At some point, every teacher must make the decision to retire. That time has come for teacher Mr. Myatt. He has been at Pleasant Valley for about 27 years with this year being last in the PV District. Last year, he qualified for the Iowa Employee Retirement System and initially intended on retiring in 2020, the year of his daughter’s graduation, but his current dissatisfaction with his teaching assignment has changed his plans.
About a year ago, he was named the gifted-talented program contact by the district for state report and was also, to his surprise, notified that he was the state contact for the gifted-talented program at the junior high. He was told that the gifted-talented program did not entail duties; however, it did. When the enrollment numbers came out that year, English appeared to be the only thing that Myatt would teach and Public Speaking would be, as he put it, “‘jobbed out’ to an instructor from Scott Community College.” Because of his passion for public speaking, he offered to do part time at the high school and part time at the junior high to teach the gifted-talented program.
As time went on, he realized that traveling between the junior high and the high school was not effective, which is something he did not want to be as a teacher. Therefore, he had decided to retire.
Myatt has taught a number of classes during his time at the high school. He specifically enjoys Public Speaking and the multiple theatre classes he had the opportunity to teach. Many who know Myatt would say that his heart lies within the Drama Department. The program has seen great success under him with plays such as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He stated, “I am most proud of the 27 years that I have been Director of Theatre at PVHS.”
Thanks to Myatt, we now have the Black Box, a project that he had offered in the 90’s. The space is used for a variety of things such as a classroom and an entertainment space for shows such as Improv.
Myatt becomes filled with pride when he is able to see the direct benefits that PV students get through his efforts on state and national boards. What he will miss most from teaching here includes the English Department and their silliness along with students and staff. He plans on looking for another teaching job, perhaps one that does not have anything to do with English or Drama.
