ACPS Names New Principals

FROM ACPS: 

NEW PRINCIPALS NAMED TO T.C. SATELLITE CAMPUS AND FRANCIS C. HAMMOND CAMPUS

 

Alexandria Va.  — Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) Superintendent Morton Sherman is pleased to announce the appointment of three new principals for the 2012-13 school year. Dr. James Wilson will lead the new T.C. Satellite Campus. Two new principals, Benjamin Costa and Andrea Sparks-Brown, will join the Francis C. Hammond Middle School Campus administration.

 

Veteran Principal James Wilson began his career in Alexandria as a middle school teacher at Parker-Gray High School. Dr. Wilson also served as an executive associate principal at T.C. Williams High School from 1988 to 1993 and led schools in Baltimore City and District of Columbia Public Schools. He also has taught secondary and post-secondary education classes. For three year, he served as an adjunct professor for Old Dominion University's Virginia Center for Career Transition. 

 

"Most recently, Dr. Wilson served, with the utmost compassion and respect, as principal of the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Home School," Dr. Sherman said. "We are fortunate that he agreed to embrace this fresh challenge of overseeing our latest endeavor to reach out to underserved students."

 

“I am honored to lead this new effort to increase the opportunities for all our students to graduate,” Dr. Wilson said. “Everything we do is centered on student achievement. That is our most important mission.”

 

Dr. Wilson holds a Doctor of Education in Curriculum/Administration from The George Washington University, as well as a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Saint Paul’s College. 

 

Benjamin Costa has been selected to lead Francis C. Hammond 1 Middle School. Costa most recently served as the assistant principal of Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Md. He began his career as an English teacher in 1995 and, since that time, has served the Montgomery County Public Schools division as a dean of students, an alternative education site coordinator and a student support/family counselor.

 

Costa brings to Hammond 1 a background in improving pedagogical practices in the classroom, facilitating partnership programs and collaboration with community stakeholders and coordinating and implementing middle school honors English programs. Costa is familiar with working with diverse populations and has created race- and equity-focused professional development programs, resulting in improved performance of black and Hispanic students as measured by course grades, achievement on state tests and decreases in suspensions.

 

Costa holds a Master of Arts in Education Administration from Bowie State University in Bowie, Md., and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

 

“We are truly excited to welcome Benjamin to ACPS,” Dr. Sherman said. “Benjamin brings to us valuable experience in the areas of student support that make him an outstanding selection to take Hammond 1 students to the next level in academic achievement."

 

Andrea Sparks-Brown is the new principal of Francis C. Hammond 3 Middle School. Sparks-Brown comes to ACPS from the Richmond area, where she most recently held the position of principal at King William High School in King William. The school made Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) during Sparks-Brown’s tenure, having missed the mark the year prior to her arrival. She began her career in 2001 as an assistant principal at Woodbridge Senior High School in Woodbridge. She held several assistant principal positions in Woodbridge schools before taking the helm at King William High School. 

 

She has presented diversity training to several school systems, focusing on basic understanding of methods that teachers can implement to create a stronger understanding of all types of student cultures. She also has presented at several conferences on teacher training, methods of professional learning communities and implementation of differential instruction.

 

Sparks-Brown is a doctoral student with Walden University in Minneapolis, Minn. She holds a Certification in Secondary Administration and a Master of Education from George Mason University in Fairfax and a Bachelor of Science from Howard University in Washington, D.C. 

 

“Andrea’s leadership qualities, knowledge of cultivating success among diverse communities and proven success in leading secondary students to achieve academically make her an excellent choice to lead Hammond 3,” Dr. Sherman said. “We welcome her to Alexandria and look forward to her contributions to ACPS.”

 

For more information about the T.C. Satellite Campus, contact Dr. Madye Henson, deputy superintendent for student support and institutional advancement, at 703-845-5615. Contact Greg Forbes, director of secondary school counseling, at 703-824-6876 to register. For more information regarding ACPS middle schools, contact Dr. Gregory Hutchings, director of PreK - 12 programs, at 703-824-6912.