Principal pair: Gundersons have contributed greatly to education in valley

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

This is a love story that began more than 30 years ago in a Clark County School District principal's office, when basketball star Barry met cheerleader June.

It's a love story that's still going strong, even though they are now the principals rather than the students -- Barry Gunderson at Las Vegas High School and June Gunderson at Cram Middle School.

After 28 years in the school district the Gundersons will retire Monday. They'll leave behind a legacy as innovative teachers and administrators that will likely go unmatched, district officials say.

"No one has been more committed than Barry and June," said Brian Cram, former superintendent of the Clark County School District. "They have never been afraid to speak up for their students and I have always admired that."

The Gundersons owe more than their careers to the Clark County School District. They also owe their marriage.

The matchmaking was orchestrated by Louis Silvestri, an assistant principal of Valley High School, when Barry was a senior. After learning that Barry was too nervous to act on his crush, Silvestri called Cram, then June's principal at Clark High School. They conspired to get the two teenagers together by sending Barry over to the rival school on an errand. Cram, who later became superintendent of the Clark County School District, had June called to his office when Barry arrived.

"The story sounds like a movie when we tell it," June Gunderson said. "But it really happened exactly like that."

The Gundersons say that they have been a tag team ever since. They attended the University of Arizona together and were partners on the cheer squad after injuries sidelined Barry's varsity football career.

They completed their student teaching assignments on Dec. 20, 1974, and were married the next day. By that spring they were both working for the Clark County School District. Gunderson's first paycheck for a month's work was $405.

While they can smile at that paltry sum now, teacher salaries are no joking matter to the Gundersons.

"Teachers have never been in the job for the money, they're in it to take care of kids," Barry Gunderson said. "That doesn't mean they don't deserve a respectable wage."

An acquaintance who works at a tire superstore put the salary question into perspective, Gunderson said. Starting pay for salesmen at the store is about $50,000 for a 40-hour week, twice what a new teacher makes working longer days.

"I have teachers who stay late four days a week to tutor students, and they do it on their own time for no extra pay," June Gunderson said. "It would be wonderful if more people in this community would recognize and appreciate the sacrifices that teachers make every day on behalf of their students."

Such sacrifices are evident in the photographs papering the walls of Barry Gunderson's office. There are as many pictures of students as of Gunderson's family. There's even a formal portrait of Las Vegas High School's homecoming queen and Gunderson.

"She hated her date and I was alone because June had to work," Gunderson said, explaining how he managed to displace the royal suitor.

There are also thank-you notes from the wrestling team, two-time state champions, the volleyball team and student council leaders. Many of the older photos of school scenes include the Gundersons' sons. Benjamin, now 24, works for Wells Fargo Bank. John, 21, is a student at California Polytechnic State University.

John Gunderson said it was sometimes hard to have to share his parents with their students. But he and his brother are proud admirers of what their mother and father have accomplished, he said.

"They are amazing people who have done some wonderful things for this community," John said Thursday during a visit to his father's school office. "They deserve to enjoy some time together."

That time will be spent traveling in their motor home, visiting museums and fly-fishing, the Gundersons said. First, however, there's a final commencement ceremony to get through -- Las Vegas High School seniors graduate a week from Saturday.

The ceremony will be bittersweet, Barry Gunderson said, and not just because it will be his last as principal. The school community is still reeling from the loss of two students in a fatal lunchtime car wreck that also seriously injured three others.

"It's a principal's worst nightmare and a parent's worst nightmare," Gunderson said. "We can only hope every student out there learns from this so that it never happens again."

Even though they are leaving their jobs, the Gundersons say they will always consider themselves part of the school community.

"We plan to keep our school e-mail accounts for a few years at least, just so we can check in and give advice," Gunderson said with a laugh. "Even if they don't want it."

When asked what advice they had for the teachers and administrators that would come after them, the Gundersons were -- as usual -- in agreement.

"Just take care of the kids," June Gunderson said. "When I interview new teachers, that's what I tell them. If the kids are your focus, your reason for doing your job, you'll do just fine."

"That's exactly right," Barry Gunderson said, sliding an arm around his wife's waist.

June Gunderson tilted her face up for a kiss. And then they both smiled.