ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
Their names would make them ideal law partners: Joseph Kyle and Eddie Kolb. They would have made a good courtroom team - Kyle and Kolb.
Kyle even considered becoming a lawyer as a young man, but he wasn't quite motivated enough to go to law school when he got out of college.
Instead, he became a teacher at the old George Washington Carver High School in Salem when it was part of the Roanoke County school system. He soon met Kolb, another young teacher at the old Hollins Elementary School.
For nearly four decades, Kyle and Kolb have worked together for children in the county - teaching, testing, counseling and managing school programs. They haven't received a lot of publicity, but they have touched the lives of thousands of students.
Kyle is director of testing and federal programs. Kolb is director of pupil personnel services and special education.
The similarities between them are striking.
Each began as a teacher in an all-black school in the 1950s, before integration. Each rose through the ranks to become a school administrator in Roanoke County's central office. Each has spent his entire career with county schools. Each is married to a woman who was a career educator in the county. Each has lived in Salem.
And they will leave their jobs together next month.
Kyle, 62, is retiring after 39 years with the county. Kolb, 60, began working for the schools 38 years ago, but he took three years off while he was working on his doctorate.
"Each has made significant contributions in their separate fields and they are leaders in the state in their areas, but they have many of the same qualities - conscientious, loyal and dependable," said Superintendent Deanna Gordon. "Each will take with them so much knowledge that they'll be hard to replace."
Kyle began his career in 1957 as a seventh-grade teacher, assistant football and basketball coach at Carver in Salem after graduating from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.
It was a homecoming for him - he grew up in Salem and attended Carver as a boy.
The school housed all 12 grades then, but it was later converted to an elementary school.
Kyle recalls that his salary was $3,050 in his first year as a teacher. He didn't get paid anything for being an assistant coach. Later, he was assistant principal at Carver for four years.
In 1966, Kyle was appointed supervisor of testing and assistant director of federal programs, overseeing the standardized tests and federally funded programs to help disadvantaged students. He was named director of testing and federal programs in 1988.
In the meantime, he had earned a master's degree in administration and guidance from the University of Virginia in 1966 and a doctorate in guidance and counseling from Virginia Tech in 1976.
Kyle helped set up the county's testing program and supervised the federal programs that were part of President Lyndon Johnson's anti-poverty Great Society. These include special tutorial help in math, reading and other subjects for children in schools in poor neighborhoods.
Roanoke County has received far less federal money for such programs than Roanoke, but Kyle said the funds still have helped many students. Roanoke receives more than $2 million a year for the federal programs, while the county receives $495,000, down from $800,000 three years ago.
Kyle has been frustrated by the reduction in funds for education, particularly at the federal level, in recent years.
"With the downsizing and budget cuts, a lot of good things that we could do to help educate children are being hampered," he said.
Gordon said the county's testing and federal programs were in their infancy when Kyle took them over. "He has guided their development."
During the past three decades, standardized testing programs have expanded rapidly at the local and state levels. The state will begin a new testing program in the next few years as a result of the adoption of new academic standards.
Kyle supports the new standards, but he believes the state is moving too quickly to test students without providing adequate time and money for training teachers and providing instructional materials.
As Kyle was beginning his career at Carver, Kolb was hired as a teacher at the old Hollins Elementary in 1958 after graduating from Virginia State University in Petersburg.
A native of Charleston, S.C., Kolb came to Roanoke County because his wife grew up in Salem and wanted to live there. He taught for three years at the Hollins school before becoming principal.
When the school closed in 1966, he became a school psychologist for the county. He earned a master's degree in school psychology at Radford University two years later while continuing to work full-time. During the early 1970s, Kolb took three years off to get his doctorate in school administration and psychology at the University of Virginia.
Then he became director of pupil personnel services and special education for the county. This entailed supervision of the school psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and other specialized personnel.
When Kolb was appointed to the post, the county's program was small: It had a staff of only five or six psychologists and therapists, with fewer than 10 special education teachers. About 150 children were in special education programs.
Today, the county has a staff of 40 psychologists, pathologists and therapists with nearly 200 teachers. Almost 2,500 children are either receiving specialized services or are enrolled in special education programs.
"We have been able to grow and develop more programs. This has been the biggest change that has come about because of changes in the law and the tremendous expansion of the categories of disabilities we must serve," Kolb said.
Federal requirements force school systems to provide a wide range of services for children with disabilities. Schools are also required to educate many children with disabilities in regular classrooms under a policy known as "inclusion."
Kolb said he believes children with mild disabilities can benefit from inclusion, but he does not advocate it for all children. "The more disabled the child is, the less successful you are going to be in an inclusive setting."
But he is a strong advocate of the concept of "collaborative teaching," in which special education and regular teachers team up in classes with both regular students and those with disabilities. "With a combination of teachers, I think you get the best of both worlds."
While Kyle and Kolb are looking forward to retirement and getting away from the daily rush, both expect to stay involved in education in some way and possibly to do part-time college teaching. A sports fan, Kolb said he'll have more time to watch football and basketball games on television.
Kyle said he's first going to take two months off and visit some educational and cultural attractions in the state. Then he might do some consulting work and possibly teach classes for UVa in testing. Kyle said he also hopes to have more time for his church activities.
Gordon said the county is advertising for successors for Kyle and Kolb, but she does not expect to make a selection until July.
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Joseph Kyle (left), director ofby CNBtesting, and Eddie Kolb, director of special education, are retiring
after long careers with the county. color.