ROSE CREEK – It was the last day of school at Southland Elementary School and the principal, Peter J.

Monday, June 05, 2000

ROSE CREEK – It was the last day of school at Southland Elementary School and the principal, Peter J. Grover, closed his door to take a call from his boss: the superintendent.

As Grover and Larry Tompkins conversed, there was a knock on the door twice.

First, it was Brianna with a lollipop and a hug for the principal.

"This has been happening all day to me," Grover said, looking just a little bit sheepish.

Then, it was back to the phone call from the superintendent only to be interrupted again by another knock at the door.

This time, it was Randie, who also had a small gift for the principal and another hug was exchanged.

"I can’t believe it," Grover said when the third-grader was gone. "They had this big retirement party for me last week and there’s supposed to be another one. It’s just unbelievable."

Unbelievable, indeed. It is not completely hyperbole to describe Grover with such a word.

For instance, all of his career as a school administrator has been spent as Southland’s elementary principal. Even he marvels at that. "I suppose I could have gone on and done something else elsewhere," he muses aloud.

This particular individual defies belief in some respects, but not in the Southland Independent School District, where they thrive on the longevity in the district of its teachers and administrators.

It provides continuity and strength to accomplish the important mission of delivering a quality education.

So, why not call the man who came to Southland Elementary School 28 years ago and stayed unbelievable?

Path to Southland

He was born in England and came to the United States after World War II and was raised at Spring Valley.

After high school graduation, he went to Winona State University and got a degree. Then, he taught elementary classes in Austin for five years before returning to college to earn his master’s degree in school administration.

When a principal’s job was created at Rose Creek, Grover applied and was hired.

That was the same time a major school consolidation effort was under way. No longer would there be individual K-12 schools at Dexter, Elkton, Adams and Rose Creek, but the merged Southland school district. The plan was to use the Adams facilities for high school instruction, the Elkton school for middle-school grades and the red brick building at Rose Creek for elementary grades.

Grover was the first – and only – principal at Southland Elementary School.

"Those were exciting times," Grover said. "I was able to help bring uniformity to the elementary program. Before that, there were schools and different programs in every town."

One of the examples of the challenge of creating an elementary curriculum that would appeal to both teaching faculty and students was reading – a favorite subject and pastime of Grover’s.

"There was a lack of commonality in the reading programs in place at the time and the skills didn’t follow the students," Grover said. "We needed a common reading program just as much as we needed a common math program. There were five buildings and five different programs. It took a lot of energy and cooperation from a lot of people, but we got it done."

It helped that Grover had teaching roots in his career and was himself a Fulbright Scholar. Coupled with his administrative skills, a sense of commonality was brought to all of the educational programming at Southland Elementary.

Today, Grover can point to latest tests of eighth-graders for Minnesota’s Grad Standards program as evidence that the idea worked.

Southland eighth-graders ranked six among the top junior highs in math scores and equally high in reading scores.

The school district’s students also consistently score highly in the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Five years ago, a new math program was introduced in the district that the National Council of Teachers of Math call "on the cutting edge" of any new curriculum.

"It forces on concepts and problem-solving and you’re going to see even better scores in the future from Southland students after this takes effect," the principal predicted.

Try talking to Grover about Grover and he deflects personal questions with more praise about children and their families.

"Families are our strength in this school district," he said. "We may not be as academically inclined in rural Minnesota as some legislators believe, but, I think, that’s overrated. Here, everyone is working together for the children."

He convinced the district’s Board of Education to allow him to introduce the Books and Beyond children’s reading program that required parents to spend at least 15 minutes a day reading aloud to their children.

The participation of parents was – here’s that word again – "unbelievable," according to Grover.

His "Organizational Notebook" is an everyday chronicle that each student must maintain and that each parent must sign before sending their sons or daughters to class the next day.

The LifeSpan program turned televisions into interactive learning tools for second- and fifth-graders.

While others were involved, it was the principal that largely introduced them to the school and put Southland Elementary School ahead of the pack in the race for excellence in education.

That students bring him lollipops and hug him is but the tip of the iceberg of the relationship that exists between the building principal and the students.

Grover really cares about the kids and will tell anyone so.

"I think we’re seeing more opportunities for challenges in education today," he said. "More children need special attention than ever before. More children are taking medications. More children are from blended families or single-parent families.

"It makes the individual needs of children more challenging for teachers in the classrooms. We’ve got to be ready to respond appropriately to those challenges."