By Celine Klosterman
Holy Trinity Catholic Schools in Lee County are seeking a new administrator as their current principal, Doris Turner, prepares to retire.
Turner has served for the last six years as chief administrative officer of Holy Trinity Catholic Junior/Senior High in Fort Madison and Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary in West Point. “Retiring is bittersweet because I love this place, but I want to be closer to my grandkids,” she said. After this school year, she and her husband will move to Boise, Idaho, where their daughter and two of their five grandchildren live.
The couple’s son and additional three grandchildren live in Iowa City, but Turner said she prefers the weather in Idaho.
A graduate of Iowa State University, Turner began her career in Catholic education as a math, science and religion teacher at Cardinal Stritch Junior/Senior High School in Keokuk in 1985. After earning a master’s degree in educational administration from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, she served as principal for two years at Cardinal Stritch. She then became principal at Aquinas Junior/Senior High School in Fort Madison, where she served for two years before overseeing the merger of Aquinas schools with Marquette schools in the West Point area. Those school systems became Holy Trinity in 2005.
Holy Trinity will miss the kind of leadership Turner showed during the merger, said Gary Hoyer, school board president.
“Doris had to reconcile not only the student body and the traditions that had been developed over decades, but also curriculum, staffing, testing, sports, etc. There was much to be done, and Doris literally worked days, nights and weekends without complaint. In fact, in one of the early merger years we found ourselves short on budget resources, and Doris reduced her pay to help out. You just don’t find that level of commitment today.”
Turner said she sees Catholic education as her mission. She has taught in Chicago public schools, but appreciates being able to share her faith in parochial schools.
She described Holy Trinity as “very vibrant.” Six years after the merger, “It’s a great time for someone to come in with fresh ideas.”
Hoyer said the school system is seeking an “energized leader” who will focus on academics and curriculum, as well as on student census growth, nurture athletic programs and monitor Holy Trinity’s fiscal health. The board hopes to name that leader by April 1.
For more information about the position of chief administrative officer and principal of Holy Trinity Catholic Schools, see the classified ad on page 2 of The Catholic Messenger’s print edition.
