By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
WEST AMWELL — James Bevere, who became South Hunterdon Regional High School’s principal Monday, has been called a few things over the course of his career.
And the things he calls others, you don’t hear much.
He calls himself simply “an Italian kid from New Jersey.”
But teachers who worked with him at Sparta High School, where he was the vice principal and before that the acting principal, called him “the history bully.”
Mr. Bevere, 37, explained he is first and foremost a teacher at heart. He taught in the classroom for 12 years and still enjoys stepping back into a classroom on occasion, whether it’s to teach or to learn.
One subject that captivates him is history. At Sparta, he would insist on stepping into the classroom once in a while to teach a history course, earning the “history bully” moniker.
During his college career at West Chester University, he was an All American for five years for his prowess on the football field as an offensive lineman.
”I became a teacher because I wanted to coach football,” Mr. Bevere said.
He coached the sport for 10 years. At various times in his 12-year teaching career, he also coached golf, baseball and wrestling.
His love of athletics has not blinded him to the importance of academics.
”I’m a taskmaster when it comes to academics,” Mr. Bevere said. “I’m a big believer in telling the athletes there is no such thing as a dumb jock anymore.”
He said when he coached sports, “I wanted to be an example to my kids. I wanted to show you could hold your own in a classroom. Athletics and academics go hand in hand.”
He wants to improve athletics at South Hunterdon. That can be accomplished by attracting more students to the school, which is done by “putting an academic product on the table,” he said.
Still, Mr. Bevere said, “South Hunterdon athletics are what they’re supposed to be. You’re out there for the love of the game.”
Even more important than improving athletics is ensuring the students obtain a quality education, according to Mr. Bevere.
”The biggest challenge is going to be making sure South Hunterdon has a 21st-century curriculum, a cutting-edge curriculum,” he said. “If that happens, the athletics will follow.”
Talk of the curriculum brought Mr. Bevere around to the topic of South Hunterdon Superintendent Nancy Gartenberg.
”In my opinion, Nancy is a rock star,” he said. “That’s a wagon you want to hitch your horses to.”
In the area of curriculum, Mr. Bevere said he thinks Ms. Gartenberg is “doing a great job of laying the foundation.”
In fact, he said, Sparta High School came behind South Hunterdon in New Jersey magazine’s recent listing of the top high schools in the state. It was a difference of five spots; South Hunterdon came in at number 58, and Sparta was ranked at 63.
Mr. Bevere is a divorced father of two boys, ages 6 and 4. They’re one of the reasons he left a school with 1,300 students to work at a school with only 350 students. He wants to cut the commute time and spend more time with his boys, he said. They live with their mother, whom Mr. Bevere describes as “a wonderful, wonderful ex-wife.”
And there was another reason.
”I think I took a job where professionally I can grow,” Mr. Bevere said. “I think South Hunterdon has a ton of potential. It’s a diamond in the rough, although I think it’s pretty good already.”

