THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 13, 1995 TAG: 9512120106
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GROVE CITY, OHIO LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
IT WAS THE KIND of dilemma that seemed uniquely small town, and one that school superintendent Bob Bowers seemed delighted to resolve.
The town's annual Christmas parade was planned for a cool Saturday evening earlier this month. All the floats and marching bands were lined up and ready for the stroll down Main Street to kick off the shopping season in this small city on the outskirts of Columbus.
The problem was that the Grinch was a no-show. It seemed the man who would play the foul-tempered grouch could not fulfill his duties, so the parade organizers turned to the last person anyone here thought should play the part: Bob Bowers.
For eight years, the affable superintendent has earned a reputation as a prince among men, a gentle fellow who takes pride in his two sons and in the slow but steady progress of the 17,800-student district.
Under Bowers' direction, the South-Western City School District has passed three tax levies to help the district build, expand and renovate city schools. Until then, the district's voters had let the schools languish by not authorizing a tax increase in almost 10 years. In Ohio, school districts are given authority to raise taxes that, along with state and federal matching funds, constitute the district's operating and building budgets.
Bowers was credited for helping the district effectively explain its desperate need for more money and for allowing an unusual community-driven campaign to build support for the levy.
But that gets ahead of the story.
Bowers may be liked as a superintendent, but he sees himself as more the business executive, dressing in a conservative dark suit and feeling comfortable around business problem solving. Being a character in the annual Christmas parade was not what he had in mind.
``Gee, I'd hate to see this in the local newspaper,'' Bowers said, not long after agreeing to be the Grinch. ``It's not the kind of thing a candidate for the job of superintendent in Virginia Beach would want people to know.''
But come that Saturday night, there sat Bowers atop a car waving to an appreciative crowd.
Four days later, Bowers sat on the 18th floor of an Oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach answering questions from a citizen's advisory committee that had been set up to help the School Board select the next superintendent.
For two hours, Bowers wrestled with questions that crossed the spectrum of a modern superintendent's job: keeping at-risk students in class, finding resources for the gifted and talented, getting parents involved in parent-teacher associations and the granddaddy question of all: what is your leadership style?
In short, Bowers would keep at-risk students in class by any means necessary. He favors programs for the gifted and talented so long as they don't completely drain off the smartest children from the main student body, leaving those less talented unexposed to the brighter students. He would like to see the school district accommodate in every way the demanding work schedules of modern, single-parent households to improve the quality of some parent-teacher organizations.
As for leadership, Bowers said he favors consensus building and a high degree of participatory decision-making among administrative staff. He sees communication to various schools across Virginia Beach as one of the more challenging aspects to the superintendent's job.
He considers his 8 1/2-year tenure in the South-Western school district as among his most notable accomplishments, adding that most Ohio superintendents last only about three years.
He is proud of having dramatically cut the level of mistrust that has arisen between the superintendent and the teaching staff, and he finds Ohio's complex system of school financing frustrating.
Bowers appeared comfortable with the interview and gave answers that did not provoke any obvious signs of discomfort with the committee, although some answers seemed strained and rambling.
The 11th of 12 children, Bowers learned the art of compromise at home. He was the first family member to attend a four-year school and counts a sister as a fellow educator. She is a teacher.
His father was part-time farmer and road superintendent for Greene County, Tenn. During the Vietnam War, he received a medical deferment because his eyesight was poor. In 1980 and the following year, he had both corneas replaced.
He began his educational career as a teacher at Pleasant Gardens High School in Marion, N.C., where at the time he was the only single male teacher there. A young woman noticed this and took it upon herself to find out more about him, leaving occasional notes on his classroom door asking him to go out and mingle with her friends.
Her name was Sandra, though her friends called her Sherry, and she was a fourth-grade teacher. In time, the two were married.
Sherry Bowers continues her teaching career at Grove City High School where she is an intervention specialist working with students at risk of dropping out.
They have two sons, Denver, who is on a baseball scholarship at Miami of Ohio University and, Juddson, a junior at Grove City High School.
Asked why he went into teaching, Bob Bowers said simply, ``I liked it.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
IN SEARCH OF A SUPERINTENDENT
Dr. Bob Bowers
Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Bob Bowers considers his 8 1/2-year tenure in the South-Western
school district as among his most notable accomplishments, adding
that most Ohio superintendents last only about three years.
BOB BOWERS
Age: 45
Family status: married, two sons. His wife, Sherry, is a high
school teacher.
Hometown: Chuckey, Tenn.
Education: B.A. at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C.; M.A.
at Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, N.C.; doctorate from
East Tennessee State, in Johnson City, Tenn.
Current position: superintendent of South-Western City School
District in Grove City, Ohio
Student population: 17,844
Number of schools: 28
Operating budget (1995-96): $87 million
Years served in South-Western: Eight
Previous experience: superintendent of Yancey County Schools in
Burnsville, N.C.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT by CNB