By Hannah Ellington, Editor-in-Chief
Albert Nation! Albert Nation! The crowd screams, hollers, howls, all in protest of the new principal, Tim Albert, at the pep rally. As the pie in the face contest gets closer, students anxiously anticipate what they all know is about to happen: Albert would get a nice, sweet faceful of chocolate cream – as well as a slap of revenge from students who filled his coin jar in protest during the SGA contest.
When Albert replaced previous Principal Arty Tillett, students were upset with the changes Albert wanted to make: a reinvention of Empower Time, a stricter enforcement of the “no phone zone” and stressing the dress code. With this in mind, students began calling his rule over the school as “Albert Nation.”
“I knew that (the students) were sincere about them not wanting me to come in and start making wholesale changes and I thought it was pretty neat the way they did,” Albert said. “I sort of took hold of it and used it humorously to slowly start to institute some things.”
So rather than getting angry about #AlbertNation that swept over social media, Albert embraced it. And It did not take long for students to slowly warm up to Albert when he used humor instead of anger in response to the chants. The sudden change in leadership and policies was beginning to become normal.
However, just three years later, Albert’s retirement was announced during the Feb. 12 Board of Education meeting. After 42 years of working in education – 30 in Virginia Beach before he arrived at First Flight Middle as assistant principal in 2006 – his last day is planned for July 1.
“The working environment has been excellent, the friendships I have made both with students and staff and members of the community are just unparalleled,” Albert said. “It’s been a tremendously great experience.”
Now, Superintendent John Farrelly has to search for a new principal.
“He’s a great guy, he’s meant a lot to the community and he’s impacted thousands of students and hundreds of staff members’ lives,” Farrelly said. “I’m happy for him but it’s certainly a big transition here in the school.”
After Albert’s announcement, Farrelly decided to map out a different interviewing process for potential principal candidates.
“I sent a survey where every staff member had an opportunity to provide input on the qualities and traits they want to see in the next principal,” Farrelly said.
This survey was also used to indicate which staffers were interested in being part of an interview team. If they were not interested themselves, they had the opportunity to nominate another staff member in the school to serve on the team. They could also submit questions they would want the interview team to consider in the process.
“On the interview team, we’ll have four or five senior leadership members from the district, four or five staff members, two students and two parents who will be a part of the initial round of interviews,” Farrelly said. “And then, depending upon how that goes, if we find the right candidate working through that process, then it’s possible that as soon as the May Board meeting, we could announce a new principal.”
When it comes to who Farrelly believes would be the best fit, he mainly looks toward anyone who can benefit the school.
“Someone who can articulate a shared vision for the school, that’s innovative, that speaks to excellence,” Farrelly said. “Someone who can prioritize the needs of the school to achieve goals, someone who can keep things up and moving in the right direction, thinking about students’ needs. Someone who is a real instructional leader who is a really good communicator, can provide direction and keep the great things going and where we have challenges, address them.”
Farrelly is not necessarily looking for someone with principal experience, but would prefer someone with at least assistant principal experience.
“I do think I’ve always considered hiring principals as one of my highest responsibilities as superintendent, so I take that very seriously and will be very diligent in the process and very thoughtful,” said Farrelly, now in his second year as the leader of DCS.
While this process is different from previous ones – many times in Dare County, principals would move from school to school when openings became available – Farrelly believes that since it is “our school,” there should be a shared vision. Transparency and communication are key to being successful as a community.
“I think it’s a healthy process in that teachers are involved, parents are involved, kids are involved,” Farrelly said. “And I think that’s something that I have certainly emphasized, is giving everyone a voice and letting our stakeholders know that their opinions are valued.”
Farrelly hopes interviews will be held beginning April 1 and that a candidate could be announced in May. If no candidate has been found, there will be a second round of interviews and Farrelly will continue to search for the best fit.
“Every school is different, every community is different, so it is advantageous to move as swiftly as possible and be diligent and thoughtful,” Farrelly said. “If it’s the right person, it’s easy (to decide). If it’s not, then you lose sleep at night, but if that’s the case, then we keep searching.”
Even as the search continues, Farrelly emphasizes the importance of using Albert’s retirement positively.
“I look at it as a big pat on Tim’s back – he’s had a long career, very successful, but it gives us an opportunity in looking at the positive side of it to move forward,” Farrelly said.
As Albert begins to wind down from a long career, he said he’ll “be doing the same thing all the way up until July 1 that I have done for the last 40-some years.
“I would just like to say I’d like to thank everybody in Dare County for accepting me as an outsider coming in,” Albert continued. “I feel like part of Dare County now and it’s because of students, faculty, staff, parents, community, all taking me under their wing and showing me the right way to go and I appreciate it and thank everyone for what they’ve done for me.”
Senior Hannah Ellington can be reached at ellingtonha1214@daretolearn.org.
