Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARA LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Many school employees and parents say Herman Bartlett talks in circles, bullies employees, cozies up to the supervisors and favors rural areas of the county.
Supervisors, School Board members and other parents describe another man entirely. Rural parents say he's down-to-earth. Four of the nine School Board members say he has a clear and uncompromising vision, and they and the supervisors talk about how the two boards get along better these days.
Montgomery County has a long history of love-hate relationships with its superintendents. Only one has lasted through more than one full contract in the past 20 years. In the mid-1980s, the system went through four superintendents in five years.
And some residents say Bartlett's tenure will be just as brief.
`That was a joke'
Bartlett stepped on toes in his first contact with most of the county's more than 600 teachers. Several people recounted how Bartlett used the phrase "It's my way or the highway" during the encounter. Although he was talking about disciplining students, many teachers heard the phrase as a statement of Bartlett's managerial style.
"That was a joke," Bartlett said.
"I don't think he was trying to threaten people," Montgomery County Education Association President B.J. Mullins said.
But she and many other teachers did think it spoke volumes about his attitude. "If he felt that was an inspirational story," she said, "he just doesn't have his finger on the pulse."
Bartlett also has upset community leaders who led the long-term plan for school improvement, Focus 2006.
The project's volunteers say publicly that Bartlett has failed to support its recommendations and has played on Blacksburg-rural rivalries to discredit the plan.
Jim Johnson, Focus 2006 co-chairman, wrote a memo after a meeting with Bartlett. "I cannot stand aside and see [our] outstanding system systematically destroyed by one individual," he wrote.
Bartlett admits his frankness and brisk manner have caused him grief. He attributes it to 22 years in the Army reserve.
"I don't think there's any question I'm much more comfortable in finances, budget and a vision out yonder," Bartlett said. His vision, which would take four to five years to get off the ground, includes classroom interactive video and a 20-year building plan.
"I'm not sure I'm a good judge of what I'm weak in. I've been in this job long enough to know I can defend myself until I'm blue in the face, and it's not going to help anything."
`Look for substance'
"I have yet to hear anybody who works in the school system say anything positive about the guy," said Christiansburg resident Mike Sowder, co-chairman of the Focus 2006 commission.
Similarly, School Board member Don Lacy said he continually hears about Bartlett - on the phone, in the grocery store, in restaurants, in the town. He hasn't heard compliments since August.
Interviews across the county in six schools supported that description of the staff's attitude. In teachers' lounges, his name often came up unsolicited, and teachers would half-jokingly make sure the door was shut. One veteran said about him, "This, too, shall pass."
Mullins said that teacher dissatisfaction is "very definitely" not limited to Blacksburg schools. She has received complaints from teachers in all 18 schools.
Ann Rhudy, the Christiansburg High School PTA president, has known "Buddy," Bartlett's childhood nickname, since high school in Galax.
Describing herself as "one of the few in the county" who likes him, Rhudy suggested teachers made snap judgments about Bartlett because of his strong mountain accent and grammatical errors. "Just because he doesn't speak eloquently doesn't mean he's not a good superintendent."
Some teachers are neutral. Angie Eanes, a third-grade teacher at Shawsville Elementary, described Bartlett as a "more `back-to-the-basics' superintendent."
Two principals and the head of the principals' association declined to discuss Bartlett on the record. Principals, who do not have tenure or as strong a grievance procedure as teachers do if fired, met with Bartlett last semester. He told them if they opposed site-based management and total quality management, they were expendable. According to one principal who was there, Bartlett said, "Get your resumes ready."
When asked about the meeting, Bartlett said he wasn't sure if he made that exact comment, but said he did suggest they move on if they disagree with those philosophies.
Regina Smith, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, said Bartlett's personality worried her more than budget problems. "That trickles down to the classrooms, then it gets to the kids and they're ours, and then we have a problem."
But School Board Vice Chairman Bob Goncz said, "You have to get over style and look for substance."
