New Faith Academy administrator Joe Rispoli settles in

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR

MARBLE FALLS — God often unveils his plan at his own pace — not at ours.

Just ask Joe Rispoli, the new administrator at Faith Academy of Marble Falls.

“Yeah, we actually came out here (to Texas) about nine years ago and looked around,” he said. “We had heard from so many people that if you’re going to raise children, the Austin area is the place to do it.”

But as he and his wife scouted for homes, Rispoli’s phone rang. The voice on the other line told him he had been chosen to lead Spirit Christian Academy in Orange County, California.

“We really wanted to come to Texas, but at the time, God had other plans,” he said.

But now, Rispoli sits in the Faith Academy administrator’s chair, a seat, he admitted, he didn’t see in his future until a phone call a few months ago from Faith board member Stuart Nunnally.

While things were going well at SCA for Rispoli, his wife told him it might be time for a change. SCA had reached its limit in expansion thanks to high property costs in California, and a move to Faith would give Rispoli an opportunity to help lead another institution into the future.

“I thought, ‘Lord, this is where you led me, this is where you’ll have me,” Rispoli said.

Not long after the initial phone call and an interview, Faith board president Curt Johnson called Rispoli in June to say he was the one the Faith family wanted.

“The irony is, nine years earlier, it was a phone call while I was in Texas that took me to California. Now, here I was in California, and it was a phone call that finally brought me to Texas,” Rispoli said.

While the road to Faith took a few years, Rispoli is ready to get to work as the University Model School enters an exciting time of growth. The campus is currently in the midst of an expansion with officials setting up several portable buildings while construction crews finish up permanent ones.

Under the university model, secondary students attend classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday while elementary students go to school Tuesday and Thursday. Kindergarten to 2nd graders attend Tuesday through Thursday. It’s nothing new to Rispoli because SCA used the same format.

It’s a format Rispoli believes in both on a professional level as well as a personal one.

“It really does prepare kids for college,” he explained. “When you’re in college, you have class three days a week. It’s not every day you take the same classes like most high schools. So with the university model, the transition to college is much smoother.”

Students who attend a University Model School such as Faith or SCA develop habits and skills starting in elementary school that help them excel at a college or a university. Rispoli said the university model format forces students to become more disciplined as well as encourages them to be more self-sufficient and even more curious. While teachers give students the instruction during class, it’s up to the students to tackle the work during their non-class days.

“Of course, there are kids who aren’t successful, but usually it’s not the model that was the problem,” he added.

Rispoli pointed out that the top three community colleges near SCA clamored for more of the school’s students since they often graduated at the top of the colleges’ classes.

As for the personal ties, Risoli’s three daughters all graduated from SCA. His oldest daughter, after starting out at Cal-Poly Paloma, recently transferred to Texas A&M University with her eyes set on veterinary school. Now, his other two daughters are looking to make their way to Texas A&M as well.

So, the university model does work.

The other key, he added, is academic standards at the school, something he feels Faith embraces.

Obviously, with only a few weeks at the Faith administrator’s desk, Rispoli hasn’t gone over all the academic details and standards for the Marble Falls school, but he’s working hard at it. It’s his own homework.

“My goal here is to find out what they do at the elementary and secondary levels and look at what I learned the past eight years and see what I can do to help all Faith students be successful,” he said. “One of the things we don’t do is teach to any test. I don’t believe that’s in the best interest of the student. We want what’s best for the kids, and that’s giving them an opportunity for a strong, overall education.”

daniel@thepicayune.com