Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993 TAG: 9302260249
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
3RD SCHOOL-CHIEF CANDIDATE TALKS
Despite storm warnings and snow-covered roads, several dozen parents and educators showed up Thursday night at Christiansburg High School to get a look at a third superintendent-of-schools candidate.Herman G. Bartlett Jr., a Galax native and superintendent in Colonial Heights, told his examiners that a chance to serve in Montgomery County was "a dream come true."
Bartlett, 48, who holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Virginia Tech, taught in the county school system early in his career.
A former superintendent in neighboring Craig County, Bartlett has been superintendent in Colonial Heights since 1985. He was reappointed to that job this week on a 3-2 vote.
"I think I've done all the things that are necessary to be a good superintendent in this school district," Bartlett said. He answered questions in the relaxed manner of a man who had come home, with one leg slung across the end of a folding table.
Bartlett said he has used parent and teacher advisory committees to help guide him during his past jobs. Asked how he planned to work with parents if he got the Montgomery job, Bartlett said he wanted to take the relationships already in place and try to make them better.
"I think we all work in the school system for kids," Bartlett said when asked about his management style. "Every decision you make has got to be a student-oriented decision."
He tends to spend half of his workdays in the schools rather than a central office, Bartlett said. "I like to lead by example," he said.
Outside the meeting, some county teachers and principals - when asked what they had learned about Bartlett from their peers in school districts where he has worked - said his reviews have been mixed.
Bartlett said he tended to allow teachers, parents and principals to make decisions about how to run the schools, with his role as one of providing guidance.
It's not possible to reach for the full potential of students without having some kind of participatory management in place, he said.
Bartlett spoke highly of the book "A Place Called School," by John Goodlatte, which puts an emphasis on decision-making at the school level and collaborative decision-making.
At Colonial Heights, Bartlett said, he has put much emphasis on the introduction of technology in schools, and now the system has one computer for every four students. The schools there stress writing by students, he said.
Asked about his support for Montgomery County's program to include special-education students in the regular classroom, Bartlett admitted he didn't know much about it, but he said he supported the demands of the law to provide a free and appropriate education for all children.
His dealings with teachers' associations are guided by the wishes of his school boards, Bartlett said. He said he understood it was the Montgomery County board's desire that there be a close working relationship.
Bartlett is one of three candidates being considered to replace Harold Dodge, who has been superintendent for five years and leaves June 30.
Originally two finalists were picked, but after opposition developed to both, Bartlett was called back for a second interview.
The other two men under consideration are Richard Holzman, 53, who was dismissed from the top school job in Middletown Township, N.J., in September, and Robert Rice, who last worked as a superintendent in 1988 in Anne Arundel County, Md., and left that job after his board split in its support for him.
The School Board has a meeting scheduled this afternoon to continue its efforts to pick a superintendent.