’t always give credit to the work that kindergarten, first and second grade teachers do. But Julie has been one of those kindergarten teachers who works tirelessly to make sure every kid learns to read in kindergarten and is prepared to score high on their student achievement test later on in school.”
Kropf runs a well-managed classroom, Crozier said, and kids are behaved and ready to learn from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Paul Kropf
Paul Kropf is married to Julie. Crozier said Paul’s plaque says 28 years, but he’s served for more than 30 years, as he was a coach and a paraprofessional before his long career as a physical education teacher.
“Paul got teased pretty hard at the retirement reception so I’m not going to do that to him today. But he is one of the few remaining staff members that taught me and coached me when I was in school here at Central Lee, probably some of you, as well as board members,” Crozier said. “We’ve heard his empty threats about doing boot camp. One of the things I talked about with Paul at the retirement reception was that I am particularly just really proud of him because with his teaching he makes PE a very serious subject. I mean, I think we’ve all been through teachers where PE has not been serious. It’s let’s go play games and dress out, you know, and get back in your clothes and then go on with your day. But when I was in his class, and even to this day, they take quizzes, they take tests, they review content.”
On top of that, Crozier said, Kropf brought new programs to the physical education department.
“I love walking into his classroom and they’re doing archery. That stuff doesn’t happen if Paul Kropf’s not in this district. Paul is always looking for new things to broaden his curriculum,” he said. “Each year, even up till this year, he was continuing to look at how to bring new things to enhance the PE class for our high school students. I talked about how kids really respect him. And you saw that on the last day, because I’m standing by him and there are multiple kids coming up and giving him a hug, from our athletes to our musicians, to you know, our most at-risk kids.”
Fort Madison Middle School Principal Kim Ensminger shared a story about Paul Kropf.
“Paul comes off as being a goofy guy, but he’s got a big heart because I remember when I taught at the high school, there was a student that had cerebral palsy,” she said. “That student wanted to walk across the stage without his crutches and Paul worked with him and worked with him until he could do it.”
Sandy Meierotto
Meierotto, the district’s school business official and board secretary has served the district for 28 years. She started at the high school and then came to the district office in the early 2000s.
“She has seen and heard it all in this district in her role as SPO and board secretary,” Crozier said. “Obviously she has spent countless hours here beyond just the regular time, which you guys see from a board meeting perspective, but if you come around spring break, Christmas break, you’ll see Sandy’s car here. She’s just getting tasks completed to make sure this district continues running and make sure people get paid, the bills get paid, which we all can respect and appreciate here at the district.”
Crozier said her job has expanded greatly over her time with the district.
“She could probably give you a list of responsibilities that the Department of Ed has added to school business officials’ plates over the many years,” he said. “She does it like it’s just part of her normal day, but it’s certainly a tall task to complete each day. So Sandy on behalf of the Board of Education and administration. I want to thank you for your 28 years.”
