State Superintendent Mark Johnson announced two additions to the leadership team at the Department of Public Instruction today. Michael Spano will head the school business modernization program, while Pamela Shue has accepted the role of associate superintendent for early childhood education.
“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,” said Johnson.
Spano started this week, while Shue will begin work later this month. Both are coming into newly created positions.
Spano will lead the School Business Systems Modernization program, an ambitious and comprehensive undertaking to provide our local school systems with modern financial and human resource platforms and update and streamline NCDPI’s technology systems that manage, deploy and analyze more than $10 billion in funding and support more than 180,000 full-time personnel and more than 1.5 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, who holds a doctorate in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in integrated manufacturing systems engineering from North Carolina State University, 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 at various points in his career, analyzing business operations and deploying integrated technological solutions. Spano 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 serve as Johnson’s associate superintendent for early childhood education and lead work on one of Johnson’s top priorities: expanding opportunities for our 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 has 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 (CASE) 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 at Temple University, and has published a variety of book chapters and academic papers focused on early childhood learning.
About the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction:
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction provides leadership to 115 local public school districts and 160 charter schools serving over 1.5 million students in kindergarten through high school graduation. The agency is responsible for all aspects of the state's public school system and works under the direction of the North Carolina State Board of Education.