Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Dr. Lee A. Harman, 57, whose last official day as superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools will be July 31, has used the motto as a reminder of what's really important in education.
"It draws us back to what it's all about - it's about kids and doing what's best for kids," he said Thursday.
Harman now will be doing that for Ball State University. "I'm shifting gears," he said.
His new job will include three primary responsibilities: first, he will represent Ball State on the statewide search team that helps school systems find superintendents; second, he will coordinate Ball State's administrative intern program for people who want to become principals and superintendents; and third, he will work with the Professional Standards Board, Indiana's teacher licensing body, to coordinate the education curriculum with the new licensing regulations.
"It's something I had always hoped to do - end my career at the university level," he said.
The Ball State job caps what has been so far a 36-year career dedicated to education. He began at Madison Elementary in 1966 as a teacher, stayed at Madison for nine years, then was principal at Churubusco Elementary for two years and at Washington Elementary for nine years. He was assistant superintendent for Warsaw schools for six years, and has been superintendent for the past 10.
Though he will be working for Ball State, he'll stay in Warsaw and commute to Muncie a couple times a week, he said. His wife, Sue, who teaches math at Warsaw Community High School, will continue to teach.
The new position takes him farther away from direct contact with students, he said, but gives him the chance to potentially help a lot of children.
"When I was a teacher, I got close to students every year. That was really neat to have that kind of influence," he said.
As principal and superintendent, he had an influence on more children - just further removed.
"Now I can have an influence of a lot of people who are someday going to have an influence on a lot of kids," he said of his new responsibilities.
That focus on students is something he has emphasized repeatedly during his tenure as superintendent, and is one of the things he's proudest of in the school corporation.
"I feel fortunate to have worked with lots of good people who really care about kids," he said.
One of the things he feels good about, he said, is that Warsaw's school corporation "has an outstanding reputation across the state. That's not anything I've done, but I haven't harmed it."
He said it's a result of high expectations - both of himself and of his staff.
Education is changing, Harman said: "It's pretty clear that the environment is becoming much more competitive." With distance learning, the Internet and privatized schools competing for education dollars, public schools "can't count on kids showing up at our doors anymore."
He sees a growing trend of lack of self-discipline among children and said schools' problem now is to be "customer-friendly" while instilling self-discipline.
"It's hard now and it's going to get worse," he said. "The vast majority have good families in this community - but the minority is getting larger."
Schools' role in students' lives also is getting larger, he said, as a reflection of how society is changing. For example, "more and more kids get two out of three meals a day at school," he said. "It's not a role we went out and sought; it landed on our doorstep."
Schools are changing, students are changing, external influences on teachers have increased, but the fundamentals of education have stayed the same, he said. "The basic stuff that goes on in the classroom hasn't changed that much - it's still connecting with kids."
