Skyles Calhoun retired as proud principal at Lake Ridge Middle School in Prince William County. Skyles previously served as principal at  Woodbridge Middle School in Prince William County for 10 years. In that time, Woodbridge MS gained national recognition for its Same Gender Program and is a Virginia School to Watch. Woodbridge MS is also a co-ed school, but parents have tho option of placing their students in a same-gender team structure for language arts, math, science, and social studies. It has also earned Breakthrough School recognition by the Narional Association of Secondary School Principals.  Skyles received his undergraduate degree from Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania and his masters degree from George Mason  University.

Sandy Frederick grew up Fort Walton Beach, Florida located on Florida's northwest Gulf Coast. She attended Auburn University where she graduated with a B.S. in Secondary Education Social Studies. Upon graduation, she married and moved to Austin, Texas where she taught 7th grade Texas History for three years. In 2004, Sandy began working on her Master's Degree in School Administration at the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University and completed her degree in 2007. During that time, she also taught 8th Grade World Geography and 7th Grade Civics and Economics at Damascus Middle School in Washington County, VA. In 2013, Sandy became the Assistant Principal and Instructional Technology Resource Teacher at Glade Spring Middle School, and in 2015 became the Assistant Principal at Wallace Middle School. In 2018, Sandy became Assistant Professor of Education at Emory and Henry College. She lives in Abingdon, Virginia with her husband and two sons.

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Dr. Ken Nicely spent 10 years working with middle school students and teachers as assistant principal and then principal of Hidden Valley Middle School in Roanoke County. During his tenure as principal, Hidden Valley was recognized by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform as one of Virginia’s Schools to Watch, the first school in western Virginia to receive this honor. Ken began his teaching career as a Spanish teacher and was awarded the Excellence in K-12 Foreign Language Teaching award by the Foreign Language Association of Virginia. He earned his doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from Virginia Tech, focusing on the topic of middle grades education. Ken was the 2013 recipient of the Ted Sizer National Dissertation Award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the 2019 recipient of the VASCD Leadership Award. He earned a masters degree from the University of Virginia and his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary. In addition to serving as past president of VMSA, he serves on the Board of Trustees for the international Association for Middle Level Education.

​Mr. Jerome Terrell Fleming began his teaching career at West Point Middle School after earning his Bachelor of Arts in History from Longwood University. Continuing to build his career, he earned his Masters of Educational Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University a few years later. Mr. Fleming served as a social studies teacher at Short Pump Middle School in Henrico County and is currently the Supervisor of Social Studies for Powhatan County Public Schools. 

Dr. Debbie Hutchens' love for teaching and learning is evident by her years serving as a mathematics teacher, instructional specialist, mathematics supervisor, assistant principal and principal (Norfolk Highlands Primary School and Hickory MS) in Chesapeake City Public Schools.  She has been an adjunct faculty member for TCC, ODU, UVA and Regent University teaching future teacher leaders.  Her leadership roles include being President of the Tidewater Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Virginia Council of Math Supervisors.  Her schools have achieved Blue Ribbon Status, National Schools to Watch Recognition, and Distinguished Achievement Awards.

Elizabeth Sanders is principal at St. Clare Walker Middle School in Middlesex County. SCW was home for her, as a seventh grade language arts and history teacher, before transitioning to Middlesex Elementary School as the principal in 2015. She's now excited to be back "home" in the middle school where she can help impact the lives of middle school students.

Dave Shaffer is the Principal of River Bend Middle School in Sterling, Virginia. He has served in this capacity since July 2014. For 18 years, he has worked in Loudoun County Public Schools as a teacher and administrator focused on creating innovative schools for 21st century learners. His leadership at Smart’s Mill Middle School and River Bend Middle School has been instrumental in both schools being named a National School to Watch. In 2009, David was recognized as a Leesburg Today 30 under 30 award winner for Loudoun County, Virginia. Additionally, David was recognized as one of the 2018 Loudoun County’s 40 under 40 professionals by Loudoun Now. Since 2015, he has been a member of the Educational Advisory Counsel for the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation. In addition, to his role as a school principal, David also serves the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform as the Schools to Watch Site Visit Coordinator for the Commonwealth of Virginia. David has presented at various state and national conferences including the Association for Middle Level Education, the Virginia Middle School Association, the National Schools to Watch, Inspire Loudoun, Blended Learning Universe, and the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Mr. Shaffer was nominated as 2018 NASSP Digital Principal of the year. Finally, Mr. Shaffer was recognized as the 2018 Master in the Middle Educator of the Year from the Virginia Middle Schools Association.

