Interim WJCC Principals to Become Permanent

By WYDaily Staff Thursday, May 19, 2011

Dan Fields and Karen Swann, who have served most of the 2010-11 school year as interim principal at Warhill High School and Berkeley Middle School respectively, have been appointed as principal, pending School Board approval.

Their appointments will become effective July 1.

"Dan and Karen came into their schools during transitional periods, which requires skilled leadership to ensure that the school year progresses as seamlessly as possible for both students and staff," said WJCC Superintendent Dr. Steven M. Constantino. "Both have performed admirably in this role, which is why I am especially pleased to appoint them as principal of their schools."

Fields has served as interim principal of Warhill High School since August 2010. He began his career with WJCC schools in 1986, when he joined the Lafayette High School staff as a health and physical education teacher. Fields has been a coach for the Lafayette varsity and junior varsity football teams, as well as its cross country and wrestling squads. Between 1992 and 2007, Fields twice served as assistant principal for LHS and once for Jamestown High School from 1997-2003. He joined Warhill as assistant principal in 2007. Prior to coming to WJCC, he worked as a teacher and coach for Frederick County Public Schools from 1980 to 1985.

Fields earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education from Old Dominion University in 1979, and a master's degree in educational administration, secondary level, from ODU in 1992.

Swann was appointed interim principal at Berkeley in December 2010. She first joined WJCC as a volunteer and tutor at Berkeley Middle School's after-school program (Project D.I.V.A.) in 2001, which she and her sorority sisters helped implement and develop. She joined the Toano Middle School staff as an English teacher in 2002, teaching for three years and serving as English instructor during the 2003 and 2004 summer sessions. From August 2005 through December 2006, Swann served as a graduate assistant at the College of William and Mary during the completion of her master's degree, returning to Toano as a lead teacher during the summer session.

Before becoming Berkeley's assistant principal in 2007, Swann was the assessment and compliance coordinator at Bruton High School in York County. Swann has been volunteering as a facilitator and instructor with the Rites of Passage program at Toano Middle School since 2003.

She earned a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in educational planning, policy and leadership from W&M.