Bermice Mathis can empathize with children at Cox Elementary with extraordinary hurdles in front of their goals. She's had more than her share herself.
By MICHELE MILLER
Published June 4, 2003
DADE CITY - Since Bermice Mathis was 5, she knew she wanted to teach. Back then she would round up whoever she could of her eight brothers and set to the task of schooling.
Her siblings were often reluctant, said Mathis, 58, with a laugh, but she usually won out.
"I was the only girl so I was kind of in charge," she said, "So we would play school - have spelling bees - things like that."
Her desire would lead her to become a teacher and eventually an assistant principal in her hometown of Dade City and one of four black school administrators in Pasco County.
Getting there wasn't easy.
Mathis graduated in 1962 from the Moore Mickens School during the days of segregation. The textbooks were old and outdated, hand-me-downs from when the white schools got new ones. She went on to marry Josh Mathis and had four children. She was 27 when she decided to attend the University of South Florida.
Her parents, Eddie and Mary Starkes, who had always set high standards, encouraged her.
"My mom always said I had to go to college," Mathis said. "My dad dared me to go as high as I could. My whole goal then was to have people call me "Dr. Bermice.' "
It took time and sacrifice, but she made her way, receiving her master's degree at Tampa University as an education specialist.
Along the way there was personal turmoil. She and her husband divorced. Then came another marriage and divorce before she re-married Mathis. Her parents became ill, and she moved back to their home to care for them. A car accident left her older son a paraplegic. Another took the life of her younger son when he was just 21. Both of her parents died.
She schooled nights and worked days as a teacher in Hillsborough County, moved on to Pasco and Lacoochee elementary schools. Twelve years ago, she became assistant principal at Cox Elementary. Once there she painted her office her favorite color, lavender, and decorated it with Disney posters.
"When children come in here, it's not always for good things," Mathis said. "I don't want the kids to see this as a place you come just when you're in trouble. The posters make it easier for the child. And if you come in here because you're in trouble, well you have some nice stuff you can look at until I decide your fate."
Mathis earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Nova University in 1999. The same year, her husband died of cancer.
Now, just four years later, Mathis is set to retire.
It has been a proud and sometimes tough term.
Cox is a school where 97 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. Some 55 percent are Hispanic; many are migrants who move in and out of the area as they follow the harvest seasons. Others come from such remote areas of Mexico that they cannot read or write in their native language, never mind English, Mathis said.
"With FCAT our kids are held to the same standards as everyone else," Mathis said. "Some of these kids don't know American terms. They don't know what a mall is or what a skate is. Those words show up on the FCAT. Perhaps they can sound it out phonetically, but they can't visualize it."
Mathis said she has been privileged to work with a dedicated faculty.
And she has tried hard to make a difference on her own.
Every day she and principal Leila Mizer, would visit each classroom.
She appeared on the school's morning news show giving the same daily spiel: to be academically engaged and follow the classroom, schoolwide, cafeteria and playground rules. "And I tell them to have a great day."
Mathis also headed the Assist Believe and Care program that helps needy children and their families. On cold mornings she minded her post in front of the old brick school to see that children were dressed properly. "If we don't have a coat or sweater in the clinic for them we go shopping," Mathis said. Ten years ago she implored her dentist, Dr. Todd Weiner, to help her students. Now once a year Weiner and his staff come to Cox to give free X-rays, cleanings and minor fillings.
"We try to make sure all the child's needs are met. If they need medicine, we get, it. If they need food, we get that, too."
Mathis has also done her share of public speaking in the community, something she will likely keep up after her retirement and the planned trip to Alaska. She also plans to volunteer for hospice and a local hospital.
Her message, she says, is constant.
"Love your babies. Love the community's babies. Always have faith in the children. We, as a community, must raise the children. I believe that there is always hope for every person, every child. We all are an important part of the whole scheme of the universe."
