Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ROANOKE PICKS SCHOOLS CHIEF
Thirty years after leaving his Roanoke Valley birthplace, E. Wayne Harris is coming home.The Roanoke School Board on Monday named Harris as the city's next school superintendent. He officially will succeed Frank Tota - who is retiring at the end of the school year - on July 1.
"It's good to see one of the valley's own assume a leadership position in the valley," board member Nelson Harris said. "That meant as much to us as his years of experience in Fairfax and that he has been a participant in one of the best doctorate programs in the country."
The board has spent five months paring a list of 44 applicants. From the beginning, Wayne Harris' qualifications made him a standout.
Harris was born and raised in Salem, where his parents still live. He will come to his new post after 25 years with the Fairfax County school system, most recently as an area superintendent. The Washington Post three years ago called him one of the most promising top administrators in Fairfax schools.
Harris, 47, oversaw roughly one-quarter of the county's public schools before taking a yearlong leave of absence to participate in a doctorate program for urban superintendents at Harvard University. His administrative area of 37 schools and 27,000 students had some of the highest concentrations of minority students, particularly immigrants who spoke little English.
Harris will move to a school system with 29 schools and 12,700 students, 41 percent of whom are minorities.
"I'm not sure I can tell you how wonderful I feel, as I prepare to come to Roanoke dedicated to children who attend school here," Harris said at a Monday news conference, his parents and fiancee at his side.
"I look forward to a long and productive relationship with Roanoke schools. We will work for the best education for all of our children so that they leave school ready to successfully meet challenges."
While Harris' qualifications looked good on paper, it was during in-person interviews and meetings with teachers, parents and school administrators that Roanoke School Board members say they gleaned a good sense of his character.
"The sensitivity he had; the sense of humor," Wendy O'Neil said. "And he likes us, to quote Sally Field. That showed all the way through."
Board member Marilyn Curtis admired Harris for having "passed inspection of a lot of powerful and strong organizations, like the [Roanoke Education Association] and the PTA," she said.
"My reaction is, hot dog," said Dorothy Cooper, president of the teachers' association. "We think we can work well with this man. We're very pleased with the choice, especially since he was our unanimous choice."
And throughout, Curtis said, "He was not perceived as a black man. He stood on his merits, not only as a black man."
Harris becomes the first black person to hold Roanoke's top school administrative post.
In 1988, Harris received three awards honoring his commitment to and work on behalf of human and civil rights.
The National Education Association's Human Relations Committee selected Harris to receive the 1988 H. Councill Trenholm Memorial Award, which is presented annually to one black and one non-black educator for their contributions in fostering better human relations.
Harris also was awarded the Fairfax County Human Rights Award and the Virginia Education Association's Fitz Turner Award. The awards recognized his role in developing education programs to support and encourage minority-student achievement, among other efforts.
Some board members breathed sighs of both relief and accomplishment as the search process ended.
"I feel like I've just had a baby," O'Neil said.
The board is scheduled to publicly vote on Harris' selection at its Feb. 16 meeting, Board Chairman Finn Pincus said. Though Harris signed a ceremonial contract on Monday, his salary and benefits will not be announced until next week's meeting, Pincus said. Several details in Harris' formal contract still must be worked out, he said.
Harris' salary in Fairfax is $89,000.
Tota's salary of $100,000 makes him one of highest paid school superintendents in the state. His salary has been hotly disputed over the years, primarily by teachers who have argued that he continued to receive hefty pay raises while teachers got little or no salary increases.
Harris, who is completing work on his Harvard doctorate, will make periodic visits to Roanoke during the next few months to better acquaint himself with the school system. He expects to receive his doctorate in June.
Timing couldn't have been more perfect, Curtis said.
"He reached a point in his life where this job was just made for him," she said. "He's a fine young man who knows what he wants."