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New Leader Knows Falls Church Schools

After collecting applications for a new superintendent from all over the country, the Falls Church School Board has picked one of its own: Assistant Superintendent Mary Ellen Shaw.

The 49-year-old Ohio native has been working in the 1,500-student Falls Church district since 1970, when she began teaching first grade at Mount Daniel Elementary School. She became principal of the school in 1977 and helped it win an Excellence in Education recognition by the U.S. Education Department in 1987.

She became director of instruction and assistant superintendent in 1990. She also acted as a middle school principal in 1991 and as interim superintendent when the job fell vacant in 1995 and again this year. She won The Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leadership Award in 1989.

Falls Church has a history of intense focus on its schools -- it split from Fairfax County in 1948 principally because it wanted to have an independent school system. The system spends $9,233 per pupil, far more than the national average. The 1997 graduating class at George Mason Junior-Senior High School was 78 percent white, 11 percent Asian, 8 percent Latino and 3 percent black.

The School Board considered five finalists, said board member John R. Durham, but Shaw won out, getting a four-year contract and a $96,305 annual salary.

"She has a passion for the school system, and she cares about children, and that is backed up by her competence, thoroughness, consensus-building and outstanding budget skills," Durham said.

He said Shaw has helped oversee the addition of new technology to classrooms and looked for ways to raise the level of instruction. George Mason, the city's only secondary school, has one of the oldest International Baccalaureate programs in the country. This year, 23 percent of the high school's graduates received International Baccalaureate diplomas after passing a special battery of tests and fulfilling public service and other requirements.

In an interview, Shaw said her initial efforts would focus on the technology program and plans "to safeguard the well-being of our students." She said that along with the School Board, parents and staff members she will be reviewing discipline and security issues, as well as improving athletic facilities and looking at the mental health and emotional needs of students.

Shaw grew up in Athens, Ohio, where her father was a journalism professor at Ohio University. She received a bachelor's degree in government from that university in 1969 and a master's degree in elementary education in 1970. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the national society recognizing high academic achievement.

Durham said her budgeting prowess will be particularly welcome in a district that anticipates an unpredictable influx of students.

"In a system of our size, those kinds of things can have significant budgetary implications," he said.