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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
WOW! Jack Dale announces he is retiring in June 2013!
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Anonymous
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A new School Board is in the works and he'll be moving on it. YAY!
http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=1806 Thursday, September 22, 2011 FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Jack D. Dale today announced his intent to retire effective July 1, 2013, at the end of his current contract. "I have served an extraordinary 42 years in public education, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to lead this world-class school system,” Dale said. In my mind, there is no other school system that has the same level of commitment of its school board, engagement of its community and parents, and talents and skills of its employees,” he said. “I look forward to spending more time with my three grandchildren and family on both the East and West coasts and pursuing my personal interests as a pilot, reader, and golfer. I also hope to contribute to public education in some way. For the next year and a half, however, I will be focused on helping our new school board craft the direction that will guide our system for the next decade. Dale successfully led the school system through an historic budget crisis, maintaining the high quality of education for which FCPS is internationally known while creating a streamlined central office with hundreds of fewer positions and generating efficiencies throughout the school system. He is also widely known for his leadership in closing the achievement gap among groups of students by emphasizing professional learning communities and launching the priority schools initiative, which drives additional support to those schools that need it most to reach their student achievement goals. In addition, one of Dale’s major initiatives was the teacher leadership program, which provided extended teacher contracts designed to promote teamwork, improve instruction, and raise student achievement. “Jack Dale’s leadership will be sorely missed,” said School Board chair Janie Strauss. “He moved the School Board and FCPS forward as we developed our strategic governance initiative, which made us more effective governors of this school system. In addition, his collaborative and collegial style has been a welcome approach to handling tough issues and challenges we faced. I personally hope that, after he retires, he will stay connected to public education for the benefit of students and educators everywhere.” Dale became FCPS Superintendent in July 2004. From 1996 to June 2004, he served as superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools, Md., where he was named Maryland's superintendent of the year. Dale has served in education as a teacher of mathematics, assistant principal, director of instruction, director of personnel, and associate superintendent for school administration. Born in Seattle, he holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and education; a master's in educational administration; and a doctorate in education, with an emphasis on school leadership and organizational change, from the University of Washington. ### Note: For more information, contact the Department of Communications and Community Outreach at 571-423-1200. |
Anonymous
| Great news! Now voters need to get rid of a few incumbent school board members. |
Anonymous
Yes! The School Board members that voted to extend Jack's contract should be the first to go. |
Anonymous
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What did he do, or not do, that's brought out the snark brigade?
It's obviously not an easy job. |
Anonymous
The comments (so far) have had no "snark." Calling the few comments above "snark brigade" is absurd. No, it's not an easy job with such a huge school district. But there have been some inexcusable things, like building an un-necessary administrative building or the underhanded, railroaded way Clifton Elementary was closed. They need to get people in who will not just pat themselves on the back, saying "look how great we are" and actually examine ways that the system can be more effective for educating kids. A couple of school board members have shown terrible leadership, ethics, and backbone. |
Anonymous
| I think he's done a good job. The Clifton folks are all up in arms b/c they lost their very small school. |
Anonymous
| I have no idea where/whether to place blame but I found the entire full day K drama to be a big game of chicken between Dale and the school board. It was so distasteful -- I really have no stomach for politics. But I'm feeling more animosity towards the school board -- not sure why. |
Anonymous
I agree. And their shell game with money has simply shifted the deficit problem to FY 2013. FY2013 Fiscal Forecast: http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/8LGM8H572DA6/$file/Fiscal%20Forecast%20Presentation.pdf |
Anonymous
Why? He did one thing that was an improvement: used ratios based on demographics for staffing at each school site. Any other pluses were just managing the existing system which really has not changed. Before this funds followed programs only so some schools retained extra funding [and had full day kindergarten]. I attended 3 strategic governance meetings prior to implementation and the focus was on exploring community sentiment for expanding full day kindergarten and FLES [foreign language in the elementary school] which puts additional staff at specific schools. There still are funds allocated by program and all schools have site based management. That creates wide variables in operating procedures, academics, specific class sizes, discipline, and other issues. Jane Strauss has supporters whose children [curious administrative boundary change for 1 neighborhood to attend Longfellow not Kilmer] or neighborhoods [couldn't find South Lakes on the map during a boundary change] or programs [2 immersion sites] have received special favors. Note special education for 1 kid should not require her intervention. |
Anonymous
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Several posters on the Washington Post website bring up the disturbing case of how FCPS treated Sean Lannigan when a bully 12 year old female student falsely accused Lannigan of taking her into a storage room and laying her on a mat. FCPS has still refused to pay Lannigan's legal fees. The fees are quite large due to the detective insisting on this case going to court, despite the fact that the girl was clearly lying to get Lannigan in trouble. She was angry with him because he told her she must stop bullying other students or she's off safety patrol. Apparently the teachers who showed support for Lannigan were ostracized too.
There are plenty of reasons to be annoyed or disgusted with FCPS. The administrators at the big house have lost their way. Many students continue to do well because of their teachers and parents. Not because of the school board, Dean Tisdadt, or Jack Dale. |
Anonymous
^^^ 
Actually, it is the manner in which FCPS school board conducted the closing that has more than just the Clifton folks "all up in arms." The emails between school board members (mainly Liz Bradsher's, but others were also ethically challenged) revealed a lot of corruption. |