By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Edward L. Kelly, 63, who retired last year after 18 years as superintendent of the Prince William County public schools, died Thursday night of complications from a fall in his home last month.
When Kelly, a Missouri native and former science teacher, took over the Prince William system in July 1987, it was dogged by overcrowding, run-down school buildings and a School Board bruised by the high-profile firing of his predecessor.
But Kelly was ready, admirers said. With five years of experience as superintendent in Little Rock, Kelly eagerly tackled the challenges of transforming a once-rural school system into one that met the expectations of suburban parents in a rapidly growing county.
The school district, which had 38,000 students -- most of them white -- when Kelly arrived, has expanded in diversity and size. About 53 percent of the county's 66,000 students are black, Asian or Hispanic. Kelly hired more minority teachers, established specialties at the middle and high schools and made a name for himself by pushing a new approach to school management.
Tagged with the wonkish label "site-based management," the approach allowed principals more authority over spending, hiring and curriculum, on the theory that they knew better what their students needed than central office administrators did.
Yesterday, the county mourned its loss.
"He had such integrity, and he grew to be a wonderful leader," said Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Dumfries), a member of the School Board that hired Kelly in 1987.
School officials redesigned the school Web site, http://www.pwcs.edu , adding a photograph of Kelly and an article about him. The headline read: "FAREWELL TO AN EDUCATION GIANT."
Kelly had been undergoing treatment for a brain tumor since 2002, and last month he celebrated his last day of chemotherapy at a surprise luncheon, Caddigan said.
On Dec. 21, he was helping his wife carry groceries into their Manassas home when he tumbled down some steps and hit his head. He never regained consciousness. "He died at 10:01 p.m. Thursday. All four kids were there, and I was holding him when he died. It was beautiful," said his wife, Lynn Kelly, 59.
County Executive Craig S. Gerhart was teary-eyed as he reflected on his friend's unexpected death. "You think he should have had more time after his retirement," he said. "It feels unfair."
In September 2004, Kelly withdrew his request for a contract extension after School Board members told him that the district could benefit from new leadership.
Some board members privately believed that his health was worsening and would affect his performance in the grueling, high-profile job. His fitness was called into question in December 2004 after he crashed into a car idling at a traffic light near his home and kept driving, hitting another vehicle.
During School Board meetings, Kelly occasionally stumbled in his speech and his hand would often quiver. He has been replaced by Steven L. Walts, a former superintendent of a school district outside Rochester, N.Y.
The night that Walts was selected as his replacement, Kelly said in an interview, "I don't wish him anything but success."
But, he noted, "Obviously, it's sad for me. I love the job. I love what it encompasses, and I'll miss the people."
In his last days as superintendent, Kelly was honored at several farewell parties. Board members voted to name a new administrative building after him and to begin funding an annual scholarship in his name for graduating seniors who want to become teachers.
Known as a family man, Kelly said he was looking forward to writing a couple of books and vacationing with his wife. "There was not a time you would see him with his children and he wasn't laughing," said School Board Chairman Lucy S. Beachamp (At Large).
Kelly grew up the sixth of seven children in Kirksville, Mo., where his father was a coal miner and later a foreman at a shoe factory, Lynn Kelly said. He received bachelor's and master's degrees at Truman State University in Kirksville and received a doctorate at St. Louis University, she said.
The couple met when they were working in the Parkway School District in the St. Louis suburbs.
Kelly's career as an administrator led him to Little Rock, where school officials, including Kelly, often found themselves testifying in federal court over desegregation matters. Coming to Prince William, he told his wife, was a relief.
"He liked it out here because there weren't any big issues like desegregation, so he could concentrate on education," Lynn Kelly said.
But Kelly's ideas on education were not universally well-received.
Martina Boone, chairman of the Prince William County Parents Executive Committee, said she fears that site-based management might prove to be a poor policy.
"It leaves a tremendous amount of discretion and leaves room for a tremendous amount of waste," she said.
"Unfortunately, it's going to be something that principals are reluctant to give up now that they've had a taste of it."
The Prince William Education Association also had its differences with Kelly, mostly over such routinely debated issues as salaries, said Megan Link, the group's president.
But the group gave Kelly an award last year for his years of service. "I don't think anyone could dispute that his primary interest and concern was for the students," she said.
In addition to his wife, Kelly is survived by four children, Kristen Kelly of San Francisco, Shannon Kelly of Washington, Peter Kelly of Alexandria and John "Jack" Kelly of Charleston, S.C.; and four siblings, Patricia Reed of Webster Groves, Mo., Charles Kelly of Kirkwood, Joseph Kelly of Kansas City and Michael Kelly of Atlanta. Two siblings, Jack Kelly and Rosemarie Smith, died earlier.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at Mount Castle Funeral Home in Dale City. The funeral will be at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Triangle.
Staff writer Ian Shapira contributed to this report.
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