Last Year For Schools Chief in Arlington

From the beginning, Robert G. Smith said his plan was to serve as Arlington County's superintendent for four years and then take a position in higher education.

Eleven years later, just weeks after school started, came yesterday's announcement that this would be his last school year.

"I'm not getting any younger, so I thought I better get to it while I'm still energetic and still in good health," Smith, 64, said. "My hope is through teaching and research, I'm able to make a contribution in a different way."

Smith, who has been a popular leader with few vocal critics, said his last day as leader of the 18,700-student system will be July 1.

The announcement signals an end to what will be 44 years for Smith as a public school educator. After growing up in Silver Spring, Smith started teaching in Frederick at age 21 and worked in Houston as an administrator before taking the top job in Arlington in 1997.

Under his tenure, Arlington has built one new school, replaced or rebuilt six and significantly renovated 19.

Smith, who started a year before Virginia began its Standards of Learning testing initiative, yesterday pointed to rising achievement for all student groups as among his proudest accomplishments. In 1998, a year after Smith took the job, only two schools were accredited by the state. Now, all boast full accreditation. In addition, the achievement gap between white students and Hispanic and African American students has narrowed by about 50 percent since 1998.

"I wish it were better than that," Smith said. "What we want to do is get to the point where factors such as race, dominant language and income are no longer predictors of educational outcomes. We're still a ways from that."

He said the persistence of the achievement gap will be the main challenge for his successor. He plans to wrap up an elementary school boundary shift before leaving, aiming to settle what has been a touchy neighborhood issue. But he said the next superintendent will have to make some tough decisions "we haven't had to make before" about reallocating resources in the face of a tightening budget.

Arlington School Board Chairman Ed Fendley added that the new leader will also have to address rising enrollment, with more families not only moving to the county but deciding to stay.

"I think in a lot of ways our challenges are really a reflection of our success," Fendley said. "We are very strong, and certainly in Arlington one of the challenges is how to become even stronger."

The board plans to announce that it will begin a national search for the next superintendent and that the public will be able to participate.

"Arlington is an exceptional community, and we will ensure that Rob Smith's successor, like him, is an exceptional educator," Fendley said.

He described Smith as taking the school system from "good to great."

"Arlington had a strong school system when Rob Smith began his tenure 11 or12 years ago, and through his incredible skill, 14-hour days and his passion, he has led us to become nationally recognized," Fendley said. "He cares about every kid, and the strength of our schools reflect that."

Last year, Smith was named one of the 150 most influential people in the area by Washingtonian magazine, which credited him for turning "his district into a national model for teaching diverse students." About 47 percent of Arlington's students are white, 27 percent Hispanic, 14 percent black and 11 percent Asian American. Its students speak 105 languages, and their families come from 127 nations. The school system's annual budget is about $411 million.

Smith said he is considering job possibilities in higher education and expects to find a teaching position in a graduate school of education. The decision to leave Arlington schools was not easy, he said.

"This is such a good place to work," he said. "I think we've established a culture that not only has high expectations for kids, but also has high expectations for the performance of the staff."