Patience in Deed Pays Off for DePaul - Ambridge Area School District superintendent Samuel DePaul - Brief Article - Interview

School Administrator, May, 2001 by Jay P. Goldman

Samuel DePaul didn't come to his current job a patient man, he says. But he qualifies now as a long-suffering soul who doesn't complain.

When DePaul accepted the superintendency of the Ambridge, Pa., Area School District in the summer of 1992, he quickly sized up the need for a major building renovation program to deal with some badly aging school sites. Most of those on his governing board agreed, and it didn't take long for the superintendent to generate $34 million in bond issues to support a comprehensive facility plan. But only in the past year have DePaul's blueprints for modernizing Ambridge schools moved from paper to bricks and mortar.

The much-delayed beginning stems largely from membership changes on the school board, which led to a shift in the superintendent's support from a decisive 7-2 edge to a more precarious 5-4 split and an atmosphere thick with indecision. The district endured three feasibility studies, contracts with three architects and the payment to one departing architect of nearly $700,000 just as the first groundbreaking was about to take place on the prior building project. District officials faced tough questioning about the need for all the spending on facilities and how to reconfigure grade levels among the buildings.

Through it all, says local business leader Bob Rhodes, "Sam's kept a positive outlook and kept things moving along. If it were me, I'm not sure I would have hung around."

DePaul says he's happy he resisted the temptation to move on to another leadership post as most board votes today are generating unanimous backing.

"The last 1 1/2 years here has been the best it's been. The hooting and hollering at each other are a thing of the past," he says, noting that the first of three elementary school renovations will be completed this summer, while ground is about to be broken for a new elementary building.

As constituents in his school district, which serves 3,300 students, battled over the particulars of the school facilities work, DePaul often found himself playing referee in a sports contest lacking any degree of civility. "A professor at Pitt said to me, 'You're Wyatt Earp and you're in the wild wild West."'

A native of Rochester, Pa., a place he returned to as superintendent for five years before moving south through Beaver County to Ambridge, DePaul carries a deep appreciation for the psyche of those who populate the western Pennsylvania towns north of Pittsburgh. It's a place where traditions reign and an ethnic Orientation, especially among Italians, Poles and Serbians, is highly visible. It's home to lots of senior citizens who once worked for the long-departed steel mills and industrial plants. Ambridge itself got its name from the American Bridge Co., the area's major employer until the company shut down in 1982.

In such an environment, DePaul says a collaborative leadership style suits him well. Patricia Parra, president of the local teachers' union, sees the superintendent doing whatever he can to forestall contentious situations and resolve sensitive personnel matters.

"You can tell he was brought up well," Parra says. "He's just a nice guy."

Amidst the trying times, DePaul has brought some significant progress to academic programs. He took the lead role in developing, with the neighboring Hopewell Area School District, an alternative school for about 90 chronically truant or disruptive students. The CLASS Academy (Creative Learning Alternative for Student Success), now 5 years old, draws all but 20 of its students from other Beaver County school districts, a revenue-generating activity.

More recently, DePaul was able to secure $30,000 a year in foundation support for a community learning center in Ambridge, that provides academic tutoring and computer classes for adults and students of all ages, an after-school site for junior high school students and financial planning and other informational seminars for adults.

Both initiatives have been recognized with citations in AASA's Leadership for Learning Award program. He has been a regular presenter at AASA national conferences over the past decade and serves on the governing board of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

BIO STATS:

SAM DEPAUL

Currently: superintendent, Ambridge Area Schools, Ambridge, Pa.

Earlier: superintendent, Rochester, Pa.

Age: 49

Greatest Influence on Career: Three people. My high school principal, William Douglas, was this huge guy who really cared and would walk up and put his arm around you. My high school football coach, Jim Ebersberger, was tough on one hand but caring on the other. Chick O'Data, vice president at Geneva College when I was a student, could make an ant feel like the Jolly Green Giant.

Best Professional Day: The day I became superintendent in the place where I grew up. I felt much like the child who grows up to play on his favorite sports team--a dream come true.

Books at Bedside: Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson and Isaac Monroe Cline; Eye of the Needle and The Pillars of the Earth, both by Ken Follett.