AUBURN — The new principal of Franklin Alternative School, Russ Barlow, said he’s come full circle. He can relate to his students who have struggled in the traditional class setting and made mistakes.

He’s been there.

Barlow, 51, of Turner, comes across as outgoing and friendly. He’s a big man, a past powerlifting champion. Last year, he was a Franklin teacher. This year he’s replacing the man who hired him, Dave Eretzian, who retired in June.

As a boy in Rhode Island, “I did not like school,” he said. “I was afraid of the teachers. That really was a hard time.”

He had undiagnosed dyslexia. “I would see things backward.” He had to work hard, he said, to graduate from college and get his master’s degree.

He said he was blessed with two good parents who worried about his disinterest in academics. They sent him to a private Catholic high school. But Mount Saint Charles didn’t shield him from what he called the torment of school.

He remembers one high school teacher who made fun of him in front of the class.

“He’d say, ‘Mr. Barlow, go up to the board,’” and have him write his math homework. The process of how he did the math was correct, “but the numbers would be flipped” and wrong.

That teacher saw him as “big and dumb,” Barlow said. “He’d say, ‘Barlow, your head is like a pencil sharpener. … The information goes in whole … but comes out in shavings. I don’t know what goes on in your head.’

“I hated that man,” Barlow said. “I understand the torment and torture of school.”

As an educator, it’s important to not only teach but understand where students are coming from, Barlow said. Many Franklin students are disadvantaged and “dying for a significant adult in their lives. It’s important to listen. Most adults don’t listen, they tell. It’s important to gain their respect.”

After high school he came to Maine to attend St. Joseph’s College, where he excelled at baseball and played in a semi-pro league. “I started weightlifting to get bigger and stronger.”

After college he began teaching at Leavitt Area High School in Turner and continued weightlifting.

“I became a world-class powerlifter. I ranked as high as No. 3 in the world as a super heavyweight.”

He also got involved with steroids. In 1994 in federal district court Barlow pleaded guilty to attempted possession of anabolic steroids, a misdemeanor. Two other charges involving steroids against him were dismissed.

Barlow said his history with steroids “is old news. It happened 20 years ago. I learned my lesson.”

When asked if he uses steroids today, Barlow said, “I would be foolish to allow that into my life at this point. At some point you grow up.”

His experience, his mistakes, “made me the person I am,” Barlow said. He said he tells his students that actions they take will impact them all of their lives. Barlow said he’s an example of that.

Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin said she’s aware of Barlow’s misdemeanor, and that he’s worked for Auburn schools since 1998. “He has demonstrated the qualities in a person who is serious about his role as educator,” Grondin said. “He has built a strong rapport with students, families and teachers, and always held himself and others to high expectations.”

His time with Auburn schools “is a testament to what a person can overcome after facing adversity, and this is a lesson I know he will bring to his work with students.”

Barlow left Leavitt and worked in powerlifting, promoting world and national events in Maine and other states. “I thought I was going into the fitness industry forever.”

He considered moving to Florida, but his wife, Lynn, loves Maine and winter. “I love her,” he said. They stayed. He supported her as she beat leukemia. He ran a personal training business and, for four years, a gym on Lisbon Street in Lewiston.

One day he ran into Eretzian at a Turner hardware store. Eretzian asked him to come back to teaching. He started out as a substitute and was hired at Franklin in 1998.

Meanwhile, Eretzian encouraged him to get his master’s degree. So did Barlow’s mother, who was not impressed with his weight titles or the fact that he became the third man in Maine to bench 500 pounds.

“When my mom was dying, she said, ‘Promise me you’re going to finish your master’s degree,’” Barlow said.

This summer Barlow laminated a copy of his diploma and left it at her grave. “There’s a flower box. I rolled it up and stuck it in there. I said, ‘Here, ma, I graduated.’”

His goal as Franklin principal, Barlow said, is to continue what Eretzian started. “Dave Eretzian used to say all the time ‘if you capture the kids’ hearts, you capture the kids’ minds.’ That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

He wants to grow the number of students who pass all classes. He wants to generate quality citizens.

He applied for the job “because I love it. I tell the kids, ‘I could be anywhere in the world. My favorite place is 23 High St., Auburn, Maine. There’s no place I’d rather be.’”

When asked if he still powerlifts, Barlow smiled. “I’m toying with entering a meet Oct. 29.”

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