Curry, the district's director of the Office of Teaching and Learning, has already been endorsed by Phillips. And a majority of school board members have indicated they plan to promote him tonight to assistant superintendent at a salary of $120,000.

The district does not currently have an assistant superintendent. It is likely, but not guaranteed, that he will be named superintendent eventually.

If that happens, Curry would be the first African-American school superintendent in Lancaster County.

"I feel very good about him,'' said Michael Winterstein, Lancaster School Board president. "He's very knowledgeable, he's personable and he has a lot of the same qualities as Vicki.''

Phillips is nominated by Gov. Ed Rendell to be the next state education secretary. She said she will remain available to Curry as she prepares for her confirmation hearings, most likely next month.

According to Winterstein, the school board can't name another superintendent, even an acting one, until the current superintendent has officially resigned.

Phillips needs to be confirmed by the state Senate before that happens.

Curry, engaged to be married, is currently looking for a house to buy in the city. He has two grown daughters from a previous marriage.

"I support him,'' said board member Patrice Dixon. "I'm thrilled. It's not so much because of Vicki's recommendation, but because of HIS qualifications. He's well-qualified for the job.''

The board, said Winterstein, is looking forward to watching Curry in action as assistant superintendent and getting to know him better, said Winterstein.

Phillips is already convinced Curry is the one to take over for her and she remains one of his most avid supporters.

"He has good judgment, good character and he has a passion for children,'' said Phillips.

Curry says he was born to do this job.

Well almost.

The youngest of 10 children growing up on the west side of Philadelphia, Curry notes his parents never graduated from high school. In his impoverished inner city neighborhood, kids like him didn't get many chances.

"For most of my growing-up years, I was in a very low social economic level,'' recalled Curry. "I had this one high school English teacher, Mrs. Barbara Younge, who believed it didn't matter if you were poor.

"She believed children must always work hard and give their best,'' Curry said. "I remember her teaching us to never give up.''

And although Curry feels the Philadelphia School District gave him a good education, that is not where he found his inspiration.

"I had some great teachers in high school but they wanted me to go into other careers,'' Curry said. "I decided on my own to become a teacher.''

With his eye on eventually leading a school district, Curry rose through the ranks in the Philadelphia School District.

Curry started out as a special education teacher in the Philadelphia city schools.

He still remembers one remarkable young man whose life he touched.

"Omar was a special education student when I met him in middle school,'' said Curry. "He had a similar home to the one I grew up in, very impoverished. He wasn't getting a lot of support from home and I had several occasions to mentor him and bring him into my family life.

"I was able to be a role model for this young man, which is something I aspire to be for all the young men and women I meet,'' Curry said. "I want them to believe they can achieve any goal.''

Omar, said Curry, is now gainfully employed by a hotel in Philadelphia.

Curry loved teaching, but he said he always had a hope of becoming a superintendent.

He became a teacher leader in the Philadelphia school system, then an assistant principal, a principal of a middle school and, finally, an area superintendent.

As an area superintendent, Curry was in charge of 12 different schools in Philadelphia that were responsible for the education of 13,000 students -- just slightly larger than the School District of Lancaster's current student population.

Known to almost no one, not even to Curry himself, Phillips brought him here three years ago with the concrete idea that he might eventually be her successor.

"I had him in mind since I hired him as the director of the Office of Teaching and Learning,'' said Phillips. "That's one of the reasons I delayed filling that position.

"I needed someone who could do the substantive work, who would become the heir-apparent,'' Phillips said. "There are several people here who could do the job.

"Ric brings a full array of things the district needs: experience in reform, continuity of the work we're already doing, middle level experience and he played a key role as a small learning communities facilitator,'' she said.

She added that Curry is one who can get his "arms around'' the sometimes difficult job of superintendent.

His soothing mantra to those worrying how Phillips can be successfully replaced is "continuity.''

Phrases like "maintain improvements'' and "same course'' and "continue the work'' sprout like florid-growing grass into his sentences.

He said he's not going to hire more administrators, he's not going to change things that have been successful and he plans to press onward toward the district's goals with the same kind of energy and focus with which Phillips is often credited.

Curry said he was unaware that Phillips had brought him to the district to be her successor until sometime this past December when she discussed the prospect with him.

By that point, he had already had the test by fire.

Reynolds Middle School.

It is one of the four middle schools that have earned the district's sometimes "rough'' designation. There were complaints that fighting, filth and flagrant disobedience in the school had created the opposite of a learning environment.

Curry stepped in and, within months, the school turned about rather abruptly. Kids were coming to school on time, they were doing their homework and they were starting to treat the staff and each other with more respect.

A new rule about shirttails turned out to be symbolic of Curry's philosophy on education. Curry insisted shirts be tucked in. Some students rebelled. Curry won.

"We as a school have a responsibility to teach children about the world they will go into,'' said Curry. "They need to learn appropriate dress for the appropriate situation. When I go to the opera, I dress a certain way, to church, I dress a certain way, and to school.

"We need to send the message to students it's important to come to a learning institution to learn, not to play a thug with thug-like clothing,'' said Curry. "The school uniform is a part of that dress code, and shirttails tucked in was important,'' he said.

Curry said learning appropriate behavior went right along with appropriate dress.

Is that more difficult for children from disadvantaged backgrounds?

"No,'' Curry said emphatically. "It is not harder. All we have to do is set clear and high expectations and children will deliver.

"Reynolds is a perfect example,'' he said. "The children will respond.'' blog comments powered by Disqus