A majority of the eight school board members strongly support Russo. They say he is doing a good job, as evidenced by yet another glowing annual evaluation in June.
Russo’s contract is due to expire in two years. Some board members think now is the time to act or risk losing him to another school system. The board extended Russo’s initial contract two years ago, to June 2005.
Board members credit him with doing exactly what he was hired to do four years ago: raise test scores and improve fiscal accountability. Supporters say the numbers bear that out. Test scores are up (though questions have been raised about the propriety of using SAT scores in evaluating any school system), and proficiency on state-mandated tests is at its highest level.
But there continues to be a distinct undercurrent of resentment and anger toward Russo by some teachers and school employees. Some critics strongly question his management style and the way he is getting things done. Others just as strenuously defend him, saying he is just doing what the school board hired him to do.
In the days and weeks after the release of Russo’s evaluation by the board in June, The Pilot received numerous calls, e-mails and letters complaining about what some said was an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the school system and about employee morale, which some contend is low.
And three board members later questioned the process by which the evaluation was reached, saying it was not fair or balanced and that certain things were left out.
School board Chairman Wiley Barrett says the board has not discussed extending Russo’s contract. He says the subject would likely be brought up in the next few months, possibly as early as the September meeting.
“I didn’t want to bring it up while we were working on the budget and we wanted to get school opened,” Barrett says. “If the board doesn’t act soon, it sends a message to the superintendent to start looking. It also lets other school systems know that he may be available, and he’ll start getting calls. I would be shocked if the board didn’t offer him an extension.”
Most board members, with the exception of Dale Frye, declined to say publicly whether they would vote to extend Russo’s contract. They say they would prefer to talk about it first as a board and with Russo. Frye made it clear in June that he would not support a contract extension or pay raise.
“We need to talk with Pat to see what he is looking for,” board member Jennifer Garner says. “This is something we need to talk about. I have no doubt that he will be in high demand.”
‘Tremendous Pressure’
During his four years in Moore County, Russo has enjoyed unequivocal support from a majority of the members of the school board. Though some current board members say they have heard the expressions of discontent and the reports that some teachers are supposedly afraid to disagree openly with Russo, the board has never given him a remotely negative evaluation.
Russo finds the reports highly frustrating. He says he makes every effort to listen to teachers and other employees and take their opinions into account.
School board Vice Chairwoman Penny Hayes says she has heard some of the concerns indirectly but not directly from teachers. Hayes believes the increasing pressure on teachers and administrators to improve student achievement may be a factor.
“Pat was hired to come in and make changes where changes were needed to improve student performance,” she says. “We want to see improvements. If students aren’t at grade level, that is a problem. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on everyone to improve test scores, from the state, No Child Left Behind [a federal government program] and the community. Pat’s job is to make sure we meet those performance standards. He is doing what we asked him to do.”
Barrett says that if things are as bad as some make them out to be, people need to step out of the shadows of anonymity and make their complaints known. He says the board has a process for employees to follow if they feel they have been retaliated against or treated unfairly. He says no documented case about “fear and intimidation” has been brought to the board’s attention.
“If a person has a grievance, the board has a system in place,” Barrett says. “The person will be protected. No one has come forward. I know of no one who has been retaliated against. If they have, they need to come forward. … We will act on something if there is merit.”
Hayes says that if there is a problem between Russo and some teachers, the board should try to address it.
“They [teachers] should be able to talk without fear of reprisals or being afraid of losing their jobs,” she says.
‘All Unsubstantiated’
School board member Blanchie Carter, a retired principal and a former teacher, says she would rather see any problems between Russo and school employees talked through.
“That is the only way to resolve problems,” she says. “The only way we can do what is in the best interest of children is for us to sit down [and] lay whatever problems we have on the table. You can’t resolve things if you can’t talk about [them].
Jennifer Garner, the only member remaining who was on the board that hired Russo, agrees with Barrett that if there is a problem, someone needs to step forward.
“I am not going to do anything about it unless someone comes forward,” she says. “As far as I am concerned, there is no credibility behind it. It is all unsubstantiated. If there is a legitimate concern, I would be the first to want to know about it.
