Mayflower names additional administrator
May 9—Francine Ide was already assisting with a Mayflower Heritage Christian School classroom this year. The school's board asked her if she could do more, which she agreed.
Ide agreed to share duties with existing administrator Karla Powers as the school changed direction after the death of Sue Maitlen earlier this year. Maitlen had been the school's administrator and was replaced by Powers who has been involved with the school since its inception 20 years ago.
"I'm on the school board and we have talked about future roles," Ide said. "We knew Karla was ready to step back." After further discussion between the board and Powers, the offer was made to Ide to share the role with Powers.
"Karla liked that idea. She approached me about it and asked if I'd work with her," Ide said. "After some prayer to know if I had the time and capacity I decided it would be an awesome opportunity. I'm delighted to work alongside Karla as co-administrator next year. Mayflower has a legacy of academic excellence, developing character and fostering faith in our young people and I'm excited to be a part of this great program."
Ide said the long term leadership of the kindergarten through eighth-grade school has not been finalized.
"It's possible I could step in. I need to get a feel for it next school year," she said.
Ide is a Creston native with a strong interest in agriculture. She was involved in the agriculture program at Southwestern Community College and transferred to Northwest Missouri State to acquire an animal science degree. After college, she was eventually asked to assist a Southwestern beef production class.
"I taught that for one semester and fell in love with teaching," she said. "I needed to get a master's degree which I got from Iowa State University."
She taught part time at Southwestern for 10 years.
At that time, Ide said she wanted to spend more time with her family farm and family. She left Southwestern in 2016 and eventually started volunteer work at Mayflower. She has a son, Nolan, who is in eighth grade and a daughter, Charlotte, in fourth grade at Mayflower.
Ide is also on the Union County Economic Development board.
Ide said Mayflower is an option for Creston area families to consider for their children and part of the formula to make Creston a viable, appealing town to live.
"Mayflower can serve a niche for families seeking a Christian based education. Those that are wanting a smaller classroom atmosphere, we shine in that area. We want to build character and a service mindset. One day we want to them to step out and be a servant in their community. We can all work together with Creston public, St. Malachy and homeschool families."
