Robert R. Spillane, Boston’s superintendent of schools since 1982, will leave his post at the end of this school year to assume a similar position with the Fairfax, Va., school system.
The move will take Mr. Spillane--who has held superintendencies in New York and New Jersey and served as deputy commissioner of education for New York state before moving to Boston in 1982--to the 10th largest school district in the country, with some 120,000 students.
Mr. Spillane, 51, will replace William J. Burkholder, who recently announced his plans to retire this June amid controversy concerning his $157,000 annual salary. Mr. Spillane will be paid a salary of $90,000 with an additional $10,000 worth of yearly3benefits, including health and life insurance and the use of a car for business.
Mr. Spillane said he did not seek the new post, but was approached. ''I have done four years in Boston under very difficult circumstances,’' he said. “I’m pleased with what I’ve accomplished in a short period of time. It’s been the challenge of the lifetime.”
Mary Collier, president of the Fairfax School Committee, which chose Mr. Spillane, said the Boston superintendent was picked out of a field of 65 candidates because of his “openness and accessiblity, his absolute integrity, his strong management skills, and his creativity in building public support, financial as well as philosophical, for public education.”
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