Super-volunteer Jim Irving, ‘heart and soul’ of MUSD

Jim Irving is 82 going on 62.

That’s a good thing because the retiree logs as many weekly hours as a volunteer for the Maricopa Unified School District as most people do at their full-time jobs.

An educator and administrator for much of his career, Irving is a super-volunteer for the district. He somehow finds time to lend his enthusiasm and expertise to no fewer than nine other organizations and boards in the city.

Talk to enough people about the man — truth be told, he is as close to a living legend as Maricopa may have — and a profile in leadership emerges: he’s described by friends and colleagues as smart and decisive, professional and personal, dedicated and humble.

None of that is important to the longtime resident of The Villages, of course. Just one thing matters — the kids.

It’s been like that his whole life. And for the last 16 years, he has done whatever he can to improve education for district pupils. Regular contact with them, whether high schoolers or kindergarteners, helps keep him young.

He prefers to do little else.

“Yeah, I’m not going to join a golf club,” he joked.

Irving sets quite the example for a whole legion of MUSD volunteers, according to Dr. Tracey Lopeman, district superintendent.

“Jim Irving personifies selfless dedication,” she said. “As a former governing board member, he has an unrivaled historical perspective and has never met a stranger. Because of him, multigenerational volunteers give their talents and time to our students.”

Ted Yocum, a longtime volunteer in the city who has been friends with Irving for about six years, said one thing sets the man apart.

“He cares,” Yocum said. “No matter where he goes, what he does or who he is with, he cares.”

MOVING TO MARICOPA

Irving was primed for a career in education early in life.

Born in Peoria, Illinois, he grew up in nearby Aurora, where he lived for many years.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and education from Drake University in Iowa and a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University, where he went on to do post-master’s work in secondary education. He became a teacher and principal in Illinois.

“My whole life’s been around education,” he said. “My mom was a teacher and my aunt was a university professor, so I’d always loved teaching and education. I just love that kind of thing.”

He met Deanna, his wife of 52 years, at a school, and they married in 1969. He was an only child; she was one of 13 kids. But that wasn’t the only difference between them.

“My wife is Caucasian and I’m African-American, so we always say our marriage was illegal in about 15 states,” he laughed.

It’s a happy marriage, Irving said. “The only problem we’ve had is I’m a sports fan and she hates it,” he laughed again.

The Irvings raised their two children in Aurora.

Today, Chad, 50, is an administrator with Charles Schwab and a minister. He and his children live in Ahwatukee.

Daughter Kara, 46, who has always shared her father’s interest in sports, is assistant director of athletic communications at Michigan State University.

“We don’t get together as often as we’d like, but that’s pretty much the group,” Irving said.

Leaving formal education, he became the director of juvenile corrections in Illinois before semi-retiring in 1993 and taking a teaching job at a local community college and working at his wife’s Montessori school. They moved to Sarasota, Florida in 1997, where he worked for a private corrections company for four years before officially retiring in 2001. He volunteered as a counselor at a high school until 2005, when the couple moved to Maricopa to be near their two grandchildren.

THE BIGGEST SATISFACTION

Almost immediately after moving to town, Irving started looking for a place to work with kids.

“When I came to Maricopa there wasn’t really much going on for youth — no rec programs way back then — so I went to the high school,” he said. “It really was a perfect time because the district was just growing by leaps and bounds.”

He began assisting the athletic director at a time when the middle school and high school shared a campus. His tasks would vary from day to day.

“I did everything,” he recalled. “One day, the middle school girls basketball team had a game and the coach was sick. So, the secretary and I, we went down and we coached the girls basketball game. I mean whatever he wanted me to do, I did.”

He would help set up for games and take tickets in the pre-booster club days. He also assisted with the ropes challenge course at Maricopa High School before it was razed later as part of a campus renovation.

Soon after, he transitioned to the counseling office at the high school, where he helped out for about three or four years.

“I wound up really sort of serving as a career counselor until they started to hire people to do that. That was really fun because we set up college visits and tours,” he said. In addition to helping plan college fairs and working with students on SAT prep, he dispensed practical advice to students to ease the transition to college life.

In 2013, MHS graduate Sara Troyer told InMaricopa she enjoyed Irving’s enthusiasm and encouragement and said her peers felt the same way. Despite original plans to attend community college, she said he helped change her mind.

