Davis schools chief Bryan Bowles was named the 2007 Utah Superintendent of the Year Monday.

The announcement comes on the heels of a Manhattan Institute study that ranked Davis School District as having the highest graduation rate in the nation out of the 100 largest school districts earlier this spring.

"I want you to know that I love this and I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else," Bowles said Monday after the announcement.

Bowles, who is also the president of the Utah Superintendents Association, said he wanted to be a teacher since the first grade. And at age 21, after attending the University of Utah, he was already in the classroom.

Nancy Fleming, assistant superintendent in Davis, said Bowles is dedicated to having every student learn.

"He will often say, 'It's not what we teach that's important, it's what the student learns,"' she said. "His focus is learning and making sure each of our kids will be successful."

Fleming also said Bowles brings with him a respect and honor for everyone he works with.

"He treats everybody with the utmost respect ... he sees everybody as good," Fleming said. " He doesn't negatively judge others but he does hold us to a high standard of performance — in the new-age vernacular, 'he's centered."'

Bowles was named superintendent in 2002 after two years of serving as principal at Bountiful Junior High. Before that he spent 13 years in the classroom at Bountiful Junior High teaching English, speech, drama, debate and film.

Bowles also served as assistant principal at Millcreek Junior High and worked in various areas in the Davis District office.

For a number of years he stepped away from public education and worked as a consultant, an adjunct faculty member at Utah State University and the University of Utah. He also served as vice president of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii, for seven years. But he said he couldn't stay away from education.

"This is where I really want to be," Bowles said Monday. "This is the best profession in the world — watching kids grow and helping them be successful."

Bowles, who oversees 78 schools, 63,000 students and more than 7,000 employees, will represent Utah in the National Superintendent of the Year program in March where state and national winners will be honored in New Orleans.

He was selected by the Utah Public Education Coalition, which consists of leaders from the Utah Elementary and Secondary Principals Association, Utah Education Association and the Utah School Superintendents Association, the Utah PTA, the Utah School Boards Association and the Utah School Employees Association.

---

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com