In some ways you could call Albert Lea Area Schools Superintendent David Prescott an accidental administrator. It’s a career he’s learned to love, but working out of a principal’s office and then a superintendent’s office was not something he’d imagined himself doing when he started his career in education.

Prescott announced his retirement earlier this fall and plans on leaving at the end of June. He started out in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as a sixth-grade elementary school teacher, a job he had for nearly 15 years. Even then, he worked as part of a team of teachers and had responsibilities outside the classroom. He also completed work on a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, becoming one of the few elementary school teachers he knew with a doctorate. Over the years in Cedar Rapids, his teamwork and leadership skills were noticed, and when the school where he taught needed an interim principal, he took on the responsibility.

He enjoyed working with the other teachers in this new, unanticipated role, but it wasn’t a decision that came without costs.

“It was hard losing the close interaction with children,” Prescott said. After splitting his time between the principal’s office and his sixth-grade classroom, Prescott shifted to working as a consultant for the Grant Wood Area Education Agency, part of Iowa’s framework of assistance to school districts in and around Cedar Rapids.

What he gained was a broader view of learning and teaching. As he spent more time as a principal he found new motivations.

“I wanted to see how I could have an impact on more than just one classroom. I wanted to see the whole process,” he said.

Prescott first came to Albert Lea as the principal for Sibley Elementary School in 1986. Building on the efforts of predecessors, he relied on schoolwide leadership teams, which involved both teaching and non-teaching staff at Sibley, as he worked on providing a positive environment for everybody. He also worked closely with SHARE, the Sibley parent organization.

In December of 1995, Prescott made a second unanticipated move when he became interim superintendent. It was a stressful time, as the previous superintendent had left abruptly, and the community was in turmoil.

“It was a very difficult time for the district. I kind of stepped into a mess,” he said.

He remembers how, when he heard that two school board members had come to Sibley to talk to him, he thought at first they had come to fire him.

“Instead they asked me if I would consider serving as the interim superintendent.”

After a search, he ended up being interviewed and offered the position permanently the following July.

A number of things made the transition more challenging. More minor ones such as seniority — he was among the youngest administrators in the district at the time — and major issues such as re-establishing the community’s trust in the district while it sought a levy referendum that would maintain funding.

“How can I bring the community and the district back together?” was a question he asked himself often.

One of the first things he worked on as superintendent was strategic planning, intentionally involving more than 1,000 community members, 500 staff and 200 students. The process accomplished at least two things, he thinks. It set a direction for the districts students and staff and it helped heal wounds. The process also created the district’s Decision Screen, which is still a guiding document today. The last revision was in 2004.

Many things have changed in public education since Prescott started his career, and there are some challenges he’ll still have to wrestle with in his final months, issues like unfunded mandates, the No Child Left Behind Act and school funding formula reform. But one gets the impression that, even with the stress that comes with the job, Prescott has no regrets about making that principal’s office his own back in Cedar Rapids 25 years ago. He’s also mindful of the others who’ve worked with him along the way.

“I don’t know whether it’s by luck or design, but I always ended up working with great people,” he said.