“He told me all about Arizona State University and let me know about all the scholarships,” Troyer said at the time. “He opened my eyes to more possibilities beyond community college.”

(She went on to earn a marketing degree from ASU and was the executive director of the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce for a year in 2016 before leaving to take a business advisor position in Irving’s native state.)

When Carrie Vargas resigned her position on the Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board in 2011, then-board president Scott Bartle asked Irving, whom he had gotten to know well, if he’d be interested in joining the panel.

Irving said he was, but with the understanding that he would not seek election two years later. He was appointed by the county superintendent of schools and, good to his word, he served until his appointed term was up in 2013.

At his farewell meeting, Irving was showered with praise from teachers and colleagues, including Butterfield Elementary School teacher Kristin McMullen.

She recalled at the time when Irving told her and fifth-grade students about the opportunity to participate in the Society of Auto Engineers’ A World in Motion program, designed to teach students about science and engineering.

“He explained to us that we would be teaching force and motion while experienced engineers looked on,” McMullen told those gathered. “I think my exact words to him were, ‘Are you nuts?’”

“But he was right,” McMullen added, saying the program which had Nissan engineers mentoring students was “a great opportunity as a teacher to step outside of my comfort zone and challenge myself.”

That program illustrates what Irving takes away from all his volunteer efforts.

“The biggest satisfaction is to work with the younger kids and see them get excited about education,” he has said.

But even as he stepped down from the governing board, another role — a vital position he continues to fulfill to this day — was in the offing.

VOLUNTEER-IN-CHIEF

About the same time, the district was forced to cut a number of positions for budgetary reasons.

“Since I was a volunteer, somebody said, ‘Oh you might be interested in volunteering to build up our volunteer program,’” he recalled. “So, as soon as I got off the board, I took on that role and they gave me a little office over at the district. I’ve been doing that eight years.”

As coordinator, he has built up the program to about 700 broad-based volunteers, including a number of members of city council and the governing board. In total, they accumulated more than 30,000 hours of service during the 2018-19 school year.

“It shows commitment from a lot of people,” he said.

Among others, Mayor Christian Price is quick to come out and talk with students and Vice Mayor Nancy Smith has been involved with the middle school Rocket Challenge program, Irving said.

“I think we’re really blessed as a community when you have all your councilmembers who are also volunteers for the schools and the same thing is true with our school board,” he said.

Irving does not spend a whole lot of time recruiting volunteers, as parents, grandparents and others readily step up on their own to ask how they can help the schools. From time to time, however, he works to find volunteers for a specific need.

“It’s just a matter of finding out their passion and plugging it in, and making sure they know it’s really making a difference,” he said. “Working with kids is a pretty easy sell, so it’s not that difficult. It’s just a matter of trying to coordinate it and getting around to meet the people.”

On just about every school day, Irving makes himself available, spending 2-3 hours in his office. But most of his time is spent visiting and participating at MUSD schools. He attends late-afternoon meetings and events on Saturdays, logging a total of 40-45 hours weekly. (Deanna is a longtime volunteer as well, now working with kindergarteners at Santa Rosa Elementary.)

Incredibly, Irving estimates he has volunteered tens of thousands of hours at MUSD over the last 16 years.

“Jim Irving is underappreciated and, certainly, underutilized by MUSD,” said Murray Siegel, a retired educator who started teaching advanced math at Butterfield Elementary six years ago with Irving’s help. “Part of the problem is that Jim presents a friendly, almost grandfatherly, façade, which belies the significant experience he has had in administering schools.”

For his service, MUSD has honored Irving with its Recognition of Exemplary Service award as a governing board member and its Best of the Best Award for his volunteer service. He has also been recognized with its Spotlight award.

He was also nominated in 2016 for the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce’s Renate Chamberlin Volunteer of the Year award.

“Jim does so much for so many. And it’s 100% altruistic; he wants nothing except to help others,” Bartle said.

“Jim always has a smile on his face and is Mr. Even Keel. Even in the face of very spirited, very controversial discussions and decisions, I could count on him to maintain perspective and professionalism. No ego, no angle, no ulterior motive; just sound decision-making sans drama.”

YET ANOTHER ROLE

In 2014, then-Councilmember Marvin Brown appointed Irving to the city Planning & Zoning Commission, a role he still enjoys.

“I didn’t really know what that was” when Brown asked him to join the commission, Irving admitted. “I like the planning part, so I told him I’d do it and it’s been fascinating to watch the city grow.”

