Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 28, 1994 TAG: 9402280116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bartol was principal at Stonewall Jackson Junior High while Roanoke schools were being racially desegregated. From 1970 to 1986, he led students and teachers with an unorthodox style.
Once dared by a student to drive through one of the roughest sections of Roanoke, he replied, "I told him I drive through there two or three times a week, and if I or my family are ever stopped or threatened, I carry a .25-caliber pistol in my car."
According to a 1976 news article, he was once confronted by students about what he planned to do for "Black History Week."
"I told them we have America Day every school day here," was Bartol's answer.
After retiring from the school system, Bartol was named to the city School Board.
A product of the Pennsylvania coalfields, Bartol was known for making students do push-ups as a disciplinary measure and cooling off "hotheads" by making them sit in air-conditioning.
"He had a wild, maverick sense of humor," said Roanoke Mayor David Bowers. In 1989, Bowers and Councilman Howard Musser were the only council members who fought for Bartol when he was left off a list of School Board finalists in a bid for reappointment.
"I felt really close to Don," Bowers said. "He was one of the people in the Roanoke school system who helped me set my goals and attain them. I miss him already."
Bartol - who did not see eye-to-eye with former school Superintendent Frank Tota at all times - was a proponent of finding the right educational paths for students with average abilities at the expense of "glossy" programs.
Average learners "don't need bells and whistles," he said in 1989, "just good, solid teaching and challenge in the classroom."
by CNB