Barb Lange retires after 34 years shaping Storm Lake schools

Barb Lange’s retirement closes a 34-year run that carried Storm Lake Community School District through changing leadership, new buildings and the rise of dual language education. As she steps away as elementary principal, the district is losing an educator who worked under Jack Kooker and Ed Rude, taught in East Elementary classrooms, and later helped steer some of the district’s most visible family and staff initiatives.

Lange started in 1992 teaching third grade at East Elementary. After three years, she moved to first grade and job-shared for 15 years with Molly Richardson while both were raising children. Over the years, she also taught Title I reading and stepped into kindergarten music after Candy Clough resigned, a pattern that reflected how often the district leaned on her to fill urgent needs. When the new elementary building opened, she stayed in first grade until 2013, then moved into a different part of the system as instructional strategist at Storm Lake Middle School for five years before becoming elementary principal in 2018.

That range of work made Lange one of the few people in the district who understood instruction, administration and family outreach from several angles at once. Abigale Green described her as a “spectacular leader” whose attention stayed fixed on students and families. Green said Lange worked nonstop to meet staff and student needs and had an unusual ability to get to know children and their families, a skill that mattered in a district where the student body has become more linguistically and culturally diverse.

Lange’s impact was most visible in the district’s dual language program, which began during the COVID year with two kindergarten classrooms and grew into a K-6 program with 23 classrooms by the fall referenced in the retirement story. That work mattered in Storm Lake, where a 2021 district story said roughly 1,000 elementary students spoke nearly 25 different languages at home. Lange said the approach helped bring Latino families and others deeper into school conversations and made families feel included in decisions about their children’s education.

She also helped expand family partnerships, home visits and parent engagement, and played a role in the district’s apprenticeship pipeline. The program has produced 12 fully certified teachers, and a June 2025 district story said about 50 people were enrolled, with the effort tied to a $45 million state grant program created by Gov. Kim Reynolds. Beyond the formal programs, Lange was a regular face at High 5 Friday, when community members greet students on Friday mornings, and Lou, the family therapy dog, will retire with her.

Storm Lake has already turned the page on the next principal. The district named Stephanie Anderson, then superintendent of Riverside School District, as Lange’s successor in March 2026. Her arrival signals that Lange’s retirement is not just a personal milestone but a broader leadership handoff, with much of her institutional knowledge now spread across the people who must carry her work forward.