Iver Opstad
Iver Opstad oversaw a period of enormous growth and expansion during his 32-year tenure as Iowa City Schools superintendent.
Born in 1887 in Michigan, N.D., he came to Iowa City as a part-time principal at University High School in 1918 after a stint as superintendent of the school in New Providence. In 1920, he was named superintendent of the Iowa City Schools.
During that time, he oversaw much growth in the district. Already overseeing three elementaries — Longfellow, Horace Mann and Henry Sabin that had opened in 1917 — he oversaw the opening of Lincoln in 1926 and Roosevelt on Iowa City’s west side in 1931. It was a period of growth in the district in terms of enrollment from 1,400 students in 1920 to about 2,500 when he retired in 1952, as well as finances.
“Expenditures for running the school system in 1920 were $180,830 and in the 1950-51 school year, a total of $621,812 exclusive of building additions were spent,” a 1952 Press-Citizen article on Opstad’s pending retirement said.
Also among his achievements was the opening of City High in 1940. The “school on a hill in east Iowa City was a dream come true” for Opstad and others, the Press-Citizen article said.
“If I were to point to one thing as the high point in my experiences here it would be the building of City high (sic),” Opstad was quoted as saying in the Press-Citizen. The school’s auditorium was named for him that year.
Opstad left as superintendent in 1952 because school policy at the time dictated that anyone who reached the age of 65 must retire. He taught at his alma mater, Luther College in Decorah, for five years, and in 1977, was honored as a friend of education by the Iowa City Education Association.
He died on Sept. 17, 1979, in Tempe, Ariz., at the age of 92.