EDUCATION Principals plan for a change

Neither educator has had a desire for any other profession.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- A small clock in Dan Meta's office since October has been silently counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until his retirement.
Meta has been Crestview Middle School principal for 14 years and has 10 days left before his retirement begins. He enjoys being an educator, however, and hasn't paid much attention to the retirement clock, a gift from a friend.
Steve Matos has had a busy summer preparing to become Crestview Middle School principal. Finishing his duties in the Stow school district, where he worked as an assistant principal to fifth- and sixth-grade pupils at Lakeview Intermediate School; finishing course work at Kent State University and spending time with his wife, Danielle, and three boys, has kept him on the run.
Working part time since July 1, Matos has been at Crestview about eight days.
Neither educator has had a desire for any other profession.
Matos taught eighth-grade math and science four years in the Stow school district before taking an assistant principal's post at Lakeview Intermediate in Stow, where he did his student teaching.
"I didn't really have a desire for business or other careers," he said. "I wanted to teach fourth, fifth or sixth [grades]. I didn't want to spend the day wiping noses and zipping coats in the early grades. What I really didn't want was eighth-grade math or science, and that's what I got. But I came to love those kids."
What he learned
He has found to be true what many experienced educators told him during his schooling: Middle school pupils need someone willing to give them special attention, someone with the true desire to help them through the "growing pains" of adolescence and help them succeed.
"It's tough because that's when they are all going through so many changes," he said. "In a school with 1,000 seventh- and eighth-graders, I came to realize you just have to accept them. Sometimes you have to have the mentality of a seventh- or eighth-grader, but you can't let things get out of hand."
Matos said middle school pupils need to be treated with respect if adults want to earn their respect.
"I am looking forward to this position because there will be students in the fifth through eighth grades," he said.
"I love the interaction with the students and the staff. Middle school isn't quite high school, but the students have some independence. I want to see them learn, motivate them to enjoy education, not just push them through four years."
Matos lives in Salem with his wife and sons. Danielle is the Christian education director of the First Presbyterian Church of Salem. He said they plan to build a home in the Crestview district.
Robbie is 6 and will be a first-grader in Salem; Nicholas is 3; and Jake is 5 months. Matos said he and Danielle enjoy the outdoors and take the boys with them on hiking trips. He said the boys particularly enjoy hiking through caves. "If they can keep moving and get dirty, they'll love it."
What's ahead
Meta, meanwhile, has been tying up the loose ends of a 30-year education career and helping Matos get acquainted with Crestview.
Meta plans to spend time golfing, bicycling and working on cars, activities that until now he has participated in to relax from the hectic pace of a middle-school day.
"I will miss the people but not the stress," he said. "I am looking forward to not being on a time schedule, and just relaxing if I want to," he said.
"I will miss the students, but they've seen enough of me. It's time to get some new blood in here, and now is a good time to go.
"I've been 'in school' all my life. For 14 years, I've been coming in here, so, yeah, that first few days will seem strange."
Meta taught sixth-grade science and math for 16 years in Columbiana village schools before taking the Crestview principal's position. He said at 52 he plans to stay "semibusy" and will probably even substitute-teach.
Meta said he became an educator "because my dad told me to. In those days, if you're Italian, Dad told you something, you didn't question it. But I have never wanted to do anything else.
"My brother and I are both educators because that's what Dad told us we were to do. We both love it, though. My dad was very wise because he was a machinist in the steel industry, and even in the steel glory days, he could see where steel was headed. He never let us work in the steel mills. He didn't want us to even get a taste of that. Look where we are now."