Ford becomes permanent principal (11/26/2008)

When Phil Ford graduated from Dunkirk High School in 1968, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life.

But he was sure of two things.

One, he did not want to go into education.

And two, he was not going to live in Jay County.

So what did he do?

He became a chemistry teacher. And after a short stint in Ohio, he moved back to his hometown and took a job at Jay County High School.

He taught for the better part of 20 years, spent two as dean of students and five as the JCHS athletics director. In 1999, he left to take the AD job at Wes-Del.

When that same position came open at JCHS in 2003, Ford decided he was ready to come home again. Before he applied, he had a conversation with then-superintendent Barb Downing.

"One of the questions she asked me was, 'Why did you never pursue the principalship?' And I laughed at her," said Ford. "I said, 'That's not something I want to do or I ever see me wanting to do. I don't have any interest in that.'"

Given his history, what has happened should not be any surprise.

When Jeremy Gulley left in August to become principal at Huntington North High School, JCHS was left with a void. It was without a principal with just two weeks remaining before the start of school.

So Ford stepped in.

It was on an interim basis then. But Monday night, the Jay School Board approved Ford to stay in the job on a permanent basis.

He calls the job "challenging", and said that had the board decided to go in a different direction and asked him to move back to the AD job he would not have been heartbroken. But he also said his first four months on the job has been a good experience, and one he looks forward to continuing.

"I want to stay because I'm ready to do something different. ... I've found that at my age a new challenge has been good for me," said Ford in an interview Thursday. "It's been exhausting at times ... but I want to stay because I've found that those new challenges and those new experiences and the chance to do something different ... is at the same time both tiring and energizing. ... I like the idea, now that I'm here, of different experiences."

It is clear Ford took a different path than most in arriving at his current job.

When he started college he didn't want to go into education, but that's just where he ended up. Once involved in teaching, he felt much the same way about administration.

"There are people who set out in their careers who say, 'I want to be principal one day,'" he said. "That's never been on my radar screen."

In fact, Ford, who was a teacher's association representative for years, didn't even consider going into administration until then-JCHS Dean Thom Jerles talked him into taking a school law class together. The experience led to Ford getting his administrator's license, and he became Dead of Students in 1994.

"That was a job that, quite frankly, just about killed me," he said. "I only did that for two years, seemed like 15."

He went back to teaching. When long-time athletics director Harold Schutz was preparing to retire, he asked if Ford would be interested in the job.

As before, Ford wasn't interested.

"You gotta be kidding me," Ford says he told Schutz. "I don't want to be the athletic director."

But over the next couple of years he attended events when Schutz's successor Bob Lutton. Through those experiences, his view of the job changed.

When Lutton XXXXXXXXX, Ford went to then-superintendent George Gilbert and expressed his interest. Gilbert recommended him, and Ford said his first stint as the JCHS was a growing experience much like his current job has been so far.

"I really think I was able to grow tremendously as a person in that job," said Ford. "The best thing about that job is that I have met people all over the state that I would not have known otherwise - athletic directors and principals and officials in other parts of the state. I have been continually impressed with the quality of people that are involved in the public school system that I've dealt with."

His impressions of Jay County High School have been much the same.

As principal, Ford said one of the biggest differences has been looking at the school from a different perspective. He has a new view of his surroundings, and the strengths and weaknesses of the school in which he has spent most of his professional career.

He lists the quality of the students and teachers at JCHS among the school's greatest strengths.

As for the job, Ford's day-to-day work has changed greatly.

As an athletics director, he spent a lot of time dealing with coaches and athletes, and scheduling games and officials. As principal, he has different priorities.

After checking e-mail and his "to-do" list in the morning, he checks in with his assistant principals Ted Habegger and Chad Dodd (see related story). Having held both of their jobs previously in his career, he wants to make sure he is available to help each of them and be informed about what is going on in their day.

He also wants to make sure he's available to the students.

"If things go how I want them to go, I try to be in the halls every day, at least sometime in the morning ... and sometime in the afternoon," Ford said.

One of the things Ford started on early in the year was teacher evaluations, which go on throughout the year. He said he would have like to start them earlier, especially for the first-year teachers at JCHS.

"With young teachers it's important to be at least around, if not in their classrooms early on," Ford said. "I'm not sure I've done that as well or as early or as often as I should have. If there are issues, you can help them deal with them.

"I've never met a new teacher who didn't want to do a good job. ... I think most of them want help, especially if they're struggling a little bit."

As in all jobs, there are frustrations.

Ford said as an AD he was usually dealing with people who genuinely wanted to be involved. As a principal, he said, he is sometimes dealing with people who don't want to be involved, or are at least reluctant to be involved as much as he would like them to be.

"It's different than what I've been doing," he said. "There are problems that need to be solved that require a different approach, a different mind set. ...

"I really loved what I was doing before. I'm not to the point yet where I get the same enjoyments from this job that I did from that job."

He said he's not sure he'll ever enjoy being principal as much as he did being in charge of "toys and games" as he often referred to the AD job.

Despite that, and even though Ford never expected to find himself sitting in the seat he does now, what he felt when he was away at Wes-Del shows just why it might be the exact position he was always meant to have.

"I missed the place," said Ford. "I love Jay County High School ... This is my home."

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