District chief to retire July 31

The educator has served as superintendent in three local school districts.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
NORTH LIMA --James Hall didn't want to be a teacher or school administrator when he was growing up.
"I actually started out wanting to be a Dominican priest," said Hall, who is wrapping up a 41-year career in local education this month. July 31 will be his last official day as superintendent of South Range School District.
Hall said he had an uncle who was a Dominican priest and wanted to follow in his footsteps. He even enrolled at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1959, and at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Mo., in 1961 to study for the priesthood, but, after four years, decided he was in the wrong field.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Youngstown State University in 1965 and thought he wanted to direct plays for a living. He planned to go to graduate school in Washington, D.C., but decided he was tired of school, should find a job for a year and then re-examine his future.
Hall, who grew up on Youngstown's South Side, said he applied to the Diocese of Youngstown for two jobs -- social worker and teacher -- and got the call to teach at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren.
It was at that point he decided that being an educator was what he really wanted to do with his life.
"I just loved it," he recalled, noting he taught senior English and speech and senior boys religion.
He spent six years at Kennedy, then was hired at Canfield High School in 1971, where he got his first taste of administrative duty.
Hall said he was asked to take over a teacher training center field program run by Canfield and YSU.
"After doing that for a year, I thought, 'I'm not too bad at this,'" he said, deciding to pursue education administration as a career goal.
He earned a master's degree from Kent State University in 1974 and became assistant to the superintendent for instruction and community relations at Canfield in 1976.
He was named superintendent of Lowellville schools in 1979 and became superintendent at Lordstown and the Gordon D. James Career Center in 1984.
South Range named him superintendent in 1986.
Hall is married to the former Maralyn Suchora, also a Youngstown native. They have three sons,Tim, Chris and Pat; a daughter, Mary; and four grandchildren with a fifth on the way.
Success
Spending 20 years as the head of one school district is the exception, rather than the rule.
People don't know how lonely the job is, Hall said, pointing out that a school district has five school board members, several principals, dozens of teachers, thousands of pupils but only one superintendent, "and it's the most public of the positions."
"A superintendent, to be successful, has to be an excellent communicator," he said.
There are several things you need to succeed, he said: A vision for where the district should go, a strong sense of ethics, a compassionate approach to people and a very strong desire that things be done well.
Hall may be retiring from his job as superintendent, but he isn't quitting his career as an educator.
He wants to find a position where his skills can be of benefit to poverty-impacted children.
"It is just clear to me that poverty has a terrible effect on kids," he said.
It's not just a matter of not having money, he continued.
"When someone is completely impacted by poverty, they need a lot of help. It's not a question of a lack of love or concern by parents in that situation. Rather, it's the parents' lack of resources to do things for their children in such areas as nutrition and education," he said.
A different world
The field of education has changed tremendously over the last four decades, Hall said.
The buildings look much the same, but the expectations for what comes out of them is much greater, he said.
At one time, the goal was to teach most children to read, do math, learn American values and to behave themselves in anticipation of entering the work force. A smaller number of others were taught advanced subjects to prepare them for college.
Today, everyone is required to learn that high-quality material, Hall said.
The problem is that there is a disconnect between education and business, a gap between what schools and colleges teach and what business and industry want in the real world, he said. There is no developed system of connection between the two, he said.
"We don't take positions against each other. Our job is to work together and support each other," he said. It's a philosophy he chose to follow as a superintendent.
gwin@vindy.com