By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For 19 years, Bowling Green High School Principal Jeff Dever has been the towering 6-foot 5-inch authority figure with the booming voice – there to chide students when they screw up, guide them to make better decisions, and celebrate their successes.
Dever, who is retiring at the end of this school year, has watched a generation of timid freshmen evolve into confident graduates.
“It’s a really good job. No two days are the same,” he said. “No two situations are the same.”
Being a high school principal is the hardest job in education, according to Hugh Caumartin, who was superintendent when Dever was hired.
“They are exposed to machine gun fire every day,” Caumartin said.
Dever was accustomed to dealing with struggling students and unhappy parents. But there’s no way he could have been prepared for one of the darker periods in BGHS history. In a span of two years, five high school students took their own lives.
“That was a difficult time to get through,” Dever said.
One of the students hanged himself in a high school restroom.
For a period, the suicides colored many decisions. “We took everything seriously,” Dever said. “You shouldn’t have to bury a kid.”
Caumartin recalled that period.
“It was a very, very difficult time,” he said. “It was very traumatic for the staff, for the kids, and for Jeff.”
When Dever leaves BGHS, Superintendent Francis Scruci said he will be missed by students and staff.
“Jeff’s big in stature, but his heart is three times as big,” Scruci said. “He has a caring soul. I think Jeff’s going to be sorely missed.”
And when he leaves, Dever takes with him 22 years at BGHS.
“That’s a lot of institutional knowledge walking out the door,” Scruci said.
Dever went into the job with some idea of the challenges. He grew up in New Jersey with a dad who worked as a school superintendent and a mom who taught school for 37 years. Dever served as an Army officer for about 10 years, explaining “it was kind of a rite of passage in my family.”
He went on to earn his teaching certification at BGSU, then taught math and coached football at Springfield High School. After going to grad school, he applied for the assistant principal job at BGHS, under principal Jean McCulloch.
“She was an excellent example of what a principal should be,” Dever recalled. “She was thoughtful and empathetic with the kids.”
Three years later, in 2002, Dever was promoted to principal. Caumartin – who also served in the military – believed Dever was a good fit.
“Obviously, he came with some pretty significant leadership skills,” said Caumartin, who is retired and living in North Carolina.
Dever approached the job with heart and honesty, Caumartin said.
“I found him to be a very empathetic individual who really cared about the kids and treated them with respect,” he said. “He always did what he thought was best for the students. He really had a human connection with the kids.”
But that didn’t mean the decisions were easy.
“In this job, you always second guess yourself,” Dever said. But one constant was his belief that students had a right to their voices. “I’m a real believer in kids having First Amendment rights.”
Students and parents did not have to guess what Dever thought about issues, Caumartin recalled.
“They knew where they stood with him. He let them know.”
As principal, Dever often had to break it to parents that their children weren’t living up to expectations.
“They are sending their best here, and I tell them their best isn’t doing very well,” he said.
Dever still remembers the very first dance at the school after he was hired. Since Bowling Green kids are pretty much like those in other districts, some came to the dance reeking of alcohol.
“You could smell it in the gym,” he said. “Kids need to know the limits. We have to have a safe school.”
There was one point when he was assistant principal that 23 students were suspended at once for making an inappropriate sign in a senior photo.
But kids who sometimes seemed destined for trouble surprised him. “I see them out in the community, and something clicked with them.”
Dever is aware that his stature can be intimidating to some kids. “Because of my size, they might misconstrue me as mean,” he said. “I’m always pretty conscious of that.”
Assistant Principal Dan Black, who has been selected to take over as principal when Dever leaves, mused that Dever needs his big frame for a reason.
“His heart is big. He’s got to be his size to fit his heart,” Black said. “He’s loud. You can hear him down the hall. He has a presence.”
As his assistant, Black has seen a side of Dever that few have witnessed. He told of Dever once becoming aware of a student who was homeless, with no family support.
“Jeff spent the next two days getting him an I.D., finding an apartment for him, and giving him money out of his own pocket for groceries,” Black said.
In another case, when a student came very close but didn’t graduate, Dever helped him get the credit he needed.
Dever believes in giving kids several chances to get things right, Black said.
“Those are stories that nobody knows, that nobody can see,” Black said. “He leads with his heart.”
Dever is leaving behind a school that is academically strong, with a well supported staff, according to Black.
“This building and this community is going to miss him,” Black said.
And Dever will miss them. But he won’t miss the difficult decisions, the disappointment of voters not supporting school building levies, and the contentious relationships in the school and in the public.
Jennifer Dever, Jeff’s wife, is also retiring from her position teaching English at BGHS. The couple plans to move to Florida to be closer to family and further from cold winters.
“I’ll miss the day to day contact with people. For Jenny and I, it’s like we’re graduating from high school,” Jeff Dever said.
