Credible leader: Poling led Norwalk Schools through tough times to new building

When people think about Virginia Poling's leadership at a critical time for Norwalk City Schools, what springs to mind was her absolute credibility as superintendent. Hired to lead the district in 1993, her tenure began as the schools' situation soon became dire. An operating levy failure in November 1994 forced the school board to cut nearly three dozen jobs amid questions about where the city's public schools were headed. Just four short years later, the turnaround was remarkable: voters approved a levy for a brand-new high school. Opened in August 2001 at 350 Shady Lane Drive, the new NHS stands today as the pinnacle of Virginia Poling's 40-year tenure in the district. "She was the credibility our board of education needed in the community to get the levy passed," former board president John Lendrum noted. "If Virginia told you something was going to happen, you believed her." Along with hundreds of other young students through the years, Lendrum had once been a student in Poling's third-grade class at Benedict School. From that experience and through working with her as a board member, he knew she meant what she said and said what she meant. Poling, 91, died Feb. 26 in Worthington. Visitation and celebration of life will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, at First Presbyterian Church, 21 Firelands Boulevard. Early years Virginia Hodges grew up in Orange, Texas, near the Louisiana border. She met her husband, the late Carroll Poling, as a Lamar University student in nearby Beaumont, while he was serving in the Air Force after graduating from NHS in 1950. After marrying, moving to Norwalk, and having her children, she began her teaching career at Norwalk City Schools while simultaneously finishing her degrees. Poling earned a bachelor's degree in education from Ashland University, a master's degree in administration from Bowling Green State University, and continued to take post-graduate classes. Those degrees came through evening programs she attended after teaching during the day — a work ethic that daughters Janet and Debbie saw on a daily basis. "One of the great gifts that both our parents gave us was an appreciation and love of hard work," said daughter Janet Reiss. "They would work their daytime jobs, come home for a family dinner, and then Mom would drive to Ashland or Huron for her college classes while dad went out and worked on the farm." Both daughters were responsible for daily household chores and feeding a variety of farm animals in addition to their own schoolwork. None of that schedule would have been possible without help, however, the sisters noted. Beryl Poling, Virginia's mother-in-law, lived with the family and made possible her daughter-in-law's education career. "She moved in with us right after Debbie was born and lived with us through our college years," recalled Janet, who is the younger daughter. "Neither of us remembers a time when Grandma was not with us, and she took great care of us." "They were a perfect match for each other," Janet said of Beryl and Virginia, because Grandma Poling enjoyed certain tasks that Virginia did not. "It's a longstanding family joke that our mom had no love of cooking," Janet said. "Our grandmother loved to cook. It was the perfect synergy. They loved and respected each other very much." After nearly 30 years as a teacher, Poling was promoted to head Norwalk City Schools at a time when superintendents were not yet common. "She was ahead of her time in a lot of ways," Lendrum said. "She just never stopped until she reached the pinnacle of being a superintendent. That took great dedication." Enduring hard times When Wayne Babcanec came to Norwalk for a job interview in 1974, the first person he met was Virginia Poling. He was appointed assistant superintendent during her 11-year tenure and followed her as superintendent through 2009. "I was with her almost my entire career," Babcanec said. "She devoted her whole professional life to Norwalk City Schools." When Poling and Babcanec arrived at the board offices in 1993, they faced serious financial problems in the district. Several teaching positions were eliminated and the school board asked voters to approve an emergency property-tax hike in November 1994. The proposed $5.2M levy would take care of the $1-million deficit, provide new books and buses, with $3 million to offset the effects of inflation over five years. Voters turned down the levy on a 54.7 percent no vote. "Obviously we're disappointed," Poling said later that night. "But the loss was not by that big of a margin. At some point in time, the board will look at another tax issue." With her assuring demeanor, Poling put to rest rumors of a feared state takeover of the schools. Although more cuts were possibly coming, she told residents they wouldn't be as severe. "It was a very difficult time," Babcanec said. "Because of her leadership, we navigated through it and came out on the other side." The school board and administration waited four years to return to the ballot. A third attempt at a new high school building was a bond issue on Nov. 3, 1998. Two previous attempts had failed in November 1989 and May 1990 before Poling became superintendent. The effort, tagged "Building Community Pride," was both more coordinated and researched. And Poling got right out in front of the Norwalk community, addressing every question, issue and rumor with candor and answers. If she didn't know the answer to a question, she vowed to find the information. Lendrum, a classmate of Janet Poling, was serving his third of 24 years on the school board in 1998. "I was involved pretty heavily in that campaign, and one thing I learned from Virginia was to be disciplined in how we approached that," Lendrum said. "There were a lot of moving parts and pieces prior