Moffit named new principal of Newton Christian

To replace outgoing principal Mary Patterson, the Newton Christian School Board of Directors announced Thursday that retired Iowa educator and administrator Randy Moffit has accepted the principal position for the 2019-20 school year.

Jeffrey Pence, president of the Newton Christian School Board of Directors, said Patterson and her husband are moving out of state. Moffit confirmed with the Newton Daily News he will be employed as an interim principal at Newton Christian School, 1710 N. 11th Ave. E., until the board of directors locates another candidate to fill the position.

“He heard of our need for a new principal, so we’re kind of pulling him back out of retirement,” Pence said.

However, Moffit will not share the same dual roles as Patterson, who worked at the school as both principal and Spanish teacher for 10 years. Moffit said Newton Christian School hired another educator to teach the foreign language course. Patterson originally began as the school’s Spanish teacher before transitioning to more administrative duties.

Excited about venturing out to a new ministry near Pittsburgh, Patterson said she has mixed emotions about leaving but knows the school is in good hands, noting the extensive planning work on Newton Christian School’s ongoing expansion and its new preschool addition expected to debut this fall.

“The school’s in a good place,” Patterson said Sunday. “People are all working, parents are working, our committees and staff have worked so hard. I feel like the machine’s in place so I know they’re going to be OK.”

Patterson said Moffit will be a “good fit” for the school. Previously serving as superintendent of both South Page Community Schools in College Springs and North Mahaska Community School District in New Sharon, Moffit celebrated an early retirement from education at the age of 60, eventually moving to Newton in July 2017.

Acknowledging the Newton Christian School’s upcoming preschool project, Moffit said he was involved with preschool startups in the past. He helped the school district at South Page kickstart a preschool in 1990 “before it was really popular,” and then again when he moved to North Mahaska several years later upon the acquisition of state funding.

“The heavy work on this preschool startup has probably already been done,” Moffit said. “They’re just ready to go now. I’ll just be there to help them get it off the ground. But most of the planning stages of that are pretty well already done.”

Pence added, “Randy really brings a lot of experience with him. He’s been involved in school building projects. He’s been involved in starting a preschool in conjunction with a school, the K-8 format. He’s got a lot of experience that, I think, we’ll be able to gain from him. We’re just really excited.”

Although he was retired, Moffit occasionally taught driver’s education at North Mahaska for a few years before moving to Jasper County. Following his acceptance of the interim principal position at Newton Christian School, the 64-year-old will now be teaching in the same town as his daughter, who also has a career in the education field.

Daughter Carrie Garrett works as a special education teacher at Berg Middle School for the Newton Community School District. According to the announcement from Pence, Moffit has a degree in mathematics, a master’s degree in educational administration and a specialist degree in educational superintendency.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com