ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701200022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
In the hallways of Montgomery County schools, the joke goes that new superintendents enter the school system "vertically" and leave "horizontally."
"We're known nationally for going through superintendents. I remember going to [educational] conventions and people would" recall rumors of rough treatment, said teacher Karen Trear, a former School Board member who now heads the county's education association.
Throughout Virginia, said former assistant superintendent Steve Staples, "folks recognize it's a tough place to work."
In the past 20 years, the school system has gone through seven superintendents. By comparison, Pulaski County has had three superintendents since about 1965.
While some point to the high turnover as a sign of a board unable to focus, a community unable to unite or perhaps just really bad luck, others see it as a healthy sign of needed change.
Either way, that history may have an impact now that the School Board is beginning another superintendent search to replace Herman Bartlett.
Looking at those high turnover rates, said former Superintendent Arnold Saari, "you think something must be wrong with the county, when actually it's with the people who were selected."
Others point to a School Board split between differing plans for the school system. Fighting within the board, said Trear, hasn't changed since she was on the board 10 years ago. "The faces have changed but it's still the same thing."
That's bound to happen in a county as diverse as Montgomery, said former board member Bob Goncz, who served with superintendents Harold Dodge and Bartlett. Board members represent everyone from farmers to Virginia Tech professors. The high turnover reflects the inability of board members to blend differing views.
Staples, now the superintendent of York County Schools near Williamsburg, said he remembers heated debates over proposed educational changes. Once, he faced 400 people at a PTA meeting when the administration was considering year-round schools.
"I saw some real differences within the community back in '91 - differences in programming wants and educational needs from parents. I felt very different attitudes depending on the group," he said.
In other words, joked Saari, "If you put in a new water fountain at Blacksburg High, you better put one in all the high schools, otherwise you're playing favorites."
Former board member Don Lacy said with more and more people from around the county working with Virginia Tech, the tensions "are more locked in the minds of people. The divisions between people are really minor, but the perceptions are major."
The strain, said Lacy, is also inherent in the way county government operates.
"There's always a natural division between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board," he said. "They have two different roles, where one is an advocacy board for the schools, the other is in an economizer and managerial role."
As an example, Lacy pointed to the decision to renovate Blacksburg Middle School. Because many supervisors wanted to keep the 40-year-old school - and because they pay the bills for county schools - the School Board agreed to renovate.
Most agree that the person who fills Bartlett's place will have the precarious job of charming all sides - Board of Supervisors, parents, teachers and a School Board that is often split. It will take professionalism, expertise and a good sense of humor.
Still, School Board Chairwoman Annette Perkins said this school system may never keep one superintendent a long period of time, and that's a good thing.
"You get new ideas, new approaches, Perkins said. "Sometimes it's important [to change] so we don't become stagnant."
Even with the tough reputation, Staples said, Montgomery County will hear from many talented people willing to give the superintendency a shot because of the employees.
"The thing that has held the division together, even in the changes, is the people," he said. "They're the ones in the schools or the administration office - the glue that have kept a good school system running."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: School superintendents. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB