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35-year educator retires

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By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2009

DADE CITY - Principal Tom Rulison is a sentimental soul who grew a bit wistful on the last day of each school year as he said goodbye to the eighth-graders at Centennial Middle.

This year the goodbye was especially poignant because, like the eighth-graders, he isn't coming back.

"I'm going to miss the kids tremendously," said Rulison, who is retiring after working 35 years for the Pasco County School District.

Most of those years were spent as a principal or assistant principal.

Under his watch, Centennial Middle developed a close relationship with Saint Leo University and adopted an anti-bullying policy that became a model for the school district.

Rulison said education is a career choice that left him with no regrets. The only thing he will not miss, he said, is the alarm clock that roused him from bed much too early in the morning.

"It's the greatest profession in the world as far as I'm concerned," Rulison said. "Even the alarm clock you can live with when you are doing something like this."

Rulison is being succeeded by Jim Lane, who has transferred from Pasco Middle. Lane served as assistant principal under Rulison when Centennial Middle opened in 2001.

It's been quite a ride for 62-year-old Rulison, who grew up in Michigan but came to view Florida as home, eventually even shifting his baseball allegiance from the Detroit Tigers to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rulison's wife, Kim, the reading coach at Pasco Middle, notes that over the years her husband crossed career paths with and mentored numerous current and former principals and assistant principals in the school district.

Education was a career choice that came naturally to Rulison, even though it wasn't necessarily ordained.

He grew up in Saginaw, Mich., where his father worked for a lumber company and his mother was a first-grade teacher.

When it came time to choose a career path, Rulison faced dueling possibilities.

His father leaned toward him becoming a businessman.

His mother wanted him to go into education.

Mom won the day.

Rulison attended Central Michigan University where he earned a bachelor's degree in social studies and a master's degree in secondary school administration. He took his first job at a junior high school in Michigan where he taught for six years.

In 1974, Rulison moved to Pasco County to become dean at what was then Gulf Junior High in New Port Richey.

Later, he served as an assistant principal at Pasco Junior High in Dade City, Bayonet Point Junior High and Pine View Middle in Land O' Lakes.

In 1985, he was promoted to principal at what by that time was called Bayonet Point Middle, a job he held through the end of 2000. "That's my other home," he said.

When the school district announced plans to build a middle school on Centennial Road between Dade City and Zephyrhills, Rulison was intrigued because he had been interested for several years in returning to the Dade City area.

"Opening a new school in east Pasco was an exciting opportunity," he said.

Under Rulison's leadership, Centennial Middle has been an A school four years in a row on the Florida Department of Education's report card for schools. During his tenure, the school also targeted the problem of bullying.

"For severe fights, we've almost eliminated it completely," he said.

Although Rulison said he supported implementation of the school's anti-bullying policy, he credits others, such as a guidance counselor and a school resource officer, as the ones who did the heavy lifting that made it a reality.

Rulison expects to stay busy in retirement. He will work part time at Saint Leo University, perhaps do some lobbying on education issues and play an occasional round of golf.

Rulison has three children from his first marriage. They are Tommy Rulison, 32, whose wedding was this weekend in Boca Raton; Jamie Rulison, 30, a teacher at Bayonet Point Middle; and Kerri Rulison, 29, a teacher at Crews Lake Middle.

He also has a stepdaughter, Nicole Payne, 10, a fifth-grader at Pasco Elementary, and a stepson, Mike Payne, 20, a Marine stationed in Hawaii who is shipping out to Afghanistan later this year for a six-month tour of duty.

Rulison said he, his wife and Nicole plan a trip to Hawaii next summer for when Mike is back in the United States.

Kim Rulison says the family has other travel plans, too. They will spend the month of July in a cabin near Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. While there, Rulison will celebrate his 63rd birthday.

His wife suggests disregarding that age. She insists "he is still a 'little kid' at heart."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 259-7065.

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