End of Campbell era

Andrew Lewis Middle School Principal Jerry Campbell remembersexactly when he decided to become an educator -- 1961.

He was still a middle schooler himself then, growing up inAugusta County, and one of his teachers was a World War II veterannamed Frank Null, who'd fought and was captured at the Battle ofAnzio.

"He was the first male teacher I'd ever had," Campbell recalled Wednesday. "When he talked about the war, he was doing it in apersonal manner. And that part of it appealed to me, because when Ifinally did go to college and get a degree, my degree was in socialstudies and in history.

"Teaching is what I've always wanted to do, since the seventhgrade."

Campbell steps down this month after 21 years at Andrew Lewis'helm, and after nearly 40 years in education in the Roanoke Valley.Andrew Lewis serves the sixth, seventh and eighth grades in Salem,and averages about 900 students a year.

Campbell's recent landmark coincides with another one -- earlierthis month he was named Middle School Principal of the Year by theVirginia Association of Secondary School Principals and, as such,is now a contender for National Middle School Principal of theYear.

It's a prospect he faces with some trepidation and a fair amountof credit-sharing.

"A lot of people have gone into making me what I am today," hesaid citing, among others, his school's faculty. "I'm going toWilliamsburg to accept the award on Monday and if I could take all70 of them with me, I would."

Current Assistant Principal Forest Jones will replace Campbell onJuly 1.

"He actually hired me as a teacher, 16 years ago," Jones saidFriday. "He started out as my boss. He's been a mentor, a fatherfigure, and it's turned into a good friendship."

Campbell has the fit, quietly serious look and style of abasketball coach, and he used to be one. He also coached baseballas a Roanoke teacher, and his sports background is apparent in hisdisciplinary approach. For years, he kept a sign above his officedoor that simply read, "No Whining." But he hung it on the inside,he said, so it became a request students would see on their way outof conferences.

"Mr. Campbell's dry wit can leave you wondering sometimes if heis joking or not, but no one is ever unclear about the fact thathis heart and his priorities are with his students," Salem schoolsSuperintendent Alan Seibert, a former assistant principal at AndrewLewis, wrote in an email this week.

"I am grateful that my son was among the many thousands ofchildren who benefited from his experience and expertise," headded.

Campbell started at Andrew Lewis in 1990, and during his tenuresaw the arrival of the Internet, cellphones and other technologythat permanently changed -- for better and worse -- the work ofeducators.

"Are kids any different now than they were 20 years ago? I thinkthey still want the same thing," Campbell said. "I think youngsterswant discipline. I think they expect discipline.

"These kids will mature more in these three years more than theydo at any other time in life, besides birth to [age] 2. And they'regoing through all kinds of changes in their lives," he said. "Inelementary school, they're not making too many life decisions. Butparents need to stick with them through middle school all the waythrough high school, because every decision they make can be a life-changing decision."

A bigger educational challenge, he said, has been theimplementation and testing of state Standards of Learning.

"Governments are deciding who's successful and who's notsuccessful based on a one-day test," Campbell said.

"I think education needs to get out in front and say, 'This isthe best way to do it,' rather than government being out in frontand telling us how to do it. But that's our fault for not doingit," he added. "I think every system should be out there beingproactive on what they need to do to provide a better education foryoung people."

If there's a secret to doing that, he said, it's sincerity.

"One of the things with him, he is a strong believer indeveloping a relationship with students," Jones said.

"I care a great deal about young people, I always have," saidCampbell. "You can't fake that. They will see right through it.Young people will see it, though, if you really mean what you say."