He’s still a kid at heart

by Susan Gibbs, Record Reporter
Published: June 5, 2008

Greene’s Superintendent of Schools Ray Dingledine admits that at 60 years of age, he’s still a kid at heart.
“What I love about the job is being around the kids,” beams Dingledine. 
At press time, there had been three official parties for the man who has held his current position since 1990 and been a part of the School Division since 1970.
The current chairman of Greene’s School Board, Darcy Higgins, describes Dingledine as a “compassionate man whose “wonderful sense of humor makes dealing with serious matters more palatable.”
Higgins’ predecessor, Ronda Puryear, says Dingledine is fair-minded and honorable as well as compassionate, and “one of the most well-respected superintendents in Virginia.”
But Dingledine never worked at being compassionate or honorable or respected.
A Harrisonburg native whose father taught at James Madison University, Dingledine admits that as a young teen, he was a prankster. “Nobody liked me (until) I figured out what was funny and what was not funny.”
His father, Dingledine adds, told his mother: “Quit talking to him about college. He’s never going to finish high school.”
But he did. After finishing his undergraduate degree at Randolph Macon, Dingledine came to Greene County, in 1970, as a 21-year-old, to teach the sixth grade.
“It was the only job I was offered,” Dingledine laughs.  “I wanted to teach and I didn’t have the education courses. I was … hired … but I had to get certified.”
He figured that as long as he had to get certified, he might as well earn his masters degree in administration.
Along with his teaching and studies that first year, Dingledine drove a bus and coached eighth grade and junior varsity basketball.
Just as he never worked at being compassionate or honorable, Dingledine never worked at furthering his career.
In his second year of teaching, “JMU called and (asked me to be) assistant director of student affairs.
“I was making $6,200 a year,” Dingledine recalls. JMU offered $9,600 and to pay for his masters work. “I really came close to taking the job … back then $9,600 was a lot of money … but nothing is always about the money. I really loved working with kids … this was going to be a totally different job … I wouldn’t have been as happy.”
Dingledine taught in Greene for three years. His fourth year in the County schools, he was named principal.
After four years as principal, in 1977, Dingledine was promoted again.
“I’m not sure what that title was … it became director of instruction then it became assistant superintendent in the mid-eighties.”
While holding that position, Dingledine ventured back into coaching to start the School’s soccer program. “I volunteered the first year (so) we could raise money for uniforms … it was coed to get it started, and we had five or six games.”
In 1990, he was named superintendent. Two weeks later his father died.Dingledine says, “He was always so proud of me, even when he shouldn’t have been.”
He had cancer.
“At the end, even though he was in pain, he would tell people, ‘My son’s been named superintendent in Greene County.’ ”
“It meant everything in the world to him,” Dingledine continues. “ Whenever times are difficult, I think about my dad and how proud he was.”
It could be said that Dingledine kept on making his father proud, without working at it.
In 1990, “maybe ‘91” he got into drama at William Monroe High School, and that, Dingledine says, was an important part of his professional development.
“I’m a better public speaker now and it’s because of drama. I tell the kids … the mountain of stuff they have to memorize, then (perform) in front of people will make them … much more effective in communicating with people.”
In a year of unprecedented meetings between the School Board and the County’s Board of Supervisors to hammer away at the School Division’s budget, Dingledine has done a lot of communicating. And, he is pleased with the result.
“Considering the economy, it was a really fair budget for the schools. I really think they gave what they could.”
And as for the future, Dingledine says his thoughts are running back and forth. He is considering working part time; he will assume the presidency of Greene’s Lions Club next year and maintain involvements with educational foundations here. Other than that, he says if he accepts all the offers - and requests for volunteerism—he is receiving, “I’ll be back to a schedule like I’m keeping now.
“I went to the gym this morning,” Dingledine said the day he was interviewed for this article. “I would have loved to have gone home, gotten in the hot tub, finished reading the book I am reading, piddle around the yard, and then go hit some golf balls … life is too short to work all the time.”
Dingledine’s retirement takes effect July 1. David Jeck, 42, who is currently Greene’s Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, will be replacing him