Pierrette Peters currently serves as Principal of Francis C. Hammond Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia. She has served in this capacity since July 2015. Her administrative career also included serving as Principal of George Washington 2 Middle School and lead academic principal and academic principal of mathematics and science at T.C. Williams High School also in Alexandria, Virginia. Prior to entering school administration, Pierrette served as a ninth-grade biology teacher at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. Her school has received the VDOE Continuous Improvement Award as well as implementation of nationally recognized programs to include the International Network For Public Schools and AVID Excel. Pierrette earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a master of education degree in the master teacher program at Regent University, a master of education degree in educational leadership from George Mason University, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Liberty University.

Cassie Farrish is currently supervisor of instruction for Staunton Public Schools, having previously served as an assistant principal at Wilson Middle School in Augusta County. Cassie earned her B.A. at Mary Baldwin University and M.S. at Shenandoah University. She is in her 13th year of education. Prior to becoming an Assistant Principal, Cassie served as a kindergarten teacher and an intervention specialist. 

Mike Riley has been in education for 22 years, 12 of which have been as a middle school administrator. He received his Bachelor Degree in Education from Marshall University and his Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Radford University. He began his administrative career as an assistant principal of Hidden Valley Middle School in 2006 and was named principal of Hidden Valley Middle in 2012. During his time at Hidden Valley, the school was recognized as a School to Watch by the National Forum and has since been redeisgnated as a School to Watch twice. Over the past several years, the staff of Hidden Valley Middle has worked to develop a peer observation protocol that has been instrumental in establishing a strong culture of engaging instruction throughout the school. In 2019, Mike became Executive Director of Secondary Instruction for Roanoke County Public Schools.

​Joy Munsey grew up in East Tennessee but has lived the last 25 years in southwest Virginia.  She attended the University of Tennessee where she graduated with a B.S. in Business Education in 1986. In 1991 she completed a Master’s Degree in Career and Technical Education and in 2017 she earned an Ed.S. in Educational Leadership and Policy from Virginia Tech.  Ms. Munsey spent 23 years in the classroom before going in administration in 2017.  During her years in the classroom, she taught information technology, economics and personal finance and a dual enrollment class for the local community college.  She was named one of Virginia’s outstanding economics teachers in 2011 and was Holston High School’s teacher of the year in 2012 and 2013.  She was a middle school assistant principal from 2017-2019 and now serves as the assistant principal at the Washington County Career and Technical Education Center in Abingdon, VA. 

​Sherry Spurlock graduated from Old Dominion University with a Bachelor of Science in Communications and earned her master’s degree in Education Administration and Supervision from University of Phoenix. She resides in Amelia with her husband and three children. Mrs. Spurlock has 13 years of experience as a Special Education teacher at Amelia County Middle School. She currently serves as Amelia Middle School’s Special Education Coordinator

Maggie Mallory is currently a sixth grade English teacher at New Kent Middle School. This is her eighteenth year in education and is extremely passionate about helping all students read and working to their full potential.

coming soon

coming soon

​A representative of the Virginia PTA serves as a voting member of the Board of Directors.

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​Mychael has been involved with public education for most of his adult life.  Teaching in Charles County and Howard County, Maryland, before moving into administration in Frederick County, Maryland.  He has risen through the ranks from an assistant principal there, to a principal, coordinator and director in Wichita, Kansas.  He went on to serve as an assistant superintendent in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and then taking on the role of superintendent in Owego, New York.  He then worked in the New York City School system, as a Local Instructional Superintendent and other roles, before moving to Texas to work with a company helping students that had dropped out of high school, earn diplomas.  Since retiring, he continues to advocate for children by working with the PTA and serving on various committees in the school district.  He and his husband have two boys that attend school in Williamsburg/James City County.