Reflections from the Past and Present
Almost thirty years ago, in February, 1996, a new phase of my career began when I started an internship as assistant principal at Strasburg High School (SHS) in Shenandoah County. Ironically, the January before I began was much like 2025; schools closed many days of the month while I was thinking of my new assignment and making lesson plans for the substitute in my library job! For twenty-five years, I had been an elementary librarian, and my only high school experience was serving as summer school librarian one year at Central High School (CHS), also in Shenandoah County. The principal under whom I was working at SHS, Pam Hardy, had a long career which started as a Physical Education teacher and coach at Stonewall Jackson High School (SJHS). She served for many years as Strasburg High School assistant principal under John Hodson, who had once been assistant principal at Stonewall Jackson. Sadly, Pam passed away in late 2025.
One of my teacher friends contacted me when I began working at SHS and said “I don’t think it’s going to work with two female administrators. What are you going to do about the boys’ bathrooms?” My reply was “the same as your two male administrators do with the girls’ bathrooms at SJHS.” After a semester internship, during which I did the job as assistant principal and was the only assistant, I applied for and was hired as SHS assistant principal. I worked under another female principal at Strasburg during time as assistant principal there: Dr. Suzan Cain Otto. The two female principals with whom I worked were very different, but were both student-centered, and I learned many skills from each of them.
In December, 1998, the Shenandoah County School Board appointed me as principal at Stonewall Jackson High School, replacing principal Peter Hughes, who went to work at the Governor’s Best Practices center and later at Loudoun County Schools in the central office. (Mr. Hughes just became mayor of New Market on January 1!) I was the first female principal at SJHS, which went unnoted. During my ten years as principal at SJHS, I worked with three different assistant principals, one of whom was a female and my former student, Deborah Litten. As with my service at SHS, the two of us worked well together without regards to gender.
In January, 2025, the day before writing this column, I was invited to attend a reception for the CHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductees at the school in Woodstock, VA. Craig Orndorff, the Master of Ceremonies for the speeches at the reception, noted that of the inductees to the CHS Athletic Hall of Fame since it was started in 2014, almost 2/3 were men. The Class of 2025 inductees were evenly split, with 3 women and 3 men. The inductees included Brea Hinegardner Prokop, daughter of Dr. David Hinegardner who was a 2016 inductee into the CHS Athletic Hall of Fame, and one of the assistant principals with whom I worked while principal at SJHS. (Being a small school, I only had one assistant principal at any given time.)
While I was principal at SJHS, Dr. Carol Fenn was interim Superintendent in Shenandoah County for 6 months. After that, she was hired as Superintendent in Rockingham County Public Schools where she served from 2007 to 2017. The current Shenandoah County Superintendent, Dr. Melody Sheppard, is the first female serving in this role; I helped hire her while a member of the Shenandoah County School Board.
As a high school assistant principal and principal, I learned the value of high school athletics for both males and females and tried hard to increase opportunities for women and girls through adding and supporting female sports. As chair of the Virginia High School League in 2000, I was able to champion athletic and academic opportunities for all. Listening to the speeches of the inductees into the CHS Athletic Hall of Fame reminded me of the impact of high school athletics. The inductees’ praise of teammates, coaches, their families, and the community as well as their careers now showed the importance of sports to players.
Deborah Litten, one of my assistant principals, participated in the first girls’ basketball team (and so far, the only one) to win a Virginia state championship in 1978. Debbie also played basketball and was inducted into the SJHS Hall of Fame as well as the Bridgewater College Hall of Fame. Julie Wilkins was the amazing female coach for that girls’ state basketball champions as well as for other sports. She passed away in 2024, and her impact on women’s athletics at SJHS was noted by many.
Compared to my high school career in the 1960s at Mathias Twelve Year School in Hardy County, WV, women have come a long way in educational leadership and sports. At MHS, there were no teams for women; women’s sports weren’t added until after Title IX in 1971. We’ve come a long way, but there is still more progress to be made. Thanks to everyone who embraces equal opportunities for women!
