Educational Leadership:
Principal John A. Tarpley

“The achievements of Greenboro’s black schools reflected in large part the genius of John Tarpley.” William H. Chafe, Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom   

 
“The story of Dudley is a story of Dr. Tarpley.” William Skelton

The Secondary School Study was establishing new roles for educational administrators as had occurred during the 1930s with the Progressive Education Association’s Eight Year Study. Democratic ideals served to define the experimental efforts of schools; however, the venue for this new conception of leadership maintained traditional ideals of authoritarian rule by administrators and teachers. The principal was expected to provide direction and instill confidence while also fostering a sense of curricular flexibility and extending instructional authority among the staff. Legendary principal John Allen Tarpley (1902-1992) served Dudley High School from 1932-1965. Described by Dudley alumni as a “big Texan,” he graduated from Wiley College in 1922 (with his wife, Lucille Sanford Tarpley, having graduated two years before). Matthew W. Dogan, President of Wiley College, would describe him as being “actively connected with most progressive movements confronting the public schools of his state.” Tarpley subsequently received an honorary doctorate from Wiley College.

 “Dr. Tarpley wanted you to be respectful and, in return, he treated us with respect.” John Smith

 “Mr. Tarpley felt if you did not respect yourself, then you could not expect others to respect you.” Helen Smith

“Dr. Tarpley was stern but he was a person we could like. He was a father figure. There were times when we were in the auditorium and he would just talk . . . . and we would talk. This was a time for conversation, a gathering time to learn.” Almetha Clark Gilbert

John Tarpley came to Greensboro in 1922 to teach biology and Latin at Bennett College. He received a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, circa 1939, with reports of additional graduate study at Ohio State University under the tutelage, one would assume, of Harold Alberty, a national authority of core curriculum and the doctoral advisor of other high school principals who participated in the Secondary School Study. Interestingly, while Tarpley was “the” disciplinarian at Dudley High School, a community leader in Greensboro, and a guiding educational leader in North Carolina, he seems conspicuously absent from many of the Secondary School Study meetings and workshops.

Dr. Tarpley with Franklin J. Brown

William Skelton notes, “Dr. Tarpley was one of the kindest men I have ever known. He was strict and his rules were law, but he would help us in any way he could. He was a principal who supported all of his teachers: if there was a problem, he would take care of it.” Articulating and achieving such a balance of strong leadership with diffused authority proved difficult for many of the school directors, and the careers of each “life-long principal” of the Secondary School Study warrant further study. 

“Dr. Tarpley didn’t just sit in the office and then march up and down the halls. He would go to the Grove and would talk to the students. Actually, he was talking with students.” Lois C. Millings

Arthur M. Cole

 
“Dr. Tarpley had special skills in selecting his teachers. He required that they be of a certain moral character. The teachers worked hard because he expected so much of them, and they took his trust so seriously. He wanted and expected excellence.”
Arthur M. Cole

Brenda D. James