“There is a process for someone to follow. If all of these horrible things are going on, what do people expect us to do if no one comes forward? If I feel the superintendent is doing what it is in the best interest of children, I will support him.”
Board members Clayton Evans and Allan Beck echo Garner’s comments. Beck points out that Russo “brought us a budget that raises teacher salary supplements,” adding: “We recognize the job teachers are doing. They got us here. It happened in the classroom. But it is also a result of good leadership.”
But fellow board member Charles Lambert thinks many teachers are afraid to voice their opinions. “I think there are some,” he says.
No teachers or administrators presently working for school system contacted by The Pilot wanted to speak for attribution.
One person who was willing to be interviewed was former North Moore High School teacher Mike Duncan, though he said he would not have come forward before his retirement.
“I lived in fear of losing my job,” he says.
He claims Russo would not put up with disagreement from teachers.
“If you dissented, he was all over you,” Duncan says. “They would say, ‘If you disagree, why don’t you sit down and write a paper about it, and we will send it on up the line.’”
Russo vigorously disputes such accusations. He says he does everything possible to encourage teachers to speak their minds. He says there is no truth to complaints that he berates those who disagree with him.
Teachers can bring concerns anonymously in writing through the Teacher Academic Council, which is composed of teacher representatives from each school, Russo says. There have been few concerns raised this year. When he meets with individual school faculties, teachers and other employees can write down questions and concerns and not give their names. He says he gets very few questions and concerns.
“I can’t force people to say things,” he says. “I want people’s opinion and input. I don’t know what more I can do. I put myself out there openly.
“There is a perception that if you say something, something bad will happen. I encourage people to speak their mind. We can say anything to each other as long as it’s in a professional manner.”
Russo acknowledges that there is more pressure on the school system to improve test scores.
“There are high expectations coming from the school board, from the state and from the community,” he says. “We have gone from 44th to seventh [using the local accountability model, partially based on SAT scores]. We do push them [staff members] to continually improve performance.”
‘Numbers Game’
Mike Duncan’s wife, Linda, retired June 30 as principal of Pinckney Academy, the alternative high school. She is a former principal of Union Pines High School and an assistant principal at Pinecrest. She decided to retire rather than work under present conditions, she says.
“I would have liked to have worked one more year, but I can’t put up with this,” Linda Duncan says. “I don’t feel our school system is geared to helping children. I feel it is geared to numbers, data, but I don’t think the numbers they are after actually measure children’s progress.”
Duncan criticizes what she calls the “numbers game” in the county’s schools.
“I resent tax money being used to find out where we rank among the 117 school systems in the state,” she says. “I don’t think that is being good steward of tax dollars.”
Duncan was referring a local accountability model developed jointly by the school board and the county commissioners to rank the school system.
“You have to be concerned where there is so much pressure about tests,” she says. “You don’t have time to ‘check in’ with your students every day. Students need that, but there is not time for it. Not in our society, either. You want a school not only to impart a body of knowledge, but [also] to produce graduates able to function in society.”
‘Rules of Game Have Changed’
Like it or not, Barrett says, test scores are the way schools are measured now. He says Russo is doing what the board has asked him to do: continually improve test scores.
Barrett says Moore County, like many other school systems, is under great pressure to raise test scores. That puts more pressure on teachers and principals.
“The rules of the game have changed tremendously in the last five or six years,” he says. “Improving test scores is written into principals’ contracts. They sign two-year contracts. You are paid to do a job. Schools must perform. Test scores are how we are measured. Some people try to make that sound sinister.
“There is criticism that we are teaching to the test. I would hope we are not teaching something that is not tested. That is how we know the curriculum is being taught. We do testing because the state legislature demands it.”
Barrett says he hasn’t agreed with everything Russo has done. “But the man hasn’t told me anything that is not true,” he says.
‘Dog-and-Pony Show’
Retired teacher Loretta Aldridge says there was strong pressure on teachers, even tenured ones, to conform. She says such pressures drove her from the classroom at Pinecrest High School, though she acknowledges they are hard to document.
