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Dr. Terry J. Dade is taking charge of Falls Church City Public Schools as the division prepares for the 2025-26 school year, bringing a promise to protect its record of academic success while confronting fast-moving changes in technology, student needs and the city itself.

Dade became superintendent July 1 after the School Board unanimously appointed him May 4. He succeeds Dr. Peter Noonan, who led the division for eight years, including through the construction of a new high school and the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just days after his appointment, Dade earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Manhattanville University. He previously received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Virginia, as well as a master’s degree in school administration from Trinity University.

His arrival also marks a return to Northern Virginia. Dade moved to Reston as a kindergartner and remained in the Reston and Herndon area for years. He later served as principal of Graham Road Elementary School in the Falls Church area and as an assistant superintendent in Fairfax County Public Schools.

“I’ve really tried to focus on ‘The Return Home,’” Dade said.

Dade most recently led the Cornwall Central School District in New York, overseeing five schools, roughly 3,200 students and more than 500 employees. He previously served as superintendent of the Rochester City School District.

While working in Fairfax County, he helped reduce the number of schools carrying warning or FOCUS accreditation designations from 12 to one. At Graham Road Elementary, the school recorded Fairfax County’s highest reading and math Standards of Learning pass rates when comparing results involving students eligible for free and reduced-price meals, while teacher retention also improved.

Growth reshapes the city

Dade said Falls Church looks markedly different from the community he left in 2019. Development along South Washington Street is among the most visible signs of that transformation.

The growth could bring enrollment and financial pressure, but Dade said city and school leaders have an advantage: They have been discussing demographic changes and forecasting their effects rather than being caught by surprise.

He said the school division and City Council have engaged early in conversations about what development will mean throughout Falls Church. As a result, he believes the schools are prepared for continued growth.

Dade also praised the city’s long-term financial support for its schools through both strong and difficult economic periods. Still, he acknowledged uncertainty surrounding federal, state and local finances.

“We’re all kind of holding our breath to see what the future entails with respect to our fiscal sovereignty,” he said, adding that the division is currently in a strong position.

His first priority is to preserve Falls Church’s established success.

“When you’re a part of a stellar school system like Falls Church City, [the goal is] to make sure we don’t do anything that’s going to take us backward,” Dade said.

Maintaining that tradition, however, does not mean standing still. He wants the division to prepare students for a world in which a four-year college may not be every family’s preferred destination. Careers, community colleges and skilled trades must also be treated as important routes to success, he said.

AI forces difficult classroom questions

Artificial intelligence will be one of the division’s most significant challenges. Dade expects the coming school year to include serious discussions about standards and policies governing its use.

His former district began its AI work at the high school level, where students were most likely to have access to the technology and teachers were already confronting questions about plagiarism, authentic student work and academic ability.

Dade said schools must look beyond enforcement. AI will also require educators to reconsider instruction, homework, assignments and long-term projects.

He compared the moment to the arrival of Google in classrooms. Easy access to facts once caused fears that conventional tests and quizzes would become ineffective, but educators adjusted their teaching and assessment practices.

“I see this as AI is the next Google hitting the education world,” Dade said.

He cautioned against minimizing AI’s impact but also rejected panic. The central question, he said, is how teaching should change when students have powerful new tools at their fingertips. Asked whether Falls Church schools could handle that transition, he answered, “Absolutely.”

Cellphone rules face a consistency test

Dade is taking a measured approach to classroom cellphone restrictions following former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s push for cellphone-free schools.

The Falls Church School Board decided in June to retain the previous year’s policy unless it received additional clarification from the governor or the Virginia Department of Education. Dade said he will follow that direction.

His immediate concern is whether existing rules are enforced consistently across campuses. He plans to work with students and employees to examine how the policy is being applied.

Questions about emergency communication have complicated debates over restricting phones. Some parents and guardians want students to remain reachable during crises, including school shootings.

Dade, whose father was a Washington, D.C., police officer and undercover detective, said he defers to law-enforcement professionals on emergency safety. He noted that officers have raised concerns about phones interfering with their work, complicating communication and potentially revealing the locations of people hiding inside a building.

Even as the father of a Fairfax County high school student, Dade said his first priority during an emergency would be for law enforcement to bring his son home safely. Receiving a message might reassure him, but it would not allow him to protect his child from outside the school.

The appropriate role of armed school security, he added, depends heavily on the community. In Fairfax County, he found broad support for school resource officers in middle and high schools. Rochester presented the opposite environment, with concerns resembling those raised during protests over racial profiling and policing. In Cornwall, armed deputies served elementary, middle and high schools.

