A Message From Superintendent Meyerle
One Last “Back to School”
As I enter my 37 th and last year in our school system, I do so with a lot of reflection on my time at school
and my lifetime. It seems when you are younger a year lasts forever. For those of us that are getting up
in years, those years seem to go by faster. People keep telling me that I am old. My response to many
of those that I taught or coached is………………that my age is not making them any younger either.
The list of events in my time here is lengthy, but some things that have happened that most people can
relate to since I started working here: Tom Osborne won his first National Championship, followed by
two more. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA title, followed by five more. The
Denver Broncos got off the Minnesota Viking and Buffalo Bills dark Super Bowl list and have won three
Super Bowls. The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series since 1908.
I am one of the few remaining staff members from Diller Community Schools. It is satisfying to have
made a career of it here. I have seen a lot in 37 years. I remember going to my first Administrator Days
in Kearney in 1999 wondering who all these old people were. Now I go, and wonder who all these
young people are.
I am proud of the accomplishments we have made in my time here. There were days when having a
new gym, a track, and fitness centers that the community can utilize were a fantasy. Thanks to a lot of
work by board members and myself, we were able to make those improvements a reality. I always note
that small schools and communities can invest in themselves or become irrelevant. No one is coming to
save you.
Before I was involved in school administration, I worked for some doozies over the years. I never held
back in telling them what I thought, yet I survived. I always told myself that I wanted to become a
Principal and a Superintendent, to change things for the better, and have a school with a climate and
culture that reflected myself.
My dad passed away in January, I wish he could have lived to see me finish my career here. Staying here
for a whole career and fulfilling roles as a teacher, coach, AD, Principal, and Superintendent at the same
school makes me a dinosaur. There are just a handful of us in the state that have moved up through the
ranks while staying at the same school for an entire career. There were always opportunities to leave.
However, moving a family, selling a house, and buying a new house is not something our family wanted
to pursue. We liked it where we were.
I think I will be passing on being the oldest parent in the school system to someone else. I taught or
coached many of the parents of Carly’s classmates. Yes, I am old. Being old has advantages though.
One, you are confident in who you are. Two, you don’t care what people think. Three, you only have
fewer friends, so you know who you can trust. As a person ages, the list of the people closest to you
that pass away only grows. A person really does not come home with new friends later in life. A person
truly has fewer friends. Fewer people you can truly trust.
As much as I have enjoyed my career, it does not compare to what I feel for being able to raise our
family here. Steph and the kids have made a lot of sacrifices with my job over the years. Birthdays,
special family occasions, anniversaries all took a back seat at times to responsibilities at school. I am proud of how our kids have grown. Hopefully we have helped them along. They say a father is the one
person who quietly roots for their kids to outgrow him - to go further, do better, and live bigger than he
ever could. I am thankful for my parents and all they did for me. They truly gave my brothers and I a
better chance to be successful.
Holbrook, NE was our family home. My great-grandparents homesteaded the home place in 1879 when
they immigrated here from Europe. The home place has a lot of history. It was home to my great-
grandparents, my grandparents, and my parents.
I always felt bad for my parents. My mom lost her house twice. Once due to a flood in Cambridge, NE,
when she was young and they sat on their roof until they were picked up by a boat. Years later, when I
was two, our family home was struck by lightning and burnt down. My parents lost everything, yet
when they spoke of the losses they never felt sorry for themselves, they always remarked how they
were thankful no one was hurt, and they worked harder.
Things have changed a lot in my life. I reflect back with a great deal of appreciation. We didn’t have
much growing up and times were pretty simple, yet we had what we needed. We all wore clothes
passed on to us. If we had a tear in our jeans, it was sewn or covered with a patch. My brothers and I
were spaced apart enough in years that we all used the same letter jacket for school. The letter came
off, and a new one that was earned went on.
Some other memories I have reflected on that will be familiar to those of my age:
We learned how to be patient much more than people today. We looked forward to the Christmas JC
Penny and Sears catalogs where you could find anything you could ever want. There was no next day
delivery. You ordered through the mail, and in 4-6 weeks, what you ordered would arrive.
We played outside every day, no matter what the temperature was. We jumped off things, ramped off
things, played games where the only goal was to throw a ball and whomever caught it ran while
everyone else tackled them.
When the electricity was out, no one freaked out. We got out flash lights and lit candles. We played
board games or read. My Dad served on the Twin Valley Rural Electric Board for 60 years. He always
told the story about when electricity was being brought to the rural areas, that many people initially
declined as it would cost them $2 a month. Imagine that.
Phones had long cords and when I was young, there were party lines. You had to wait until your
neighbor was done with the phone before you could make a call, and they could pick up and listen to
your conversations. Before cell phones, email, and internet the chances of you dealing with work at
home was slimmer. It was easier to enjoy your time at home.
There was one TV in the house, not one in every room. Many times, the family watched the same show
on one of the 3 available channels. It may seem we were worse for it, but I don’t think so.
It was a big deal to eat out. Bigger yet to go to McCook or Kearney. It was a treat at summer baseball
games when the local Lion’s Club sold ice cold pop out of the back of a pick-up for .10 cents a can. That
was it for concessions, and we never thought a thing of not having food options.
I remember my mom making clothes at her sewing machine while listening to 8 track tapes. Mom saved Green Stamps to get extra things for the family. It was a big deal to get something extra for
the house.
One summer I rode to work with my classmate Tim in his car that didn’t have doors. My mom told me
to make sure and wear my seatbelt. I later told her that Tim’s car didn’t have accessories like seat belts.
Life was more innocent. Most trucks at school had a gun on a gun rack in the back. No one ever
thought of one of the guns ending up in the school. We all would have thought, why would anybody
bring a gun into the school? Columbine in 1999 changed all that. School shootings have been a plague
ever since, and no one is sure how to end it. Schools are always playing defense and reacting to social
issues the best we can.
Looking to the future here, our school is in good hands. Mr. Mezger will do an excellent job. Facilities
and finances are sound with no major projects on the horizon. The best thing for our local tax payers is
for us to maintain our school. If our school would go away, people would pay more in taxes to watch
the kids go elsewhere to school. That would be stupid.
I will retire at the end of the school year believing that the best teachers are the ones that like the kids,
that don’t act like the kids. Good educators build relationships with kids. I loved the nicknames that
would stick. Some of my favorites that I can mention: Commissioner, Cork, Bruise, Mutt, Smooth, Sly,
Blade, Penny, Red, Diet Red, Bruise, Benes, Backyard, Melhouse, Louie, Spits, CD, Super Bowl, Butter,
Mad, and Dwight.
Looking forward to a great year to finish a career with a lot of great memories. Thanks to those that
have supported me and my family. I am not totally sure what the future will hold, but am anxious for
something new.
M. Meyerle