Town's thanks will be etched in granite sign

For much of Christos Daoulas's 83 years, the Dracut public schools have been his life.

A 1939 graduate of Dracut High School, where he was class valedictorian, Daoulas went on to serve the schools for nearly half a century as a teacher and administrator, the last 37 of those years as superintendent.

''He's devoted his entire life to it," School Committee member D.J. Deeb said of Daoulas.

Now, seven years after his retirement, school officials are taking steps to honor Daoulas, whose length of service as superintendent they believe surpasses that of any other school chief in the state's history.

Early this year, the School Committee voted to name the four-school campus on Lakeview Avenue the Dr. Christos Daoulas Education Complex.

Now, the committee plans to erect a granite sign at the entrance to the campus displaying that name and the seal of the public schools. At the base of the 10-foot-tall by 10-foot-wide sign will be a plaque telling about Daoulas.

A private fund drive is underway to help defray the $25,000 cost of the sign and plaque. About $7,500 has been raised, but organizers are confident they will cover most or all of the remaining cost. A dedication ceremony is planned for late September or October.

School Committee member May Paquette said that naming the complex after Daoulas -- a move originally authorized by Town Meeting some years ago -- and erecting the sign is a fitting way to recognize his contributions.

''He served Dracut for 50 years," she said, ''37 years of them as superintendent. It's an accomplishment that will probably never be seen in the community again. Most of us, including myself, knew only one superintendent during our days at school. He was the education system of Dracut for years."

''He was a legend in his time," said former selectman Michael Blatus, a longtime friend of Daoulas's who is leading the fund drive. ''He's done so much for so many."

''I'm deeply and sincerely appreciative," Daoulas said in a telephone interview this week, of the honors being bestowed on him, adding, ''Anything done for me is in reality a reflection of what these students and these teachers working together have accomplished."

Daoulas has not been without his detractors.

In the early 1990s, he took heat from critics who complained that the schools were overcrowded and not adequately funded.

''Why wasn't overcrowding addressed before it became a crisis?" one local parent, Jane Barren, said in a 1994 Globe NorthWest story.

Daoulas said this week that many school districts struggled with funding problems in the years before the Education Reform Law took effect. The 1993 law mandated minimum spending levels for districts and an infusion of state money into them.

''I remember traumatic experiences not only for myself but for every superintendent," he said of the budget cuts they had to make during those years. Daoulas said the constraints were particularly severe in Dracut, because the town lacked a business tax base to help generate needed tax revenues.

When he retired in 1998, there was controversy over Daoulas's decision to take advantage of a state law that allowed World War II veterans qualifying for state pensions to receive a pension instead from the town. While the pension is smaller than the one they would receive from the state, they are also entitled to a lump-sum payment from the state equal to what they contributed to the state retirement system over time. Only veterans who served their towns prior to a certain date can qualify.

Paquette said that some in town were upset that Daoulas opted for a pension that the town would have to fund. But she said, ''The law said he was entitled to it, and that's the bottom line," adding that the Board of Selectmen had voted many years before to accept the state law.

Kevin J. Murphy of Lowell, the counsel to the School Committee and a state representative, also believes Daoulas was fully entitled to take advantage of the law. He said many veterans, including his father, a retired Lowell school administrator, did so.

''It was a recognition of the wonderful job veterans did in World War II," he said of the law.

The son of Greek immigrants, Daoulas worked in the Lowell mills after graduating from high school. In 1942, he began a three-year stint in the Army, serving with a medical group attached to an engineering regiment that spent about 30 months in Europe during World War II.

After the war, he enrolled at Boston University, obtaining a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1949. At the time, he planned to enroll in medical school, but decided to teach temporarily to help his brother raise money for college.

Hired as a science teacher at Dracut High School, Daoulas came to love the job, and his plans to become a doctor faded. From 1949 to 1960, he taught biology, chemistry, and physics, finding time also to serve as the school's athletic administrator and to coach the girls basketball team.

During those years, he also helped found what became the Dracut Scholarship Foundation, and the Merrimack Valley Athletic Conference.

From 1960 to 1961, Daoulas, who never married, served as the high school principal. Then in 1962, he was named superintendent. Over the years, he continued his education, obtaining a master's degree in 1952, and a doctorate in 1968, both in education from BU.

Daoulas said the schools were always his consuming passion.

''I was preoccupied 100 percent of the time with all the functions and activities related to the schools," he said. ''The day had no end for me from the hour I entered the school to the last activity."

He said he is proud of the accomplishments of Dracut students, both academic and athletic, and of the ''tremendously talented teachers. . . who stood beside the kids."

Paquette said that the effort to honor Daoulas has been well received in town.

''Everyone realizes that he deserves the recognition," she said. Even those who differed with him on some issues agree that ''his service to the community went far above and beyond a normal career."