NC superintendent hires staff for new early education, school business positions

Spano will help provide local school systems with modern financial and human resource platforms and update and streamline DPI’s technology systems, according to Johnson. Those systems manage, deploy and analyze more than $10 billion in funding and support more than 180,000 full-time personnel and more than 1.4 million public school students in North Carolina. The multi-year project is funded at an initial amount of $29 million over the 2017-19 fiscal biennium.

Spano holds a doctorate in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in integrated manufacturing systems engineering from North Carolina State University. He has led executive-level information systems transformation teams at organizations including IBM, Wake Forest University and Siemens. He has served as a chief information officer, chief technology officer, and business consultant, analyzing business operations and deploying integrated technological solutions. He has also served as an adjunct professor at N.C. State and Duke University and taught classes at Durham Technical Community College and Wake Technical Community College.

Shue will work "on one of Johnson’s top priorities," according to the superintendent's news release, "expanding opportunities for the state's youngest students by working with parents and educators to ensure they get a great start to their education."

Shue, who previously served as director of the Division of Child Development and Early Education in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, began her career developing and teaching educational and clinical support programs for patients and families at a medical center. From there, she served as a special education teacher, a researcher and professor focused on early childhood learning. Shue moved to North Carolina in 2004 to work at the Center for the Advanced Study of Excellence in Early Childhood and Family Support in Morganton.

Shue holds a master’s degree in special education with an emphasis in early intervention and a doctorate in education with an emphasis on language and literacy early childhood, both from Temple University. She has taught at the College of Education at UNC Charlotte and Temple University and has published a variety of book chapters and academic papers focused on early childhood learning.

"These positions are crucial for bringing accountability and innovation to North Carolina’s public schools, and I am excited that these accomplished professionals will be joining our team," Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson has received budget approval from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management to create several positions, including an administrative assistant, and more are expected later. Johnson has previously said he plans to hire a chief of staff and a chief innovation officer, but it's unclear when he will make those hires. He has declined to say what other positions he may create.

The associate superintendent of early education and school business modernization positions are not being funded from Johnson's $700,000. They are being paid from separate funds approved by lawmakers for those areas.