DeRose appointed acting principal of Glasgow

DeRose

Shawn DeRose has been appointed acting principal at Glasgow Middle School, effective immediately, Fabio Zuluaga, assistant superintendent for Region 2, announced in a message to parents April 16.

Glasgow’s former principal, Penny Gros, was named principal of JEB Stuart High School April 15, following the abrupt departure of Prosperanta Calhoun.

DeRose’s had been assistant principal at Stuart during 2003-10 and was brought back to the school by Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza last year to provide additional administrative support for the school, which was experiencing declining morale and concerns among parents and employees and the school’s leadership.

In between his stints at Stuart, DeRose was assistant principal and director of student activities at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. 

DeRose was named the 2014 Outstanding Assistant Principal of Virginia by the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals. 

DeRose is “a dedicated, experienced, and innovative educator,” Zuluaga says, and has “exhibited his unique adaptability by challenging himself through working in various environments and consistently establishing a culture of collaborative teamwork.”

Zuluaga says his office, with the support of Garza, “will immediately begin the process to select a new principal at Glasgow. We will provide more information about this process as we move forward. The goal is to have a new leader in place before the end of the school year.”

The leadership changes “may have come as a surprise,” says Sandy Evans, the Mason District representative on the school board,  but “I want to assure you that a great deal of thoughtful consideration went into them.”

Evans says she is “enthusiastic and confident about Superintendent Garza’s decisions about the new leadership at both schools and looks at this as an opportunity for renewed energy and growth in the Stuart High School pyramid.”

“Mrs. Calhoun has my sincere thanks and gratitude for all her hard work and dedication to Stuart over the past three years,” Evans says. “She has shepherded the school through particularly challenging times and has made strides in setting the school on a positive path.”

Gros has highly successful at Glasgow, Evans says, and “brings with her the expertise of an experienced, trusted principal, as well as the personal knowledge of our community and our students.”

While DeRose will be greatly missed at Stuart, he is “the ideal person to serve as acting principal at Glasgow Middle School,” Evans says. “He has long been dedicated to the Stuart High School pyramid and will be able to provide a virtually seamless transition to the role, as he and Ms. Gros already have a great, longstanding working relationship.”

“While this type of transition is uncommon, I believe it’s warranted,” she says. “Stuart and Glasgow need and deserve strong leadership without the delays of a lengthy transition process.”

Evans, Garza, Gros, DeRose, and Zuluaga will speak about the changes with the Stuart and Glasgow communities at a meeting April 22, 7 p.m., at Stuart. The meeting will cover the creation of an ESOL Academy at Stuart, school funding and the FCPS budget, school support and academic support, and how FCPS is dealing with student enrollment growth and planning for increases in unaccompanied minor students.