A climate study on morale among school employees will come out May 17. School Board Chairman Roy Vickers will receive a copy May 10.
Rhudy said she'd heard from several sources Bartlett would not be renewed, and she did not rule out an ouster before his contract was up. " `He's outta here,' " she said teachers say. "He won't be asked back."
Caught in the maelstrom
Despite budget-season spats between the school system and supervisors, most supervisors praised Bartlett. Supervisor Joe Gorman said Bartlett was caught in the "maelstrom" of trying to do the things that need to be done.
"Whenever you're a good manager you don't make everybody happy."
Relations between the supervisors and the last superintendent, Harold Dodge, had become more and more strained toward the end of Dodge's five years. He did not ask for a second term.
Supervisor Nick Rush said the implication that Bartlett is cozying up with the board is just plain wrong. "It's not like we're best friends. I'll ask him a hard question and he'll give me a hard answer," Rush said. "You should be able to talk and communicate and not always agree and still have a relationship after the meetings."
But some parents and community leaders, especially those involved in Focus 2006, have connected the closer relationship with the supervisors with shortchanging school funding.
It's not all Bartlett, they admit, but both boards as well. Sowder, a former School Board member, said the majority of the current board members "want to do the minimal education."
Bartlett said that the 6 percent increase in local funding approved by the supervisors this year, twice last year's increase, proved the budget dialogue successful.
`Like a country boy'
Montgomery County superintendents always had to juggle the system's rural and Blacksburg demands. The county has 18 schools and more than 8,600 students from areas that differ widely in income, education and population density.
Rhudy, who has lived in the county since 1971, said no Montgomery superintendent has ever had an easy go of it.
"If Jesus Christ came back to be superintendent in this county, they'd crucify him again."
The most mentioned example of Bartlett playing the county and Blacksburg against each other is through Focus 2006.
Co-chairman Jim Johnson's memo to volunteers read, "Dr. Bartlett . . . commented to various individuals that Focus 2006 would not amount to anything because it was an all-Blacksburg project and would only be supported by Blacksburg folks."
"That I've got some ulterior motive is just beyond my imagination," Bartlett said. "I've never knowingly tried to play one area against the other.
"There's no way there's money in the county to do all those things," he said. The superintendent does keep a copy of the Focus 2006 mission and vision statements taped up next to his computer. "It's one of the most innovative things that's happening in Montgomery County. We've got to be willing to talk on those issues."
PTAs across the county are split, Smith said. As council president, she keeps in contact with all the PTAs. Two support him, nine are neutral and seven have complaints.
A typical example of how Bartlett angers PTAs is a meeting this spring at Prices Fork Elementary. President Chris Wakley said the PTA invited several supervisors and a School Board member to listen to its overcrowding concerns. Bartlett arrived uninvited and spoke for an hour and 15 minutes on the budget and pupil-teacher ratios.
The numbers Bartlett quoted "sounded real good," Wakley said, but "He had stacks of paper with numbers on both sides of 'em," said Wakley, a McCoy resident. "They sounded real good. The fact is, "those numbers are not what's happening in schools."
Bartlett said his tendency to talk too long has caused him to suffer greatly over his career. He said he believes, "If I can only show to them all the little details that they'll walk away saying, `That's great.' "
Smith said, "My perception of Bartlett is he tends to talk an awful lot, and he says very little."
Several parents in the county's more rural schools, however, have called Bartlett a welcome change. He's from Grayson County.
Robin Garrett, president of the Elliston-Lafayette Elementary PTA, said, "Every time we've asked for his help, we've gotten it." Elliston parents feel at home with him, she said. "He just seems like a country boy."
When asked about the lessons he's learned in 12 years at the head of school systems, Bartlett took a deep breath.
"I try much harder today to be a better listener," he said, shaking his head. "Although with my personality and style it's very difficult. I work on that constantly. I truly think I could be better served if I could modify it in some way."
Staff writer Brian Kelley contributed to this story.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB