The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Fran Irvin to Leave Administrative Team

Due to construction-related budget cuts, beginning June 1, WJ will return to having an administrative team with three 12-month assistant principals and one 11-month assistant principal.


With the current administrative team being composed of four 12-month administrators, assistant principal Fran Irvin has volunteered to leave WJ and be transferred to another MCPS school.

 According to principal Christopher Garrran, the two types of administrative positions differ in that one gets paid for a full year while the other is paid for only 11 months in the year. It is an individual’s choice to apply for either position. While Garran believes that WJ should have a team of four 12-month administrators, the county had to make reductions due to the current financial situation.

Even though Irvin has only been working at WJ for two years, she has been working as an assistant principal in MCPS longer than the other three administrators, giving her seniority. This would have made her immune from dismissal; however, she made a selfless move in volunteering to leave, saying that she didn’t want to break up the team of administrators that was here when she began working at WJ.

I thought it was very generous of her to say, ‘I’ll be the one who steps down, so that the rest of the team can stay together,'” said Garran.

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Though Irvin admits that the decision was difficult, Irvin remains confident in her resolve to be placed in another school.

“It’s hard for anybody to have to go, but somebody has to,” she said. “Nobody wants to go. But time is irrelevant when you see the kind of impact you make.”

It’s with this optimistic attitude that Irvin leaves WJ, a school that she has lovingly dubbed “Neverland.” During her stay at WJ, she has come in contact with students daily, and fondly recalls spending many Friday afternoons in the science department with both students and teachers.

According to Irvin, it is not uncommon on a Friday night to get a call from a student’s parent, asking whether he or she is in the building. Irvin feels that there is nothing “cooler than that.”

She has enjoyed her stay here, and will deeply miss those with whom she has developed a bond. Irvin expects to keep in touch with many of her current co-workers, as she has with former colleagues at the school she administrated in Texas.

“I think everywhere, you can be amazed if you want to be,” said Irvin. “And you can always be disillusioned if you want to be. But I’m a ‘the glass is more than three-fourths full’ kind of person.”

Irvin has not been informed of where she will be placed next, but looks forward to it with a positive attitude.

“This has been a good adventure,” said Irvin. “I’m glad for it.”

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