FCPS: Administrative reorganization will save $637,000
http://www.insidenova.com/news/education/fairfax/fcps-administrative-reorganization-will-save/article_b04d7ec6-06bc-11e4-a21a-0019bb2963f4.html
Fairfax County Public Schools’ recent managerial reorganization has eliminated five full-time positions and will save about $637,000, school officials said.
Superintendent Karen Garza revamped the school system’s management structure in June when she announced the cluster system would be eliminated in favor of five new regions.
Those new divisions will have a regional assistant superintendent each and will be supported by seven newly created executive-principal positions. All of the new positions took effect July 1.
Garza made the following people regional assistant superintendents: Douglas Tyson (Region 1), Fabio Zuluaga (Region 2), Debi Tyler (Region 3), Angela Atwater (Region 4) and Frances Ivey (Region 5).
Garza also named Linda Burke assistant superintendent for region leadership support and Steven Lockard as deputy superintendent. Lockard will assume his new post Aug. 1.
The executive principals will help the regional assistant superintendents provide direction, support, counseling, assistance and leadership to principals within their regions.
Here are the new executive principals:
* Evangeline Petrich, who after serving since 2012 as Cluster 4 director, now oversees Region 1, which includes the Langley, Madison, Herndon, South Lakes and Oakton pyramids.
* Jay Pearson, a longtime George C. Marshall High School principal and the school system’s 2014 Principal of the Year, now handles affairs in Region 2. That area includes the McLean, Marshall, J.E.B. Stuart, Falls Church and Annandale pyramids, as well as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
* Grace Taylor, who has served as Cluster 5 director since last year, has become executive principal for Region 3, which includes the Edison, Lee, Hayfield, Mount Vernon and West Potomac pyramids.
* Eric Brent, who since 2006 has been principal at Forest Park High School in Prince William County, now oversees Region 4, which includes the Robinson, Lake Braddock, West Springfield, South County and Centreville pyramids.
* Rebecca Baenig, who since 2007 has served as Cunningham Park Elementary’s principal, has become executive principal of Region 5, which includes the Woodson, Fairfax, Westfield and Chantilly pyramids.
* Terry Dade, who has been Dogwood Elementary’s principal since last year, now serves as executive principal for school improvement in Region 2.
* Mark Greenfelder, a former Thoreau Middle School principal who has been West Springfield High’s principal since 2011, has become executive principal for school improvement in Region 3.
Fairfax County schools formerly were divided into three districts, but in the late 1990s were reorganized into eight clusters by former Superintendent Daniel Domenech, said spokesman Mary Shaw.
The new reorganization aims to align the school system’s leadership better, improve decision making and strengthen support for local schools, officials said.
School officials dissolved the system’s former Department of Professional Learning and Accountability (PLA) and assigned its functions to other departments. The new hierarchy will save an estimated $637,352 by eliminating positions of three directors – two from the PLA and one former cluster director – plus one assistant superintendent and one coordinator.
Shaw said she did not expect other major management changes were coming soon.
“We need to let the dust settle before we do anything else,” she said.
The administrative changes will require the replacement of two principals in the Sun Gazette’s readership area: Pearson at Marshall High and Baenig at Cunningham Elementary.
While being honored by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors July 1 for being named Principal of the Year, Pearson said he was looking forward to his new challenge.
“Hopefully, I can impact the school system on a broader scale and take what I learned at Marshall and share that with other folks,” he said. “These are exciting times for Fairfax County Public Schools. There’s a new normal that’s settling in.”