“I began the AP English program at North Moore, taught in five states and Germany in a 39-year career,” Aldridge says. “I would have stayed had the atmosphere not become such a dog-and-pony show, teacher-unfriendly and statistics-based.”
She claims teachers all over the county are scared.
“It is all so subtle,” she says. “Nothing is said overtly, but there has to be a reason when so many people are afraid to talk.”
Aldridge says she became so concerned about low faculty morale at Pinecrest in 2000 that she sent a letter to then-Assistant Superintendent Donnie Weeks. She said much of her concern stemmed from the decision to implement the International Baccalaureate program at the school.
“Department chairs have not been informed of how and why decisions have been made,” she wrote. “Professional courtesy is virtually nonexistent. Classes have been switched and dissolved without explanation of the need for such actions to the parties involved. Many classes are overloaded, with a real inequity in number of students assigned to different teachers.”
Aldridge says she mailed her letter in January, but it appeared to bring no response.
“Over a month later, Russo’s secretary called and said Russo and Weeks ‘want to meet with you tomorrow,’” she says. “They came and he [Russo] began to dismiss, demean, belittle everything in the letter. He made it sound as if the International Baccalaureate program was a request of the Pinecrest faculty. That was not true, because most of the faculty did not even know about it.”
Aldridge says that she told him the faculty was upset but that he “just dismissed that whole idea.”
She says Russo then brought up “an extraneous issue” in what she interpreted as “a personal attack.” Russo questioned her about entering an Internet bikini contest to win tickets to a concert, an action he called an embarrassment. A friend had taken her picture and sent it in.
“I felt this was intended to embarrass me,” Aldridge says, “but all it did was make me mad. He asked me what other teachers were involved, and I just refused to answer that.”
Russo confirms that he questioned Aldridge about the bikini contest photo, but he says he did it because the picture was taken at school and done on school time.
“I felt that was not a proper thing to do,” he says. “That was not professional. But nothing was put in her folder.”
Aldridge says the picture was taken at school, but it was before the school day had started.
Aldridge says Russo has done many progressive things during his time in Moore County, such as the partnership with Sandhills Community College. She praised his public appearance skills.
“But I would invite anybody who wants to know about the other side of Russo to talk to me,” she says. “There is a side he shows to people who work for him.”
‘High-Energy Person’
Dale Frye, a member of the Moore County Board of Education, made a similar comment in June.
In the aftermath of the board’s releasing its evaluation of Russo in June, one of his highest ratings in several years, three board members — Carter, Lambert and Frye — raised some concerns about the language in the official statement from the board and the process that was used to reach the evaluation.
They complained that the wording of the survey filled out by board members made it nearly impossible to give Russo a negative rating.
Carter said areas recommended by the school board for Russo to work on were not mentioned in the official statement released by the school system. One of Russo’s goals, board members said, was to improve his approval rating with school employees. According to the annual survey of teachers and administrators, Russo’s approval rating dropped from 72 percent to 69 percent. Lambert says the board did not see the results of the survey until after it had completed the evaluation.
Despite those concerns, Barrett points out, the board approved the evaluation.
Frye said in the June 13 edition of The Pilot that the evaluation was not “fair or balanced.” He declined comment for this article, saying his feelings have not changed since June.
Frye charged that “constructive criticism, staff morale and budget were not addressed in the statement [about the board’s evaluation]. Also, the board was not provided all of the data prior to the evaluation.”
Frye also says there are two sides to Russo.
“Dr. Russo is very charming to the public,” Frye said in June. “This is also what the business community and school board sees. However, there is what appears to be another side to him that is reserved for those who work under him.”
Barrett wholeheartedly disagrees with any assertions that Russo berates and intimidates employees.
“He is very high-energy person,” Barrett says. “He has high expectations, and he expects people to perform.”
Different Styles
There have been rumblings of dissent and resentment among the ranks of teachers and some other staff members almost from the first day Russo came to work in Moore County in 1999.