“What I’ve loved about planning and zoning is to be able to sit down with (city) staff and make sure we’re thinking about all aspects of growth,” he added. “One of the concerns I’ve always had is we’re building, but I’m not always sure we have the infrastructure.”

To illustrate his point, he mentioned development along the Porter Road corridor, from Honeycutt Road to Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, where there are five charter schools, a public school, a preschool and the campus of Central Arizona College along the road or just off it.

“If you have ever driven that area around 3:30 (in the afternoon) you’ve got all these schools getting out. It’s just crazy.”

He said he would like to see a public park as part of the development of the Seven Ranches area because “the city needs more recreation space for all these people moving here.” He is also a proponent for more dog parks and bike lanes.

“Jim doesn’t think about Jim,” said Yocum, who also sits on the P&Z Commission. “Jim thinks about the community, he thinks about the issue, he is always looking at the greater good and it doesn’t matter whether it would negatively affect him or people he knows. He is looking for the greater good and that’s very evident in the way he talks, the questions he asks and the responses we get when we have our meetings.”

Irving acknowledged hearing residents criticize city officials, including the P&Z, for approving the construction of apartments and high-density rental developments, claiming they lead to more crime and lessen the quality of life in Maricopa.

He disagrees, and points to a comprehensive study in recent years that highlighted a need for alternative housing.

“I mean that’s where this started and I think the city has done a good job of trying to promote that, but within reason,” he said. “I try to alleviate their fear, their image of apartments. A lot of people have moved out (here) and their idea was to move out to the country and it’s going to be this. Well, it’s not anymore.”

Irving noted the commission has also approved bungalows and as well as single-family and multi-family rental homes to vary available housing.

“Maricopa is in a good place” moving forward, he said.

SPREADING THE MESSAGE

Irving’s insatiable need to help others has benefited other organizations.

He said it is fun to use his management background to help structure community groups and establish bylaws, but part of his motivation to get involved with the Friends of the Library, the Maricopa Community Foundation and COPA Seniors, for example, will come as no surprise — the kids.

“I try to encourage them to be active in promoting education in the schools,” he said, “and almost all of them do. I like to get in those groups that help promote the schools.”
That might include pushing for creation of student scholarships or just promoting intergenerational activities in the schools.

“Senior citizens love coming in and doing things with the younger kids,” Irving said.
Jamila Miqbel, who chairs the board of directors of the Friends of the Library, said Irving has been involved for years. He sits on the board (again), while leading the book sorting and sales committee and serves as liaison between volunteers and library staff, she said. He is also working to improve systems for book sales as well as collections and sorting.

“Now that we have a brand-new library, we have to refine processes to make it as easy as possible for donors as well as volunteers, and Jim has the know-how and expertise to make this project a success,” Miqbel said. “He knows many people in our community and is able to make all of the connections that we need to continue to grow and help the library succeed in its mission.

“Everyone loves working with him, because he is very positive and has wonderful ideas and connections to make all of our projects happen,” she added.

Irving, with his deep connections in the school district, was instrumental in finding a meeting place for the COPA Seniors group after its home was razed to make way for the overpass, Yocum said. Members were kind of bouncing around until Irving heard about their plight, and said he thought he could help.

Within months, Irving had helped work out an agreement between the school district and city manager to secure the use of two classrooms for the seniors.

“Jim was the catalyst that put all of that together,” Yocum said.

‘FOCUSED, GROUNDED AND YOUNG’

For Irving, one of the most satisfying aspects of his volunteer work is seeing how many of the students he has worked with now teach in the district. The last time he counted, he said, there were 15 or so.

He also loves visiting schools and getting an earful from the innocents.

“There’s nothing that will make you more humble than talking to a group of kindergarten kids, I always joke,” he said. “You go around Christmas and the big debate is Santa Claus. Really, how do you answer? Or a third grader who tells you she’s in love.”

Irving recently attended lunchtime with some kindergarteners.

“If listening to the discussion and debate doesn’t keep you focused, grounded and young,” he laughed again, “I don’t know what will.”

He has no plans to quit, and that is good news for district students, teachers and administrators.

“Mr. Irving is an ambassador, a liaison and all-around gem,” Lopeman said. “He is the heart and soul of the MUSD family.”

This story was first published in the October edition of InMaricopa magazine.