Leading Schools Into Future : Ventura: Joseph Spirito, acting head of a district facing financial and morale problems, has built ties with his hands-on style.

Joseph Spirito likes challenges.

But even Spirito admits that the challenges facing him as acting superintendent of the financially troubled Ventura Unified School District are the toughest he has assumed in his 32 years in education.

Crowded classrooms, low teacher morale and a retiree benefits program that threatens to bankrupt the district are among the pressures that Spirito must bear. They are the same pressures that recently drove his predecessor, Cesare Caldarelli, to take a job in Chicago.

Caldarelli’s departure was so hasty that he neglected to formally notify Ventura school officials that he was resigning. He later phoned in his resignation.

Enter Spirito--described by colleagues as personable, energetic and even-tempered, a welcome contrast to Caldarelli’s hard-nosed, mostly distant relationship with teachers and staff.

“I think people feel more comfortable with Dr. Spirito,” said John Gennaro, a teacher at Balboa Middle School and president of the teachers union.

“I think teachers feel they will get a fair hearing with him,” Gennaro said. “In all my dealings with him, I’ve always come away feeling he’s really listened to me.”

Board member Diane Harriman said Spirito has worked hard over the years to cultivate a close relationship with teachers and staff. It is those close ties that will provide the district with the stability it needs, she said.

“Joe will keep us afloat because he has a good rapport with staff,” Harriman said. “And he’s highly visible. He’s constantly out at the schools. People know him and rely on him.”

School board members have said there is a good possibility that Spirito, who said he plans to retire in two or three years, could be named Caldarelli’s permanent replacement.

Although he recently was named acting superintendent of the district, Spirito will also continue to serve as assistant superintendent of educational services, as he has done for the past five years.

Before joining the Ventura district, Spirito, 58, served for 10 years as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction at Baldwin Park Unified School district. He has also taught and served as principal at schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Spirito said that whatever his job title in the Ventura school district, his mission is the same: to put the “ship back on a steady course.” The ship includes 15,000 students, 670 teachers, 17 elementary schools, three middle schools, two high schools and one continuation school.

“It’s a tremendous challenge,” Spirito said of his new responsibilities. “It’s the biggest challenge of my career.”

Although reluctant to criticize Caldarelli, Spirito acknowledges that the two men have different management styles.

“I can’t function behind a desk,” Spirito said. “My style is, you get out in the schools and you talk to teachers, you hold children’s hands, you read stories to kids and you go in the classroom and teach if you have the opportunity to do that.”

He said it is that personal contact that will give him a better understanding of the conditions that teachers must work under, having to cope with larger class sizes, fewer supplies and less equipment.

This year, the district had to slash $2.4 million from its budget and eliminate 23 elementary teaching positions and 21 secretarial and maintenance jobs.

“It’s important to be out at the schools because people see you and they say, ‘Hey, I think he knows what’s going on because he’s here and he sees it firsthand,’ ” Spirito said.

“It’s one thing when you hear a teacher say, ‘I’ve got 37 kids in my class,’ ” he said. “But when you actually see it, it makes all the difference.”

Spirito said he plans to get teachers more involved in the decision-making process to help build more trust between them and the district office.

To do this, he recently formed an advisory committee, including three principals, a member of the classified employees union, a member of the teachers union and two district administrators.

“Basically, that committee is to keep me on a straight and narrow path, to help me,” Spirito said. “The key is to have the support of teachers, administrators and the school board. I cannot do this job alone. If anyone believes this is a one-man show, they’re absolutely incorrect.”

Spirito’s first test as superintendent will be to negotiate a new contract with the district’s teachers, who have not had a pay raise in three years.

“They’re fearful of salary cuts, they’re fearful of layoffs, of lack of money,” Spirito said. “They’re frustrated and they’re angry.”

The district may not have the money to give them a raise right now, but Spirito said it can offer more understanding and encouragement, by way of employee awards and promotions.

“If you give people a sense that they’re worthy, those are the kinds of things that give job satisfaction,” Spirito said. “It’s not always money. None of us came into this business, this educational process, to get rich. We’re too smart for that.”

Still, Spirito said he hopes that the district will be able to give teachers some type of financial reward in the near future, because they have earned it.

“They’ve got to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

To create that light, Spirito said the district must change its retiree benefits plan. Under the current system, the district pays for lifetime medical benefits for all retirees. This year alone, the program cost the district $3.6 million.

“We have to modify it somehow,” Spirito said. “It’s imperative that we solve this as soon as we can. What I’m looking for is all groups to sit down--active employees and retirees--and understand why this needs to be modified.”

Spirito said it is too early to say exactly how the benefits plan will be changed. But he said that either salaries or benefits will have to be adjusted, and that may require sacrifices on the part of both current and former employees.

“Some tough decisions need to be made,” he said. “But we have to remember the decisions will be made in the best interest of children.”

Gennaro said teachers understand the issues surrounding the retirement program and are looking for an equitable solution.

“We know it’s going to be tough,” he said. “There is some pain to be shared on this.”

Meanwhile, Spirito doesn’t have to look far to find out what kind of job he’s doing. His wife, Mari, is a teacher at Mound Elementary School.

“She keeps me honest,” he said.