Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 3, 1991 TAG: 9102030248
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As the chief of Virginia's schools, he's been shaking things up, letting people go and, in some cases, ticking people off in an attempt to whip his new department into shape.
In many ways, what he's now doing to reorganize the troubled state Department of Education resembles his efforts to save a hobbling Lynchburg School System when he was named superintendent there 18 years ago.
"He was sort of a hard hammer," said Albert Spencer, who worked with Spagnolo as Lynchburg Education Association president.
Spagnolo took the job in Lynchburg after years of teaching and administrative experience in three Virginia school districts. His mission was to clean up a school system that, just three years after integrating, had become muddled and ineffective.
Spagnolo blew into Lynchburg much the way he blew into Richmond last July, Spencer said.
"He came down very dictatorial. I think he had his agenda set and he didn't have any ideas about changing it," he said. "His first concern was to turn the system around."
A few years after Spagnolo arrived, though, something happened, Spencer said. "He mellowed . . .. As the years went by, he was more liked and was more approachable."
Spagnolo admits that he changed during his 17-year Lynchburg tenure. He learned that he didn't have to do everything himself, and he learned how to trust others to help him do his job.
"I evolved from an autocrat to a semi-autocrat," he said. "I found that the most productive path is the one where you involve a lot of people."
As he learned to trust the talents of others, he has gained the respect of those he works for and with.
"We have great confidence in Dr. Spagnolo's judgment," state Board of Education President Suzanne Thomas said.
"His is the kind of personality you need for this job," said Secretary of Education James Dyke.
That personality includes passions for reading - especially the latest in education and management theories - running after work or in weekend races, and rooting for his alma mater, the University of Virginia, where his daughter graduated and two of his three sons now attend.
Spagnolo, 47, the son of an Army man who moved his family around the country, saw a lot of schools as he grew up. They ended up in New Jersey, and he went to Fairleigh Dickinson University. He later returned to school at UVa, where he received his doctorate, after brief stints as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in Virginia schools.
William Seawell, a retired UVa education professor, remembers teaching Spagnolo more than 20 years ago. He remembers a bright and dedicated student with a flair for school finances. And he recalls recommending a 26-year-old Spagnolo for a position as assistant superintendent in Henrico County.
Spagnolo got the job.
"He's bright as the devil," Seawell said.
People in Lynchburg agree.
"He had an uncanny ability to be two steps ahead of the innovations that were coming," said former E.C. Glass High School Principal Roger Jones, who became an assistant superintendent after Spagnolo left.
"I expect he's taken his uncanny ability to be on the cutting edge and he's taken it with him to the state," Jones said. "And I expect that what he's doing with the state will make it a model for the nation."
That's what Spagnolo hopes, too. In Richmond, though, he's had to deal with the big-time politics that weren't a problem in Lynchburg.
In that arena, legislators give him a grade of about "C+."
by CNB