THINKING BIG NEW SUPERINTENDENT TAKES CHARGE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LAKE HUGHES - Dean Bentley, a former cop, hardware store clerk and Wisconsin dairy farmer, is taking the helm at tiny Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union School District.

Bentley says his varied jobs have helped him in his educational career.

``They have been invaluable,'' said Bentley, 56. ``They made me a better high school teacher. I was able to share with students this is what you need to do to be prepared for the outside world to work.

``As an administrator, it's given me skills in finance and personnel that are very valuable, particularly in small schools, which is my choice to be in small districts.''

Bentley started July 1 as superintendent-principal at the 400-pupil, one- school district in the foothills between Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley.

Bentley was hired this spring by the board at an annual salary of $102,000 on a two-year contract. He replaced former Superintendent Penelope Mertens, who retired.

Bentley said he applied for the job because he liked the staff and community. Colleagues had contacted him about the job and thought it would be a good fit for him.

``When I was contacted about the opening I came up and looked at the campus and talked to some of the folks up here and just felt it was a wonderful opportunity to be a part of the educational community up here in the lakes area,'' Bentley said. ``The staff is wonderful; the teachers seem to be very dedicated. That's the kind of school I like to be part of.''

Bentley worked last school year as an interim administrator at two districts. He was interim superintendent during the first semester of 2004 at Borrego Springs Unified School District in San Diego County, and as interim superintendent-principal at Allensworth Elementary School District in Tulare County in 2005.

``They were for districts where the superintendents either left suddenly or had an opening suddenly and needed someone to come in,'' Bentley said.

Prior to that, he worked as superintendent of the El Tejon Unified School District in Lebec for five years and superintendent-principal of the Nuestro Elementary School District in Sutter County in Northern California for three years.

He also held administrative positions at two other school districts in Sutter County before becoming superintendent at Nuestro.

He began teaching in 1972 in the Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District, and then went to teach in the Chaffey High School District in Ontario.

In 1975, he moved to San Luis Obispo but couldn't find a teaching job. So he did other things for about 10 years, including being a San Luis Obispo police officer for more than three years.

He also worked as a dairy farmer in Wisconsin, partnering with a relative to run a dairy farm.

He got back into teaching in 1986, taking a job in Cambria, on the central California coast, and returned to school to get his master's degree and administrative credential.

Bentley says he will face some challenges in the Hughes district, including declining enrollment, which could mean more layoffs. The district laid off one teacher for this coming school year, Bentley said.

The eighth-grade class this fall is the last large class that the district will have with 60 students. The next largest is 48 students in the sixth grade.

The school must provide programs so parents don't transfer their children to other schools, Bentley said. At neighboring Leona Valley School, in the Westside Union School District, full-day kindergarten will be offered this year, and three grade levels have been added to make it a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus.

``We have smaller schools or people homeschool or take their children to a bigger district because they think the opportunities are greater,'' Bentley said. ``You have to show we have good staff and high test scores and, for a small district, we have lots of opportunities.''

Bentley has a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Redlands and a master's in education management from the University of La Verne.

He is married and has four children, all grown. He currently lives in Bakersfield but is planning to move to the Antelope Valley.

The commute is 80 miles one way and takes at least one hour and 20 minutes, Bentley said.

``I'll be moving up here as soon as I can find a place,'' Bentley said.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color in AV edition only) Dean Bentley assumed his new role as superintendent of the Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union School District on July 1.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer