Rowlands retiring

Ervin Rowlands

A respected, longtime area educator has decided to retire at the conclusion of this school year.

Ervin "Erv" Rowlands is known as a strong leader who offers students, staff, board and community members 100 percent. The 34-year educator's working philosophy has always been to do what he can for young people in the communities he's served.

Rowlands comes by it naturally.

The Ruthven-Ayrshire superintendent, elementary principal and curriculum director was reared in a family of educators. His father served as a northwest Iowa teacher and superintendent. Rowlands also had a number of aunts and uncles involved in education as instructors.

In order to pursue his desired vocation, Rowlands graduated from Buena Vista College with a social studies major and education/physical education minor. He was hired in 1976 to teach in Everly, before it consolidated and became today's Clay Central-Everly.

After earning his master's in administration from Northwest Missouri State, Rowlands was hired as a teacher and coach at Ruthven-Ayrshire in 1985. Three years later, he was named principal. He became the district's superintendent in the fall of 1998. Rowlands also served as a shared superintendent for the neighboring South Clay school district for a handful of years.

The school administrator qualifies for Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) benefits, and is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Ann, their children and grandchildren. The couple's children include: Shane Rowlands, a teacher and coach at Guthrie Center; Kelli Keefer, a Ruthven-Ayrshire teacher; Katie Rowlands, a Buena Vista University student and full-time Fridley Theaters employee in Des Moines; and Andrew Rowlands, a Wayne State sophomore.

"It's just been, for me personally, a very rewarding experience," Rowlands reflected on his years of service in Clay and Palo Alto counties. "It's the kids, the parents and the communities that make that possible. The people in Everly, Gillett Grove, Webb, Dickens, Ruthven and Ayrshire are the ones who have made this possible for me -- and given me the opportunity to work with their kids and young people in their communities."

While Ruthven-Ayrshire school board members approved his early retirement request during a Nov. 10 meeting, Rowlands admitted it was a hard decision to make.

"I still enjoy working with the parts of the job that include the staff and the kids. Young people are fun to be around. In working with the board and the community, they've been very supportive of the school here in Ruthven-Ayrshire," Rowlands said. "But, there are some things that are making it a little more unattractive right now. The big one is the financial headaches. I won't miss that.

"Every year, it seems like more and more time is spent on the financial difficulties the state of Iowa is facing and how they're funding education. They're making it a little more difficult to have flexibility or local control on how a district spends its resources. They're taking away bits of our freedom to do some things that made it possible to meet needs, I think, at the local level -- where we could identify a need and get the funding or resources to address it."

The retiring Ruthven-Ayrshire superintendent also said he won't miss the amount of paperwork and accountability that's become synonymous with a school administrator's position.

"I don't mind doing it," Rowlands said. "But if I had a choice to be out working with staff and kids, I'd prefer to do that over filing another report on the accountability side of it."

Meanwhile, advance notice of his early retirement, effective June 30, 2010, will allow Ruthven-Ayrshire board members time to explore options on filling the district's superintendent role. Their alternatives include hiring a full-time replacement, sharing an administrator with a neighboring district or sharing with another district further away.

While Rowlands has been asked to assist with the upcoming hiring process of his successor, Ruthven-Ayrshire board members are anticipated to meet Dec. 14 to begin setting a timeline.

"I don't know what I'm going to do come July, but I am looking for something to do. My wife has told me I can't sit at home all day," Rowlands said with a chuckle.

"Since I've been involved with education, approximately every 10 years or so I've done something different, which kind of refreshed me. It's been 10 years now with this, and it won't hurt me to do something a little different," he added. "I do kind of look forward to that opportunity of starting something new and giving it a shot, too."