ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 TAG: 9701200045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
NOT EVERYONE AGREES with John Kent, but he has earned respect for his dedication to Bedford's schools.
John Kent does not wear a watch, but he's always on time.
And anyone who has stepped into his office in the Bedford School Administration Building knows the desktop is always clear.
No note pads, pens, pencils - not even a telephone. Not a thing, unless he's working on a report or memo.
Kent, who starts his 10th year as superintendent of Bedford schools this fall, is seen by many as stiff, distant, confident, obstinate, a "nothing should ever cross my desk more than once" sort of guy.
In many ways, they are right.
``I'm like `Dragnet' - just the facts,'' he said recently.
But there's another side. There's the guy who hangs around a local garage chewing tobacco and insisting former students call him by his first name.
There's the Kent whose kindness eased a fourth-grader's fears of interviewing an adult for the Montvale Elementary School newspaper.
Kent is a man of contrasts, and during the past decade he's had his critics.
However, most people interviewed - including teachers, parents, school and county officials, and former co-workers - said that although they don't always agree with Kent, they respect the efforts and time he spends hearing their concerns.
They say he's ultimately responsible for leading a growing, rural school system and praise his efforts to spend more on instruction and resources for children.
``Ten years ago, Bedford County didn't have as fine a reputation as now," said School Board member Donna Templeton. "[We were] only spending 56 percent of the budget on instruction, and now we spend around 76 percent. The change, of course, was Dr. Kent. He realized that for kids to perform, they have to be given resources."
If he's nothing else, Kent is organized. That's why his desk is clear, but he can always pull out a drawer and find the file he wants. He said it's inefficient to handle a sheet of paper more than once. Either read it, act on it and file it, or toss it.
While a principal, Kent grew tired of hearing watches beep and seeing school workers spend more time checking the time than working. To be efficient, he stopped wearing a watch. Instead he keeps a small clock under his desk.
Shirley McCabe, vice chairwoman of the Bedford County School Board, remembers how Kent, as a principal at Liberty High School, "would get after me. He didn't like you to have a cluttered desk."
Jean Cash, who taught under him at Montevideo High School in Rockingham County in the late 1970s, recalled not only Kent's clean desk, but also how he revamped the English curriculum.
Kent earns $92,000each year in base salary, and many describe him as a workaholic.
He works half a day - ``whichever 12hours I need to'' - and jokingly tells his staff during a meeting that's what he expects of them.
This is from a man who has missed only three days of work during a 30-year career. In 1973 he was hospitalized. Doctors ran tests to see if Kent had the flu, but determined the illness was the result of his hurried lifestyle.
During his tenure in Bedford, the student enrollment has grown by about 2,500, and Kent projects the same growth rate by the year 2000.
Under Kent, more than 200teachers have been hired, raising the staff to 750. As a result, pupil-teacher ratios have fallen from 28-1 when he started to 20-1 in elementary and middle schools and 19-1 in high schools.
All 21schools have been built, replaced or renovated during Kent's tenure. Bedford also took over the New London Academy, which the county had operated with Campbell County.
The quality of the schools under Kent and the School Board has attributed to the county's growth, County Administrator Bill Rolfe said.
Kent said the key to his success has been getting the supervisors, school personnel and community together on growth issues and school matters.
But again, he's had his critics.
The most complaints have come from Citizens Who Care, a group whose members do not think school instruction resources are properly funded.
The group's leaders accuse Kent of giving indirect answers to financial questions, and are critical of how expenditures are made. The group says too much money has been spent on school construction and not enough on classroom materials.
``I don't see any way the system will be corrected under his leadership,'' said Don Gardner, the group's president. ``He has not been open and forthright in providing the public or the School Board with accurate information.''
Ann Duncan, a Bedford County Education Association representative, often disagrees with Kent on issues.
"It's impossible to persuade him that his decision may be counterproductive," she said.
``I feel like we're on opposite ends,'' Kent said of the teachers' organization. ``I try to work with them and be helpful, but to agree with them would be a conflict.''
Kent and the BCEA have ``lots of collegial relationships,'' he said, but ``you have to keep a certain distance."
"I'm not a teacher. I'm a superintendent, and there's a difference.''
* * *
Kent, 51, is from a blue-collar family from Lynchburg that stressed education and work.
His mother taught private music lessons and flying, and his late father was a mechanic. Kent was the youngest of their two sons.
Kent, who graduated from E.C. Glass High School, was the first in his family to attend college. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Lynchburg College in only three years, even though he worked full time at Sears.
He also earned his master's degree in guidance and counseling at Lynchburg, then earned a doctorate from Nova University in Florida. He continues to take classes each summer.
Kent started teaching in Bedford County. He became assistant principal at Staunton River High School before taking the principal's job at Montevideo High School.
After seven years he moved his family - his wife and two sons - back to Bedford to become principal of Liberty High School. In 1982 he was named associate superintendent, and five years later, at age 41, superintendent.
Kent likes keeping his public and private lives separate, and his office reflects that. You have to sit beside Kent at his desk to see pictures of his two sons, on the second shelf of the telephone table adjoining his desk.
A few plaques and certificates on one wall recognize his involvement in the Boy Scouts, Future Farmers of America, vocational education clubs, student government, sports teams and graduating classes at Liberty and Montevideo high schools.
His favorite plaque is one of a little girl that reads: "This is a child-centered school."
Kent is a strict disciplinarian, but with a human touch, Cash said.
Take Jessica Spangler, now a fifth-grader at Montvale Elementary School. She remembers being scared last school term when she and another student went to interview Kent for their school newspaper.
"He was our first grown-up to interview. But he made it easier by being nice to us and talking like a friend."
Lenny Montano knows a Kent who wears Levi's, chews tobacco and talks about antique cars and motorcycles at a Bedford garage. Kent, who has restored a Studebaker, is a casual, friendly guy, said Montano, a partner at the garage.
Sandy Wheeler recalls being at the garage and calling the superintendent ``Dr. Kent.''
``He said, `Call me John; I don't have a nickname,''' Wheeler said.
``I think a lot of people don't know he's really a nice person,'' said Beverly Padgett, the school system's business coordinator. ``He's got a good sense of humor, but a lot of people don't realize that. He's an understanding person.''
Padgett said she's never seen Kent lose his temper, even ``when he started pulling rabbits out of a hat'' to make the 1995-96 school budget meet cuts made by the Board of Supervisors.
Duncan received a nice note from Kent when she was elected to office in the state education association. ``He's always been fair to me. He's always allowed me to grow professionally,'' she said.
As he begins his second decade at the helm of Bedford County schools, Kent wants to see students continue to excel. But, he said, that might mean removing some programs that don't focus particularly on the math, science, reading and social studies that he wants to stress.
"I feel reading is the most important thing we do with kids, and we should spend more time on it."
Kent said the system will continue meeting the challenges of population growth by working as a team with all community agencies that serve children.
Kent said he's "been blessed at being able to work with a lot of wonderful people" and he has plans to be around for a while.
According to his brother, Peter, Kent means that: ``He tells me how much he loves his job. He said he wouldn't trade it for anything.''
LENGTH: Long : 166 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART STAFF. 1. John Kent is starting his 10th yearby CNBas Bedford school boss. 2. John Kent talks with Andy Gardner, a
senior at Staunton River High School, about a computer-controlled
machine Gardner is working on in the Design and Technology Lab.
color. KEYWORDS: PROFILE