Matt Kleopfer, the band director for Iola’s high school and middle school since the 2012-2013 school year, has announced his decision to resign.
Kleopfer said he is leaving the position because it did not leave enough time to spend with his family.
“When you come home and you put your kids to bed and the last thing they say before you shut the lights out is, ‘Are you going to be home tomorrow?’ If that’s their No. 1 concern, are we going to get to see you tomorrow, I don’t like that. That really bugs me, and my kids started asking me that more and more,” Kleopfer said Thursday during a phone conversation from his home.
“I just didn’t want them constantly wondering if I was going to be home the next day. I wanted them to worry about things kids are supposed to be worrying about, not that.”
Kleopfer also said he does not want his wife, Jenessa, who is pregnant with their fourth child, to have all the responsibilities of caring for their children as well as their livestock. The Kleopfers live in rural Fredonia.
His fall schedule left little time to be home.
“Marching band gets pretty crazy pretty fast and it doesn’t really let up until the beginning of November,” Kleopfer said. “Then you get about two weeks to kind of reset your sails and then it’s pep band and Christmas concerts.”
“This semester I cut a lot of extra commitments out of the schedule, which I hated to do because it’s stuff that made us who we were,” Kleopfer said.
THE SEEDS of leaving began to sprout over the summer when he spent more time with his children while still teaching music in Iola two days a week.
“I spent a bunch of time with my kids and it was just amazing,” Kleopfer said. “It was kind of a weird feeling, like it almost felt like I got to know them for the first time, like truly know who they were, not just saying ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ like I was all the time.”
One day after weed eating at the country club, Kleopfer had a conversation with George Levans, a retired football coach and magistrate court judge.
“He gave me some wisdom,” Kleopfer said. “He had the unfortunate event that, as a parent, he had to bury one of his own kids. Like, he outlived one of his children, and he started to tear up and said, ‘Man, you can’t ever get that time back.’”
Afterward, Kleopfer could not stop thinking about what Levans told him. He saw a similarity between his experience as a father and band director and Levans’ hectic schedule and limited family time as a football coach.
“As the summer went on, it stuck with me this whole time and it just put weight on my heart the more I considered it and looked at it that my family has kind of always been second to the job,” Kleopfer said. “Just because of the way the job is set up, I’m sure there are some out there who do and can, but with the obstacles that I had, I tried my hardest to make my family the first priority and do that job the justice it needed.”
Kleopfer’s conclusion was a change needed to be made.
“I just sat down and thought about it and prayed about it, and it’s, ‘Well, maybe I’m not supposed to be (here), maybe he’s got somebody else planned,” Kleopfer said. “Maybe he’s got somebody else ready to go.”
WHAT COMES next is as much a mystery to Kleopfer as to everyone else, but he is in no way worried about the future.
“I honestly don’t have a clue (what I will do after this school year),” Kleopfer said. “Most smart band directors don’t quit their jobs until they have another job lined out. The kids know me, that I always do things backward and different.”
Kleopfer said he shared his thoughts with his students on Monday.
Kleopfer said he told the students, “‘I just have to tell you that I have the faith to know that you’re going to get taken care of.’ After I said that, I started looking around the room at the kids and knew the timing was perfect.”
Perfect, Kleopfer said, because of his students.
“They’ve all been marinating, waiting for the opportunity to step up,” Kleopfer said. “There’s a massive amount of leadership ready to step up. Not just two or three, we’re talking 25-30, a massive amount of leaders. Those kids have more to offer the program than I do.”
That potential is why Kleopfer is confident this the right time for a new band director to come in.
“When I realized that, my fears went away,” Kleopfer said.
“This is the perfect opportunity for somebody else to step in because all these kids are ready to step up and help,” Kleopfer said. “They know their job, they know their role, they know their purpose. They know when to practice, when to relax, when to work on classwork. That was comforting to me.”
