THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507010095
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Harold McCoy admits, somewhat sheepishly, that he went looking for dirt on Jim Pughsley.
McCoy, a member of the school board in Monroe, La., was investigating Pughsley for the superintendent's job there five years ago. So he headed out west to Arizona and Nevada where Pughsley, recently named interim superintendent of the Beach schools, had attended college and worked.
``We were looking for something bad. Someone had to say something bad about this guy,'' said McCoy, now president of the Monroe board. ``I found nothing. He's squeaky clean.''
The board hired Pughsley for what was then the second-highest superintendent's salary in Louisiana to run the 11,000-student Monroe schools because board members wanted him so badly, McCoy said.
``Jim Pughsley is a rare breed. He's one of a kind,'' said McCoy. ``In a community where race relations have not been the greatest, I saw grown men, white men, cry when he left.''
In a business known for dragging good men down, for leaving them burned out and gossiped about, Pughsley seems to have emerged unscathed from a 30-year career in education.
Indeed Pughsley, deputy superintendent in Virginia Beach since fall 1993, has earned a reputation for pristine integrity and remarkable mediation skills. He officially takes over leadership of the state's second-largest school district Monday and will run it until a permanent superintendent is named. He says he will apply for that job.
``What's in this building is important,'' he said during a recent interview in his office at the Municipal Center. ``But it's not as important as what goes on in the schools.''
Pughsley was born and reared in Tucson, Ariz., the son of a Tuskegee Airman and grandson of a Buffalo Soldier.
He remembers hearing stories of his grandfather's days in the Buffalo Soldiers - the famed unit of African-American soldiers who took part in this country's western expansion. The Tuskegee Airmen, with whom his father served, were black aviators during World War II, when the armed services were still segregated.
His interests were not military, however, but educational. He initially taught third grade, an age group he enjoyed because the students were discovering their own independence but still needed him. After two years in the classroom, Pughsley moved into administration, first as a Chapter 1 coordinator, a federal program for underprivileged children, because he believed he could have an impact on a larger number of students.
Pughsley describes himself as an average student, but he admits to being ``a bit more driven and focused'' because of the example set by his family. His parents died when he was young and he, an only child, was reared by his grandparents.
``They didn't set high expectations,'' Pughsley says of his family, ``They lived high expectations.''
A soft-spoken and private man, Pughsley has made himself heard and known within the Virginia Beach schools. He is described as everything from ``a doll'' to ``a peacemaker'' to ``a king'' by people who've worked with him at various times in his career.
``He's got the respect of everybody I've talked to in the principalship,'' said J. Wylie French, the district's director of school leadership. ``He makes you feel everybody can come out a winner. He always believes in the integrity of people.''
Pughsley is well-known within Virginia Beach's school administration but almost unknown to the community it serves. In Monroe, however, his role was more public, and he gained fans outside of administration, too.
``Many people in our community are still disappointed that he left,'' said Vickie Dayton, a Louisiana board member. ``He has a way about him. You feel very confident in his actions.''
``I think the biggest thing he brings is great integrity and that people within the administration respect and trust him,'' said Robert Hall, the longest tenured member of the Beach board.
And Hall added admiringly: ``He doesn't open his mouth unless he has something to say.''
Pughsley received his bachelor's degree from Northern Arizona University and his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona at Tucson. His wife is a middle school principal in Charlotte, N.C., but they see each other on weekends when possible at her family's home in Charlottesville. Their only child, a daughter, lives and works in Northern Virginia.
While he believes in the importance of running the business side of the district well, Pughsley sees his focus as what goes on in the classroom - ``to set the tone that what the division is about is instruction.''
``The schools are where the action is,'' he said. ``I want to be out there on the playing field.''
Even Pughsley admits he's taking a chance by sitting in as interim superintendent. He has received rave reviews as second in command and could have sought the permanent post from that lesser known job rather than making himself the potential target for controversy and tension in the interim role.
``It's a risk. It cuts both ways,'' he said. But, ``I don't want this board or any other board to hire Jim Pughsley without knowing what Jim Pughsley is all about.
``I know I'm going to have to make some hard calls during this interim period. I will do that based on what's best educationally. And if that hurts my chances for the (permanent) job, so be it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by D. Kevin Elliott
Jim Pughsley, deputy superintendent gets high marks
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT by CNB