Russo’s supporters say that is to be expected when someone comes in and makes needed changes to improve the school system. He replaced Dr. Gene Riddle, who had been superintendent for 13 years. The two have radically different management styles. Riddle has been described as being more laid back
The negative reception that some gave Russo at the time he was hired could have been attributed to Russo’s somewhat stormy tenure as superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham County schools. He resigned his job there in 1998 with 18 months left on his contract
Russo, who took a job with an education satellite television service in Atlanta after leaving Savannah, defends his record during the seven years he was superintendent. He pointed out at the time he was hired in Moore County that the Savannah-Chatham County system made progress during his time there. He was also named the superintendent of the year in Georgia in 1996.
Sue Black, who was chairwoman of the school board when Russo was hired, says the board looked into the controversy surrounding his tenure in Georgia. She says the board was secure in its decision. She says any superintendent with his experience will have some baggage.
Black still feels to this day that he was the right person for the job.
“Our goal was to make sure children were getting a quality education and that taxpayers were getting their money’s worth,” she says. “We wanted to bring accountability to public education in Moore County. I believe he has done that. He had to make changes. That tends to upset some people. I still have confidence in Pat Russo to lead our school system. The changes have made us better.”
‘Made a Lot of Improvements’
At the time Russo was hired, the Sandhills Area Chamber of Commerce was pushing for more accountability from the school system. It wanted a superintendent who would come in and make needed changes.
Jim Bilyak, the former president of the Sandhills Area Chamber of Commerce, was on the superintendent search committee.
“The school system has made a lot of improvements since he came here,” Bilyak says. “As for any disgruntled employees, you’ll get that any time you make changes, when you insist on raising standards. That is what Pat was asked to do, and he has done that. We don’t just do things to do them. We do it to get results. Not all teachers and employees will be happy. Pat can be abrasive. That is his personality. He is doing what he was brought here to do.
“I have watched how he worked with the business community. It has been tremendous. When I was on the Sandhills Community College board, I saw the cooperation.”
Ken Baer, who was vice chairman of the board when Russo was hired in June 1999, says Russo has done exactly what the board hired him to do: improve test scores and make the school system accountable. Sometimes, he says, that doesn’t help win a popularity contest. Baer says he still hears from both sides, principals and teachers who like Russo and think he is doing a good job and those who don’t.
“I am proud of the work he has done.” Baer says. “He was the right person. I knew that not everyone would be happy. I have no doubts that he has moved the system forward. It is continuously improving.
“When someone comes in and makes changes and improvements, not everyone will like it. Change creates positives, but there are whiplashes to that. He puts his people under a lot of pressure to perform.”
‘Can’t Knock What He’s Done’
Baer said the accountability model, which has drawn considerable criticism recently because of the weight given to SAT scores, was developed before Russo was hired. He said the business community wanted more accountability before it would support asking for increased county funding for schools. The county commissioners wanted a way to measure the school system’s progress.
The ranking formula is based on percent of students proficient (30 percent), percent of schools meeting expected and high growth on the state ABCs (30 percent), average SAT scores (30 percent) and dropout rate (10 percent).
“We agreed on using readily available data that all school systems have, which includes SAT scores,” Baer said. “We were told that even though educators don’t like it, the world believes SAT scores are a way to measure schools and if you don’t put it in there, you won’t have the credibility. The commissioners felt SAT scores were important.”
George Griffin, a former assistant superintendent and principal of Union Pines High School, came out of retirement several years ago to be interim principal at Union Pines. He has also worked with the driver education program. He has worked under four superintendents.
“No one can deny he [Russo] has accomplished what he was asked to do,” Griffin says. “Test scores are climbing. Some people aren’t comfortable working under that kind of pressure. I don’t know if I could, long-term. I felt more pressure in that two years [as interim] than I did in 13 years [as principal]. Some teachers didn’t like him. I tried to pin them down and be specific.
“I don’t like all of the emphasis on test scores. It hurts education, but that is the way schools are measured. You are under a lot of pressure to get it done. In my heart of hearts, he is doing what he is asked to do.”
Griffin describes Russo as “not the easiest man to work for,” pointing out his high expectations.
“There is a great deal of pressure on teachers and principals,” he says. “But I can’t knock what the man has done. Some might not like the way it is done.”
