Anderson Knows and Promotes Competition

As a former athlete and coach, Robert A. Anderson knows a lot about competition.

And he wants his kids – both his own and those at his new school – to have the best shot at competing for success.

Anderson, most recently an educational leader in South Carolina, said there are several reasons he decided to take his new job as principal of .

“It's a return to Pennsylvania for me and my wife and children,” said Anderson, who was principal at New Hope-Solebury Junior/Senior High School in the early 1990s, along with Pottsgrove and Wissahickon high schools.

“I was looking for a large high school and for a school that has a lot to offer. My daughter who is 13 plays cello and piano and Bensalem has an outstanding music program and it's close to Philly for its cultural activity. My son is an athlete and Bensalem has a nice ballpark for him to play. My 6 year old is into soccer. And this gives us an opportunity to come back to an area where there's something for everyone.

“When you're on the coast of South Carolina those options are not there.”

Anderson played sports in high school and college and has coached soccer, basketball and baseball. As a principal, he is proud of putting a focus on grades for student athletes.

“You have to produce,” he said. “I want them to produce athletically and academically and allow themselves to create options for the future.”

Anderson's last job was coordinator of athletics and social studies K-12 for the Beaufort County School District, which serves 20,000 students in more than 30 schools.

In Beauford, Anderson said he oversaw a change from allowing students to participate in any sport regardless of their grades to pulling them out of athletics and mandating remedial classes if they were failing courses. In three years, he said, the high school there went from having no athletic scholars to 17 athletic scholarships awarded.

“We also created a freshman academy which allowed teachers to teach in a core team sharing the same 100 students,” he added. “(Over three years) we only had three students fall behind academically from where they should have been. It had been over a 100 students.”

Anderson arrived here a couple weeks ago and has gotten to spend time with retiring BHS Principal Francis Perry, who has been lauded for raising academic accomplishment.

“Bensalem High has had good academic growth and I want to maintain that academic growth,” said Anderson. “I'm not likely going to change things around. First I want to see how the building functions ... and react to that.”

While his wife, a former teacher in the Neshaminy district, looks for a new job in a nearby district, Anderson is in the process of filling 8-10 teaching vacancies created by retirements.

“It's an opportunity to bring teachers on who are enthusiastic and help mold them to the new technology. They are fresh blood, so to speak,” he said.

“And I think our teachers here are stronger than what I had in the south,” he added. “South Carolina is rated 48th in the country for education. For my children it only made sense to bring them north.”

Anderson says he is looking forward to his new role, which he says also involves becoming part of the community.

And then that sports background reveals itself again.

“I'm just looking forward to the year, and when the kids walk into our new gym their mouths will be wide open,” he said.