'The Little School System That Could'

Thirteen years ago, test scores were low, classes were in decrepit trailers with sagging floors and leaking roofs, and no one wanted to spend money on the Manassas Park school system.

Then came Tom DeBolt.

Now, test scores are up, and new schools are the pride of the city.

"There's no way to paint the real picture of this district until you get here and spend about three months," said DeBolt, superintendent of Manassas Park schools. "The buildings were in a state of decay, and the floors were caved in. Kids preferred to play away games because they were ashamed of the facilities. Even staff members would go to conferences and not say they were from Manassas Park."

Formed in 1976, one year after Manassas Park became a city, the school system was a mess. And after six superintendents unsuccessfully attempted to transform the district, DeBolt, an educator with no experience in "central office," got the ball rolling and turned the schools around.

DeBolt's vision and the history of the Manassas Park school system are captured in the book "The Little School System That Could: Transforming a City School District," by Daniel L. Duke, a professor at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education. The book addresses the politics and the turnover that stifled the district in its early years, plus the man, the staff members and the supporters who made it what it is today.

"If you would have told me in 1995 that a new leader could come in and turn around the school district, I would have laughed," Duke said. "But that is pretty much what happened."

Duke, who has published dozens of books on school leadership, school safety and other topics, said he latched on to Manassas Park because he remembered DeBolt as a principal in Henrico County.

"I'm always on the lookout for school districts that raise performance dramatically," Duke said. "I started compiling information and began seeing this picture where a low-performing district was turning around. I was intrigued because, in education, we had come from how to improve teaching in the classroom, to improving schools, to focusing on an entire district."

'The Perfect Storm'

When DeBolt came to Manassas Park, the school system had 1,561 students in four schools, half the size it is today. About 68 percent of students were white, compared with 34 percent today, and 13.5 percent were Hispanic, compared with 44 percent.

Saffan Andolsun, a first-grade teacher at Cougar Elementary School, was hired in 1976. Andolsun said that despite the lack of resources, the students were ready to learn.

"We rolled up our sleeves and made do with little," Andolsun said, adding that he visited an Alexandria library to get reading materials and borrowed mats from the military for the wrestling team.