After 32 years of working in the education field, new Falls Superintendent Nordy Nelson still loves to see the humor and excitement young people show when they experience success.
“It’s always catching,” he said. “And it creates an excitement in myself when students are excited, happy and look forward to being here (at school).”
The International Falls School District superintendent began his position with the district July 1. Former superintendent Jeff Peura left the district June 30 for a job with the Lake of the Woods School District.
Nelson’s priorities include making sure the district offers a curriculum that will help students succeed beyond their K-12 education. He aims to create a positive atmosphere in which staff, students and members of the community work as a team to ensure the success of the district. He anticipates the challenge of keeping the district academically competitive, he said.
“It’s very important for the school district to have many educational offerings because there are many opportunities elsewhere, and we want to hold our students here,” Nelson said.
In growing the curriculum, Nelson said his vision is to provide more subject offerings in classes, by possibly having shorter segments of classes — instead of having all high school courses run half a school year, he said.
“It’s an opportunity for students to explore what a certain subject has to offer,” Nelson said. “If they don’t have that exposure, they don’t see what’s out there for them.”
He explained that it’s easier for students to make a choice in their post-graduation plans if they experience many options for various vocational areas or college subjects while in school.
“It gives them ideas,” Nelson said. “It gives them a much broader spectrum of choices later on when they plan for their future after high school.”
One of his first goals is “to watch and maintain” the district’s budget. He hopes to balance that with his priority of a quality curriculum — which includes up-to-date technology.
“Technology has to be a real active part in this whole planning process in getting our curriculum to grow with having more offerings and a bigger variety of classes,” he said.
Nelson also looks forward to building a positive atmosphere within the district, he said. He believes providing that sets the stage for giving students the tools they need to have educational achievements.
Inspired by his high school principal and his high school football coach in rural Iowa, Nelson has since been pulled into the education field with a passion to “generate real excitement for students to want to work hard and help others,” he said.
Spending time working outside the walls of his office — directly interacting with students and helping them if they need — is important, he said. He looks forward to meeting students come fall, and attending many after-school activities, programs and sports games in support of them, he said.
“I really enjoy being around young people — our students, and being part of doing what I can to provide a good educational setting,” he said. “It’s obvious when they experience success, and I like to see it.”
He hopes to instill the same inspiration he got from his high school principal and football coach, he said.
“It’s sending the message to the students: ‘I’m working to send you into a future that I’ll never see, but it’s out there and you need to be ready for it,’” Nelson said.
High hopes
Nelson moved to the Falls from the St. Cloud area. He’s had six years of teaching experience — teaching grades four, five and six; special education; and physical education. For 12 years, he was a principal in both elementary and secondary levels. Nelson has served as superintendent at various districts for 19 years.
His superintendent work included roles at the Gaylord School District, Arlington-Green Isle School District, and a consolidation of the two districts which is now Sibley East School District. He’s had experience at St. James Public Schools and Melrose Area Public Schools in Stearns County.
Most recently, he was self-employed as a consultant for School Financial Assistance, a role he also held during his superintendent jobs. As a consultant, he worked with various school districts in setting up their budgets and conducting contract negotiations between school districts and their employees.
Nelson is a 1971 graduate of North Dakota State University, where he earned a degree in elementary education and elementary administration. He took courses at Bemidji State University for a couple years to get his administration licensure.
Prior to moving to International Falls, Nelson had come through the area on fishing trips to Canada. He also went camping around the Falls years ago, he said. Having grown up in a rural area, he said he was looking for a job at a district in a rural setting, and a district of comparable size to where he’s worked before.
“I’ve had very nice reception here so far,” he said. “People have been very pleasant and very generous in their openness.”
His preference was to find a job in the northern half of Minnesota, he said. He said he loves “the freshness and the scenic topography.”
“Wherever you go, it’s very scenic,” he said. “I enjoy being around the fresh water lakes — that’s the basic draw of the area.”
Nelson’s wife will be in and out of town as she still holds a job in the St. Cloud area as a part-time special education monitor, he said.
In his spare time, Nelson enjoys spearfishing in the winter; reading biographies of world leaders; and woodworking to create pieces of furniture. He started woodworking at a young age.
“I had to build a lot of things when I was growing up on the farm,” Nelson said.
He said he’s also always enjoyed writing. Nelson plans to write a superintendent column to be published in The Journal. Each column will focus on an educational topic as it relates to local education. The first column is published in today’s edition of The Journal.
“I want to emphasize things that we’re working on within the school and also discuss some issues in the school that district residents and parents need to be involved with and consider into he future,” he said. “It’s a communication tool that we hope people will read.”
Communication and interaction with the community is important to him, he said, and he is excited to lead the district, its employees, students and residents of the district in working together to support education.
“If we can maintain a focus on being here for students and what’s best for students, the school district can really grow and do well — that’s my hope here,” Nelson said.