to that election, and she was integral to all of it. "She did all the public speaking. Virginia stood up in front of service clubs, church meetings and went to people's homes. She truly took the bulk of that effort on herself." At that point in her career, Virginia Poling was trusted and respected by everyone, Babcanec noted. "And that was important, because she had the ability to bring the community together, which she did," he said. "A lot of that was because of her credibility in the community." The levy passed with 58.1 percent of the vote. With two structures on East Main Street that dated from 1918 and 1939, Norwalk would finally build a new high school on Shady Lane Drive. "The need has always been there," Poling said on election night. "We documented the advantages to our students and … it's wonderful. Our goal was to get more involvement. We did that. It took a lot of work and so many volunteers." Kathy Root was education reporter for the Norwalk Reflector when the levy passed. She went to every board and special meeting associated with the lead-up to the election, including a bus trip with board members to Ashland and Richland counties to look at new schools. Root said former editor Jay Thwaite tasked her with talking to Virginia about every two weeks throughout the summer and fall during the run-up to the election. "She was very accommodating and strived to be transparent about the issue, its costs to taxpayers, what was needed and wanted in a new school," Root said. "She tried hard to answer every potential question that could come up. She was so patient with the questions and objections that often come with contested issues — especially those that involve big money. "And after the levy passed, such jubilation. She never said — but I suspect that she probably teared up over that. She worked extremely hard for it." Root's lasting memory in working with Poling during those days came about three weeks after the election victory — when the Ernsthausen Foundation made its $3.5-million gift so NHS could have its Performing Arts Center. The facility had been backed out of the plans to keep the cost down and make the issue more palatable to voters. "Virginia called me early in the morning — she knew our 11 a.m. deadline — so the Reflector could have the story that day," Root recalled. "And she called no one else. Totally stunning news — and she let the local newspaper have the exclusive. I've never forgotten that." Lasting legacy Although construction of the new high school was her crowning achievement — her retirement coincided with the ribbon-cutting to open the building — Virginia didn't sit back in the years that followed. As it has for years, the Salvation Army was running a summer lunch program for local children who qualify for free or reduced school lunches. But that left an obvious void on the weekends, and Virginia sensed an opportunity to help. "At the same time, Debbie was in charge of a weekend food distribution for children of need in her Dublin City Schools building," Janet said. "That is when the idea of 'Weekends Without Hunger' was born." Virginia teamed with Reta Stark and Judy Sommers to start a similar effort here. They recruited others to develop the program and who wanted to help. Sending home nutritious food on weekends to students in need is still going strong today. "She had a heart of gold," Lendrum said. "She expected rules to be followed and people to behave a certain way when they worked for her, but she also had a soft spot. I think we saw that in the later years with 'Weekends without Hunger,' 'Stuff the Bus,' and a number of other community and church-related programs." Babcanec was among the many who noted that Virginia was one of few women superintendents in the 1990s. "There still isn't a lot, but more than when she was there," he said. "Obviously the high school is part of her lasting legacy, but she was the right person at the right time for the job. "She could be tough as nails when she needed to be, but she was always just a class act. Norwalk is a much better place because of Virginia Poling." Her place as a woman in the top job wasn't a topic in the Poling household. "Gender wasn't really an issue for our mother," Janet said. "We were clearly expected to succeed in the areas of our choosing, regardless of social norms. "Neither of our parents thought we couldn't do something because we're girls, or that we should choose a career path based on past gender expectations." Janet noted that Virginia was humble to the point that the family rarely knew about several distinctions or awards until after the fact. "Even then, she didn't make a big deal about the award; there was just a newspaper article on the dresser in our room on the next visit," she said. "She rarely spoke of work when we were together as a family, unless we brought it up. "She was always tactful and the consummate professional. She was a great example of 'what you see is what you get.' She was the same person at home as she was in public." After Carroll Poling died on April 30, 2017, Virginia moved to Columbus to be with her daughters. She was with at least one of them every single day until her death — with the exception of the height of the pandemic. On evening walks, the daughters often had to wait as their mom stopped to chat with someone. "Before we could walk away, my mom would invariably ask them if there was anything that she could do to help them," Janet said. "She was remarkable. She loved being of service. Even in her final years, she wanted to make a difference." In her last months, Debbie and Janet would arrive about dinner time to visit with Virginia and her friends, then help her get ready for the next day and to get into bed. "Every night before going to sleep, she got a kiss on the forehead and heard that we loved her," Janet said. "And she heard that she was a great mother."