Dade said he is still learning Falls Church’s views and believes each community has its own reasons for supporting or opposing a particular security model. Whatever approach is chosen, he expects the highest standards from anyone responsible for student safety.

IB shapes his view of education

Dade and his family settled in Vienna after they were unable to find a Falls Church home within the short time available for their move from New York.

His children will attend several Fairfax County schools. Two older children attend Fairfax High School, while others are headed to Marshall High School’s feeder system, Wolf Trap Elementary School, Kilmer Middle School and a Vienna preschool.

Dade said the International Baccalaureate program influenced his family’s decisions and remains one of the features he values in Falls Church schools. He previously led an elementary school offering the IB Primary Years Programme and worked with schools providing Middle Years, IB and Advanced Placement options.

His enthusiasm is grounded partly in what graduates have told him. Former students returning for their IB diplomas frequently said they entered college better prepared for diverse communities, demanding research and the application of knowledge across subjects.

Dade also values IB’s emphasis on viewing problems globally while remaining responsible to one’s local community. Its focus on examining how students learn encourages deeper reflection, he said. Although the program is demanding, he believes its benefits become clear after graduation.

Civil disagreement won over the superintendent

The School Board’s conduct was a major factor in Dade’s decision to accept the job.

He said he was not looking for a board whose members agreed on every issue. Instead, he examined whether they could disagree in a civil, professional and respectful way.

The division’s cellphone debate offered a useful test. Dade reviewed meetings in which members brought perspectives shaped by parenting, education, law and other experiences. Although they did not share one view, they held a constructive discussion and ultimately moved forward with the group’s decision while agreeing to revisit it during the year.

Dade called the board highly professional and said he was excited to work with its members.

Teachers and students move to the center

Dade views the superintendent’s office as a service organization for the employees working most closely with children, including teachers and support staff.

He wants employees to have the resources necessary to do their jobs and a workplace where they feel safe raising concerns. When an issue cannot be resolved, he said leaders should explain why rather than dismissing the employee who brought it forward.

That kind of staff culture, he believes, helps create an environment where students also feel valued.

Dade plans to spend time hearing directly from students, particularly as the division discusses AI and the meaning of future success. Adults can develop theories about what young people need, he said, but students understand their own school experience best.

Based on his work in New York, Dade believes secondary education across the country is falling short. Traditional systems are not structured for the future students face, he said. Schools need to offer more opportunities for collaboration and practical application of what students learn.

A father’s approach to parent concerns

As a father of five, Dade said he understands the varied demands families bring to schools. His children range from preschool age through high school and have differing educational and personal needs.

He considers parents their children’s most important advocates. By the time a family contacts the superintendent’s office, he said, it may have exhausted other avenues and may arrive with strong emotions about what happened.

His role is to listen closely, provide support when possible and connect families with other resources when necessary.

That approach will also guide discussions about accommodations for students with special needs. Dade said broad, division-level policies may be too far removed from individual classrooms to address every situation effectively.

The challenge is balancing what each child needs with the superintendent’s responsibility for the overall budget, financial stability and equitable treatment across the district.

A parent might request a particular program, Dade said, but a school cannot necessarily provide a different individualized program for each of 500 elementary students. Educators may instead identify the specific tools, teaching methods or accommodations within a requested program that would help a child succeed in reading or math.

He said those conversations must be honest about both student needs and the competing requests school leaders receive.

Diversity and disputed materials

Dade described debates over diversity, equity and inclusion, along with efforts to remove materials from classrooms and libraries, as among the most complicated issues facing schools.

Virginia’s Standards of Learning establish the required curriculum, he said, but disputes often arise over how teachers approach those standards.

When objections surface, Dade wants the division to understand why parents consider material inappropriate and to consider students’ ages and developmental levels.

He sees particular difficulty in restricting what older students encounter. If schools intend to prepare them for college, careers and life, he said, students eventually need exposure to many perspectives and topics beyond those encountered in their own households or immediate communities.

Dade declined to take positions on disputes that had not arisen in Falls Church. His hope is that the division will continue treating diversity, equity and inclusion as part of its everyday support for students, families and employees rather than as a slogan or standalone program.

For Dade, leading the division is the culmination of a journey he once could not have imagined. He recalled the challenges his parents faced moving their family from Washington, D.C., to Reston and said becoming superintendent of a school system such as Falls Church City felt like a dream.

“I’m just thrilled to get to know the community better,” he said, “and I’m looking forward to a fantastic school year ahead.”