Fairfax County bankrolls a higher ratio of assistant principals per school than any other large district in the Washington suburbs.
The school system’s 195 principals are supported by 360 assistant principals, a ratio of nearly two per school chief. In neighboring district Loudoun County, that proportion is 1.4, and in Prince William County, it falls to 1.2.
Across the Potomac, rival Montgomery County flanked its 202 principals with 283 assistants last year, for a ratio of 1.4. Montgomery schools officials did not reply to requests for current data. Prince George’s County echoed the 1.4 norm with 280 assistants for 203 principals.
“We’re bursting at the seams in terms of students, and you could build more schools that are smaller, but we’ve built very large schools that can accommodate large numbers of students,” Fairfax schools spokesman Paul Regnier explained.
However, Fairfax’s student body poses fewer of the problems associated with increasing diversity faced by systems such as Montgomery and Prince George’s, and Fairfax’s graduation rates and test scores are second only to Loudoun’s in the region.
Assistant principals’ roles vary per school, but that they often take on the paperwork and discipline for a grade level or certain subject areas, Regnier said.
Fairfax was the only large district that added to its assistant principal base, up one from last year’s 359. Prince George’s and Loudoun cut 18 and three, respectively, while Prince William remained steady.
Assistant principals’ salaries start at about $60,000 to $65,000 and can grow to up to $110,000.
Fairfax Education Association President Michael Hairston said he has questioned the figures amid frozen salaries and custodian layoffs. “We’re not advocating for any cuts, but if you’re going to make cuts, let it be balanced,” Hairston said.
Steven Greenburg, president of the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, called the one assistant principal at his school “absolutely necessary.”
“We have heard ad nauseum from people who believe central administration is a little heavy in its numbers in Fairfax … but I don’t think the assistant principals are the fat,” said Greenburg, who teaches at Forest Edge Elementary School in Reston. “A bigger concern is what the people above the principals and assistant principals are doing. Are they doing work that is unnecessary, are they creating more work for the people underneath them?”
