DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010090

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   91 lines

EDUCATOR STRIVES FOR LOCAL HELP EX-BOWLING PARK PRINCIPAL WANTS TO REPEAT SUCCESS.

This is how Herman Clark Jr. became a miracle worker: Walking crack-filled sidewalks in neighborhoods like Young Terrace public housing, trying to drum up a little support and a lot of parental enthusiasm.

Sixteen years ago, as the new principal at Bowling Park Elementary, Clark hit similar sidewalks in the then-Bowling Park public housing. Soon after, he made miracles happen: More parents volunteered and affected school decisions; children felt special with his attention, and test scores soared; the school became a national model of classroom and community working together.

But 16 years ago he received the same responses that he heard on a recent oven-hot day in Young Terrace:

``Yes, my kids go to school, but I don't volunteer - I don't work for free.''

``No, I don't have kids at the school, so I don't care about what's going on there.''

``I just take my kids to school and leave. I don't know how to talk to those folks.''

And, just as he did 16 years ago, Clark, now in his 40s, jots notes and looks the doubtful in the eye - ``Well, I hope you don't mind if I come back and talk to you. We'll see what we can do to get you interested.''

School officials have promoted Clark from principal to assistant to superintendent in hopes that he can spin miracles at Norfolk's other eight community schools - schools like Bowling Park, which were left predominantly poor and black with the end of crosstown busing 11 years ago. Poverty often leaves children without books and adequate resources at home to help them in school; the community schools, besides Bowling Park, have some of the lowest test scores in the city.

Clark fills a position vacated by Fred Oliver, who resigned two months ago for a job in Georgia. While Oliver coordinated volunteer efforts to help schools, Clark will now supervise the community schools and evaluate principals on their ability to increase achievement.

``Herman has been the most successful on community school principals, in taking his school to national prominence,'' said Norfolk Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. ``He's discovered the secrets in how to do it. He was almost a natural choice.''

Clark's move fits into the district's overall academic improvement plan, the Norfolk Quality Schools Initiative, in which all schools have goals to increase student performance.

Clark began his work last month walking in the neighborhoods that feed into the community schools and talking to principals about how to bring people into the schoolhouse for more support.

``I'm not here to tell them how to be Herman Clark. Every community is different,'' Clark said. ``I'm here to help them figure out how to help their school. It does begin with the community.

``If I can get more people into the schools, I'm telling you, you're going to see a drastic difference in the academic arena.''

Clark is quick to tell people that miracles don't happen overnight, nor without hard work.

Clark became principal at Bowling Park in 1981, a few years before community schools evolved. But his school still drew from some of the poorest areas around the city and Clark was charged with raising test scores.

He spent hours looking for national resources on how to reach slow learners. He invited parents to travel with him to Baltimore, Harlem and other cities to look at successful programs. In the 1980s, he implemented mandatory school uniforms and created same-sex classes, controversial but necessary moves to get students more concentrated on their work.

Clark found ways to better involve the community, such as having parents run before- and after-school care, getting the corner gamblers to come in and tutor students in math. Businesses and churches surrounding Bowling Park began working closely with the schools, donating food for parent meetings or money for supplies.

Parent Betty Clark has worked with Clark for the past 11 years as her two children have moved through Bowling Park. She said Bowling Park wouldn't be the model it is without Clark.

Betty Clark said little things he did, such as attending a church function of hers, cultivated a special relationship between parents and the school.

``I've been to schools where you walk into the office, did your business, and left. But when you walked into Bowling Park, you felt a warmth,'' Clark said. ``There was a sense, `This is your school, too.' . . . He will be missed.''

Herman Clark feels that Bowling Park isn't unique. By hitting the sidewalks, talking to those with beer bottles and baby bottles in hand, he and other community school principals can make eight other miracles happen.

``Our job is to help those less educated and economically deprived,'' said Clark, who vows to work more in the classrooms than in his office.

``We're going to have to do some work. You have to do more than what's outlined in your job description.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Herman Clark, right, talks with Norfolk resident Ollie Celestine Jr.

about volunteering at St. Helena's Elementary.

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