Striving to achieve

Andrew Wainer

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a series of articles profiling the

superintendents who run our local school districts.

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Ocean View School District Supt. James Tarwater knows

the value of hard work.

“I grew up in north Long Beach,” the silver-haired Tarwater said at his

district office on Pinehurst Lane. “It was a blue-collar community where

hard work and education were the roads to opportunity.”

During his eight years as Ocean View’s superintendent, he has faced a

series of challenges that he claims he has overcome because of a

childhood emphasis on persistence and setting high standards.

“When I first got here, it was leadership by crisis,” Tarwater joked,

“The district was on the verge of bankruptcy when I took over.”

Ocean View trustee Tracy Pellman said the district was weeks away from

being broke.

“We were using the special reserve to run the district,” she said.

Within two years of Tarwater’s hiring in 1992, the district’s finances

were back on track, Pellman said.

Apart from reaching financial stability, Tarwater said one of his

greatest achievements has been helping students at risk of retention.

“We have 810 students in danger of being held back,” he said. “We had

1,200 before, and we expect the number at the end of the year to be even

lower.”

That’s less than 10% of the district’s total student population. Pellman

said the district’s retention policy, which Tarwater helped design, is

“way ahead of other districts”.

And as Tarwater demands high standards of himself and students, he also

puts pressure on district employees.

“The accountability factor in this district is incredibly high,” said

Harbour View Elementary School Principal Roni Ellis. “I have never worked

harder as a principal.”

Ellis said Tarwater’s expectations are sometimes so high that district

teachers get frustrated.

“We are constantly raising the bar on performance,” Ellis said. “But in

hindsight, I see it is the best thing to do.”

Tarwater admits his constant demands and high expectations have caused

some problems in the district.

“When you are constantly changing, it’s hard to get everybody on the same

page,” Tarwater said. “It’s difficult, with so much change going on to

keep our focus and collaboration.”

But it’s Tarwater’s high demands that some administrators said has made

the district what it is today.

“He’s a curriculum guru,” Ellis said. “When he visits schools, he wants

to see all the children’s work that is displayed, and he wants to know

how recent it is to see that children are doing appropriate level work.

“We have to send him reports every week on what’s going on at our school

instructionally, with parents, with public relations and other issues,”

Ellis said.

Ellis said the superintendent lets you know if he thinks you could be

doing more.

“He looks at every classroom,” Ellis said. “If he doesn’t like what he

sees, he makes no bones about it.”

But even as Tarwater has been driving the district to achieve, he has

decided to sit out on one of the district’s most controversial issues:

Crest View.

“I’ve been focusing on student retention issues,” Tarwater said. “The

board has taken the lead on the Crest View site.”

Controversy around the possible lease of the district’s Crest View site

so that Wal-Mart can open a store has become one of the city’s hottest

topics.

Although he said he understands why neighborhood residents oppose the

Wal-Mart, he said it would contribute greatly to the district.

“I’m trying to secure an income stream from that site,” Tarwater said.

The district would receive about $400,000 a year from leasing the site to

Wal-Mart.

But Tarwater said he wants to stay away from the issue to avoid even the

appearance of a conflict of interest.

Whatever the outcome of the Crest View debate, Tarwater will continue to

demand the best from the district.

“When you work hard, you appreciate more,” Tarwater said. “If we can

teach these kids to be persistent and never give up, they can do

anything.”