Retired Chesapeake administrator Bob Harris was hired last week to replace principal Bill Boston, who took a similar job in West Virginia.

Monday, September 27, 1999

Retired Chesapeake administrator Bob Harris was hired last week to replace principal Bill Boston, who took a similar job in West Virginia.

"Mr. Boston had an opportunity to go back to West Virginia and chose to do so after school started," Symmes Valley superintendent Tom Ben said.

Boston had served Symmes Valley for more than five years, about four years as assistant principal at the multi-level and the last two years as principal.

He left the post in late August, but the timing will not affect Harris’s transition into the principal’s chair, Ben said.

"He has a lot of experience and we anticipate him doing a good job over there," he said.

Harris, a graduate of Rio Grande College and Marshall University, worked as a Chesapeake coach and teacher for 40 years before his retirement.

Most recently, he served as principal of Chesapeake West Elementary from 1975 to 1997.

Harris said he retired to spend more time with his family.

"And I have, but I just probably wasn’t ready to retire," he said after accepting the Symmes Valley position.

"I’m an active person with a lot of energy and enjoy being with the kids and staff and feel like I have something more to give," he said. "I was like a kid with a new toy Tuesday morning with all the kids getting off the buses."

Harris said he still misses the staff in Chesapeake but hopes to see Symmes Valley Multi-level become as successful or more so than when he led Chesapeake.

"I feel like we have a good staff here, too, even though I don’t know them all by name yet," he said. "Everything is new, but this is truly a beautiful facility. I was made to feel very welcome by all the kids and the staff."

But Harris is not that new to the Symmes Valley area.

"My wife graduated from Windsor, a Symmes Valley district school, so I knew some people from that association," he said.

And Harris is getting to know even more people this week, jumping into the middle of the school and school year at the multi-level.

"I know faces Now, I’m just working on putting names with them," he said.