A MATTER OF PRINCIPALS: MR. ELLIS GOES TO WASHINGTON

Whether it's former teachers, students and their parents, co-workers or friends discussing Frank Ellis, all have the same basic opinion about him.

They all love him.

Ellis will be the principal at Washington Elementary School after current principal Barbara Blanchard retires this summer, and many people believe he'll do a good job of replacing his much-respected predecessor.

But Ellis is much more humble in his predictions of the coming year.

"We'll see how much everybody loves me at the end of the school year," he laughed.

Speaking of his laugh, that's one of the things people like about Ellis. He's got a laugh that makes people smile when they hear it, whether they're in on the joke or down the hall catching the last chuckle.

"He's got a contagious laugh -- he guffaws," said Ann Freeman, a third-grade teacher who works with Ellis at Jefferson Elementary School. "He's the most personable, caring person I know."

Ellis is now an assistant principal at Alma Schrader Elementary in the morning and a remedial math teacher at Jefferson in the afternoons. Freeman said he has a personality that works well with students, parents and co-workers. He's a gentle person, but he's also professional and fair, she said, and that's what makes people like and respect him.

Co-worker Benita Limbaugh, a second-grade teacher at Jefferson who also worked with Ellis at May Greene Elementary School, agreed and said Ellis will have no problem adjusting to his new role.

"He's very caring with his discipline and the kids respect him," she said. "He's a religious man and a family man, so his teachers would be able to go to him with a family problem. You would be proud to be his teacher."

Sheldon Tyler, director of the Alternative Education Center, said Frank's personality will be what makes him a great principal rather than a good one.

"He is a professional and an educator," said Tyler, who has known Ellis for 15 years. "Frank is someone who is going to make a difference because his purpose is to be there to make a difference in the life of a child. A lot of times people take niceness for sternness, so they try to challenge that, but I'm sure he'll be able to handle that."

Ellis is not one to talk openly about his accomplishments in education or in life. That's why his wife is a good person to know.

Sylvia Ellis has spent 12 years talking about her husband because she's proud of his accomplishments and enjoys sharing them with others.

"He's the most wonderful person they could have put at Washington school," she said. "His personality, his willingness to listen to others, his honesty, and just his concern about the least person, whether he knows them or not, all of those traits are what makes Frank who he is.

"It's nothing for him to help others; he's just concerned about all mankind. I've had to get onto him because he doesn't think about himself or his safety or anything. It's a gift from God."

She said her husband has had a strong educational background to back up that gift. After attending grade school at St. Henry's Catholic school in Charleston, he completed his education at Charleston High School.

He received an associate's degree in general studies at Shawnee Community College before continuing his education at Missouri Baptist College in St. Louis in 1983.

He lasted one week. Homesickness returned Ellis to Charleston, where he got a job substitute teaching in the public school district.

That's where he discovered his love of education and his special gift for teaching elementary students. After substituting for one year, Ellis returned to school at Southeast Missouri State University in 1985 so he could become the real thing.

Seventeen years later, he has earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education, a master's degree in elementary administration, and he's currently pursuing a specialist's degree in elementary administration.

Sylvia said her husband was able to attain his principalship in part because of his strong educational background, but also because of the religious and ethical values he received from his parents growing up in Charleston. "Being brought up in a home environment like that, he was taught good values and he's carried that along in life," she said.

At the request of his father, the Ellises are trying to raise their own two children with the same ethical and educational values instilled in him. Sierra, 11, and Sir Franklin II, 9, both attend school at St. Mary's Cathedral School. Like their father, they will transfer to the public school system for their last four years of high school so they can experience both types of education.

"That was a request from my 90-year-old dad, and I want to honor that request," said Ellis. "He just thought that the religious atmosphere would help mold them, and after the eighth grade they would be able to hold their own."