BREA : Principal Earns State Recognition

For Tim Harvey, life as principal of William E. Fanning Elementary School means being a jack-of-all-trades.

He will play one-on-one basketball with a student during recess or perform some maintenance duties if a janitor calls in sick. He will even survey students to see how much they like the playground equipment.

“I’m a North Dakota farm boy, so this job fits perfectly,” Harvey said. “We do whatever needs to be done.”

This down-home approach to what often is considered an aloof position helped earn him statewide recognition Thursday, when state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig announced that Harvey would be one of 12 recipients of the 1990 California Educator Awards.

The award is given to teachers and administrators for their leadership abilities, professional growth, achievements and overall commitment to excellence in education.

Harvey, 44, who has been principal at the school since 1983, was cited for being an administrator who “does not seek power but from whom power seems to naturally flow.” He also was honored for helping launch several special school programs that have become models for the rest of the district.

The winners were chosen by the California State Steering Committee, which was established by the California Assn. of County Superintendents of Schools and the state Department of Education. Funding for the awards was provided by the Milken Family Foundation, which initiated the program in 1987. Recipients will be honored at a luncheon in San Francisco on Oct. 11, and each will receive $25,000 at a ceremony next year.

“It would be much more comfortable for me to make this a team award,” Harvey said. “You don’t have to look too far to see that you should share the limelight.”

He points to the fact that the school, which opened in 1970, is not a collection of classrooms but, rather, pods. Several classes and grades are grouped together in one circular room, separated only by temporary walls. Thus, teachers, administrators and students are forced to work more closely.

“There are some people you can talk to and others that are a step above you,” said Teddi Coulton, a kindergarten teacher. “You can talk to him. He’s a caring, concerned individual.”

The committee recognized Harvey for implementing an integrated language arts curriculum, much of it based on the importance of literature and reading. The curriculum includes a Books & Beyond program, designed to encourage students to adopt better reading habits by rewarding them for number of books read. Last year, students read 15,150 books, and those at higher levels read a total of 397,804 pages last year.

Teachers and parents also like to point out some simple programs that have gone a long way. Harvey helped create a “success button” program, in which students are personally recognized for their work, and several special homework programs for gifted students.

He also helped start a Jog-a-Thon, an annual fund-raiser that raises about $20,000 a year.

Harvey, whose education career began in 1969, was formerly a teacher and assistant principal at a junior high in the Orange Unified School District.

In 1989, Fanning Elementary was one of 20 schools in the state to win a California Distinguished School Award. Parents and teachers say that the school--with 530 students from quiet, middle-class neighborhoods in Brea--might not have any flashy gimmicks that separate it from others, but it is laced with a spirit of cooperation.

“What is done here is done really, really well,” said Teresa Hampson, past president of the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization. “We’re just real good at what everybody else does.”