The Pittsburgh Public Schools' top academic officer has gone on an abrupt leave, and some district officials said they doubted she would return.

	Lynn Spampinato

Neither the district nor Lynn Spampinato, deputy superintendent for instruction, assessment and accountability, would give a reason for her departure.

Dr. Spampinato, who joined the district less than 10 months ago, quickly immersed herself in the role Superintendent Mark Roosevelt created for her -- devising and implementing plans for an academic turnaround. Mr. Roosevelt is not trained as an educator, and Dr. Spampinato has been his right hand on academic matters.

Mr. Roosevelt said she went on a paid leave Monday and had been away the week before on personal business. He declined to give a reason for her leave or to say how long it might last, to discuss her job performance or to say how he would cover her duties.

Other officials said Dr. Spampinato might not return.

Dr. Spampinato, known for putting in long hours and requiring others to do the same, declined comment last night.

Dr. Spampinato, a Lawrenceville native, gave up a top position in the St. Louis Public Schools to return to Pittsburgh in December. She played a leading role in the establishment of eight new schools called accelerated learning academies, in the selection of a new elementary reading program and in the development of a curriculum for middle-grade and high school students.

Her departure comes while those initiatives, described as critical to the district's academic turnaround, remain in their infancy.

Although they declined to discuss her yesterday, most school board members had praised her in the past.

She had rubbed some employees the wrong way with her impatience, a quality Mr. Roosevelt said he admired. Like Mr. Roosevelt, she was a graduate of the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy, which bills itself as a training ground for innovative school administrators.

In St. Louis, where she was chief academic officer for 16 months, she won praise from the school board but irritated the teachers union for speedy implementation of improvement initiatives.

Before that, she spent 25 years as a teacher and administrator in Denver schools, about three years as an administrator in Philadelphia schools and eight months as superintendent of a small, rural Colorado district. She said she and that district were not a good fit.