Candidates for School Board: TIMOTHY TRIPP

The Pella Community School District Board of Education election is Tuesday, September 13. One of the candidates running for a seat on the board is Timothy Tripp, a local attorney with offices located at 810 Washington Street.

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and raised in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Sully, Tripp attended Gordon College north of Boston, a Christian liberal arts college sometimes referred to as the "Wheaton of the East," before graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Before entering and graduating from Brooklyn Law School with a JD (juris doctorat), Tripp spent 5 1/2 months cycling around the rim of Australia - solo, camping out under the stars. "I had a friend who was going to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town (Africa) with me," Tripp explained, "but then he backed out, and I did Australia instead. I thought it would be easier."

During law school, he was maintaining contact with Kathy Jaarsma, who was in China, and seemed happy to just stay there. "If I wanted to get to know Kathy better, I figured I'd have to go to China, so I did some studies there and we got married. Then I started dating her."

Completing his law degree, they lived in New York City, and he worked for seven years "defending the government" at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, now the Social Security Administration.

They moved back to Iowa in 1996. Tripp served as the city attorney for Sully for ten years, as an attorney for the Professional Educators of Iowa defending teachers in wrongful termination suits and dealing with educators and contracts, and as a partner in Grefe & Sidney PLC.

In 2004 he established his own practice, and with five employees has clients throughout the state of Iowa. He practices almost exclusively social security disability law.

Tripp has served on the Pella Library Board, the Iowa Legal Aid Board, the executive board of his church, and is currently on the board of NOSSCR, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives.

In his spare time, Tripp enjoys the outdoors. He is a mountain and road biker. "I try to bike to work two or three times a week," he says. "It slows you down. You see the town, plus it's good for the environment." He also likes to spend time with his family (Timothy and Kathy have three children, two currently in the Pella Public Schools, one at Calvin College.) sailing, skiing, or jet skiing. "I'm trying to use the Lake facilities more. The area has so much to offer." He enjoys pop culture, and is a huge Bob Dylan fan.

Transitioning from some of his personal board commitments, Tripp sees where the school district is also in transition, with a new superintendent and two board members leaving. "I have the time," he said. "I am a critical thinker, I think outside the box, and I strive for excellence in all that I do. We have such a good system here. Now we've got to maintain it and take it to the next level. I believe my skills will be useful."

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