Update (Jan. 19): On the MoVe has learned that Sharamaine Williams is the interim principal for Mount Vernon Woods Elementary, effective Jan. 17.
Virginia School Principal Appreciation Week concluded Jan. 14 with the departure of two administrators from their respective schools.
LaRonda Peterson, principal of Bucknell Elementary since November 2016, is starting a new position as principal at Riverside Elementary, effective Tues., Jan. 18. She is replacing former Riverside principal Paul Basdekis who assumed the top administrator role at Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary in Herndon last November.
In a Jan. 11 welcome letter from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), FCPS Region 3 Acting Assistant Superintendent Dr. Grace Taylor credited Peterson with successfully launching a local level IV Advanced Academic Program at Bucknell and helping close educational achievement gaps each year. Peterson was named the Region 3 Principal of the Year for the 2019-2020 school year.
Larry Jones, a retired FCPS administrator, will serve as interim principal at Bucknell until Peterson’s replacement is named, according to a school official.
Meanwhile, Dr. Clint Mitchell, principal at Mount Vernon Woods Elementary
since August 2016, is starting a new position as superintendent with the Colonial Beach School District in Colonial Beach, Virginia. Mitchell, originally from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, transformed Mount Vernon Woods into a “majority globalized school” with a 95% staff retention rate, according to his recent interview with “Education Week.” In 2021, Mitchell received the National Association of Elementary School Principals’ National Distinguished Principal Award for the state of Virginia.
The identity of Mount Vernon Woods’ interim principal was not available as of press time.
