A Personal Perspective on Des Moines Public Schools
A few days ago, a letter in the Register claimed that Des Moines Public Schools is a national embarrassment with a rotten core of leadership. I have no idea what that contributor’s experience with Des Moines Public Schools is or was, but I can tell you about mine.
In 2001, I began my brief teaching career in Des Moines at Wallace Elementary, where I served as a reading specialist for students in third through fifth grade. I didn’t stay long because I had my first baby and decided to stay home, but in my time at Wallace, I worked with a great principal and hardworking, dedicated teachers, many of whom are still doing the good work today in Des Moines. When that first baby of mine started kindergarten, we were welcomed into the family of the Downtown School in Des Moines Public Schools. For the next 13 years, our four kids discovered a true love of learning and school because of the brilliant teachers and an inclusive school community they were lucky enough to be immersed in.
There were opportunities to become musicians, artists, public speakers, and advocates for their own learning. Our first principal there was someone who knew my children by name, showed up every day for his students and school, and is someone I’m still in contact with.
Later, at Callanan Middle School, my children had more teachers and administrators who made them feel special, challenged them, and celebrated them. The school was diverse in every way, and my kids experienced firsthand the many different religions, languages, families, and cultures that made up the student body there. We were proud to be a part of it.
At Roosevelt, Central Academy, and Central Campus, my kids continued to grow into the human beings they were meant to become. Thankfully, these schools provided them with a safe space to be exactly and authentically themselves. They were athletes, musicians, thespians, show choir performers, scholars, world travelers, chefs, radio DJs, photographers, artists, and so much more, thanks to the opportunities available to them through Des Moines Public Schools. The opportunities were numerous and endless due to the care, dedication, and commitment of the countless teachers, coaches, and administrators in the Des Moines Public Schools, who spent their classroom hours and free time ensuring that students knew what was available to them.
I have one junior left in Des Moines Public Schools. The older three have graduated from Des Moines Public Schools and have gone on to and/or completed college. Their interests were wildly different, but each found their niche within Des Moines Public Schools. They learned French, German, and Italian. They were swimmers, cross-country runners, and tennis players. They marched in the band, performed in the show choir, and played in the show band. They took photos for the yearbook, painted a mural with an art class, and learned to throw pottery. They were captain of the cross country team, photo editor of the yearbook, and a section leader in the band. They took Advanced Placement courses at Roosevelt and Central Academy, traveled to Europe and Washington, D.C., with their schools. One took advantage of the culinary program at Central Campus and continued their education at Iowa State University in culinary food science, traveling abroad to conduct food science research for a summer in Montpellier, France, and another semester in Florence, Italy. One learned the ins and outs of radio broadcasting in class at Central Campus, using it as a stepping stone to attend Belmont University in Nashville, where they wrote/mixed music, played in a band, and graduated with a degree in audio engineering and music business. One took photography classes at Central Campus, which sparked a love for sports photojournalism, which led them to Iowa State, where they are a freshman intern with the athletic department, taking photos on the football field. One tried out for the school play and discovered their love of Broadway musicals and theater, while helping to build sets and run lines.
All of these opportunities were available to my children because they were students in the Des Moines Public Schools and because they had teachers and administrators and a superintendent who were present and encouraged them to buy in. My husband and I are involved, intentional parents, but DMPS absolutely provided opportunities our kids might not have had in other districts.
My kids aren’t the only kids thriving in this district. Every single week, I see the DMPS newsletter shouting out the amazing things our students are doing. They are intelligent, community and civic-minded, talented, creative, and ready to take on the world because they have a solid education from the Des Moines Public Schools.
My kids’ school district is unique. It’s the biggest in the state. It’s incredibly diverse. It’s complicated. It isn’t the suburbs. And it’s exactly the experience we wanted our kids to have. My children attend school every day with students who don’t look like them, sound like them, live like them, believe like them, or act like them. And we love it. Des Moines is the only city in Iowa we wanted to live in. Because outside of Iowa is a much bigger world. It is diverse, different, complex, and beautiful, and I have every confidence my kids won’t be afraid when they go out into it because they have experienced a small slice of those differences right here in Des Moines.
DMPS is filled with so many incredible people who love Des Moines, its students, and its families, just as they are, and want to protect them from ignorant folks who don’t get it or are afraid of it. Thank God for those human beings who continue to fight the good fight in public school education, even when their hearts break as they dare to read the nasty comments on social media.
I’m sorry if others don’t get it. However, nothing about my kids and their classmates, or their experience and education in Des Moines Public Schools feels like a rotten disgrace to me. It’s not perfect, but I’m incredibly proud to be a part of it.
Jamie Seitz is an author and mother of four current and former Des Moines Public Schools students.
