BY SUZANNE HAUGH

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Sitting amid stacks of invoices and other paperwork in a makeshift office in St. Pius X High School’s art room, Phil McGonegal appears to be in the heat of summertime renovations rather than only a couple of weeks away from ending his reign as the school’s director of finance and operations.

A glass candy jar sits on the desk’s corner, filled with cinnamon, butterscotch and other sweets from a $7 bag from Office Depot.

“It’s served me well,” McGonegal said of the candy jar, which co-workers fill when he’s on vacation. “I get to say hello to a whole lot of people I wouldn’t see otherwise.”

The candy is also a sweetener after what can be grilling questions McGonegal is known to ask faculty and staff, contractors and service providers, about invoices and services rendered and requests for equipment and supplies. But his tough style of managing finances and operating the facilities has, at its core, a love for St. Pius and the desire to do what’s best for the school.

“I know I have a reputation for being real tough, which I think is more on the surface,” McGonegal said. “But I’ve never had to say no for anything someone needed.”

Bonnie Spark, St. Pius drama teacher, has known McGonegal as the parent of former students and grandparent of children who attend many of her theater productions. She has worked closely with him in developing the arts program.

“He’s always come back to me and said, ‘What do you need?’ Of course, he had his way of doing it, by saying things like, ‘You theater people are never satisfied’ or ‘Do you really need to spend that much on costumes?’”

Spark said that McGonegal and his wife, Carol, have probably never missed a production unless they’ve been out of town. “He’s been invaluable,” she said.

McGonegal said he tries to separate people’s wants from needs without playing favorites at the school.

“Some say I favored the arts or athletics, but if the stadium needs $90,000 worth of new lights, then we need to get them,” he said.

McGonegal has tried to approach the larger priced expenses thoughtfully.

“I get requests all the time from routine maintenance (to larger items). I look at the money and time needed and then decide what’s the right thing for St. Pius. I think about how to do it and get it done, in accord with the principal.”

And in his 10 years as director of finance and operations, McGonegal has directed efforts that have accomplished much.

Besides the construction of The Donnellan Center in 1992 and the exterior facelift of the school in 1993, his proudest achievement concerning the facility was completing the internal facelift and construction of a new gym and state-of-the-art science wing on time.

“(The addition has) made St. Pius a top-flight facility,” McGonegal said. “... It’s incredible what it’s done for (the science program).

Before adding the new wing, students jammed the halls between classes, classroom space was limited and many students had to share lockers. Now the hallways are easily traveled, there is plenty of classroom space and students have their own lockers.

“It’s taken the edge off the whole facility. What’s most exciting is that it finishes our plan. The decision has been for a 1,000-person school. We can really handle it now.”

While McGonegal relishes in the successful completion of this project, there’s another side to his job that makes him just as proud.

“We’re very fiscally sound. We are able to keep tuition at a reasonable level ... and can continue a reasonable salary program for the staff and faculty ... There’s been responsible handling of finances.”

As parents of six St. Pius graduates, McGonegal and his wife know the burden that paying tuition can create. Their family moved to Atlanta in 1973 when McGonegal, personnel manager with IBM, was transferred here. His children attended Our Lady of the Assumption School, Atlanta, before attending St. Pius, where he and Carol became enmeshed in volunteer work.

“The joke was that I was as much a part of Pius as a full-time employee,” McGonegal recalled.

He and Carol ran the concession stands for the football, basketball and soccer seasons, a feat that comes with “ominous responsibilities.”

McGonegal took a half-day of vacation time on Fridays to prepare for home football games. He even took a week of vacation in the summer to paint the stadium stairs and thoroughly clean the concession stands. McGonegal continued his responsibilities a year beyond the graduation of his last child from St. Pius. And through this time Carol, who worked part-time as a neonatal nurse, was also “very active and well-known because of her volunteer work,” McGonegal said.

Then McGonegal retired from IBM and decided to find a job in the educational field. He worked first at Marist for two years in a job that put under one roof the responsibilities of finance and operations.

“To come to the high school environment was a breath of fresh air,” he said. “... It’s been revealing to see (education) from the inside.”

Eventually he arrived at St. Pius, hired by Msgr. Terry Young, then principal.

McGonegal has appreciated the confidence his bosses have had in his capabilities to do his job.

“It’s important to have good relationships with my bosses,” he said. “They have let me do what makes sense.”

Donald T. Sasso, principal at St. Pius, acknowledged McGonegal’s “selfless and devoted service” as director of finance and operations.

“Prior to this he and his wife, Carol, were tireless volunteers for St. Pius X ... Phil has managed the financial affairs of the school in excellent fashion and has, through his diligent efforts, assured a beautiful and functional campus for our school community.”

Along with overseeing the finances and school facilities, McGonegal has managed the maintenance and administrative staffs.

John Podhorez, manager of the physical plant, recalled his daily meetings with McGonegal before he would go home.

“I’m not sure whether he wanted to have a report of the day or have me stay overtime ... to make sure I gave 8 plus hours to Pius,” Podhorez said, jokingly. “We’ll miss our lunch hours together.”

Joanne Allen, business office assistant, has worked alongside McGonegal for the past 10 years and will now oversee the facilities and finances in her new job at St. John Neumann Church, Lilburn.

“I’ve learned a lot from Phil which I hope to bring with me to St. John Neumann,” she said.

Tony Stephens, director of the school’s alumni and development office, will take over McGonegal’s job.

“His love of the school is his legacy. From the time he started here in 1979 up until his last day, he made Pius a better place,” Stephens said. “I don’t think anybody worked harder for the school than he did.”

Stephens looks forward to continuing where McGonegal left off.

“He leaves me a great example to follow, to emulate. He taught me an awful lot--how to do things right. You can’t replace that.”

From the time McGonegal announced his retirement, co-workers and friends have asked him what he plans to do with all of his time.

“I tell them to go get a dictionary and look up the word ‘retirement,’” he said. “The first Wednesday I plan to buy a New York Times in the morning and see if I can get used to reading it. I’ll go from there.”

McGonegal said he is thrilled, as is his wife, to reach this point in their lives. They will travel around the East Coast this summer, stopping in Maine to eat lobster with his brother. McGonegal also said he has some catch-up work to do at home since he has worked five and a half hours each of the last 500 Saturdays and has driven by the campus every Sunday.

“It’s been a labor of love,” he said. “It’s like a hobby, but I still cash the check.”

While McGonegal’s blue pick-up truck, with its montage of school bumper stickers, will not be one of the first vehicles in the school parking lot each morning, and his office, with the numerous pictures of his grandchildren, his hard hat and IBM memorabilia, has been cleaned out and repainted, his candy jar will remain--along with the rich history of a man’s sacrifices for goals accomplished.

Phil McGonegal