New GHS leader is acclaimed educator in state

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

New GHS leader is acclaimed educator in state

Christine Handy Collins was Maryland’s ‘principal of the year’ in 2006

by Sebastian Montes | Staff Writer

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Christine Handy Collins has been named the new principal at Gaithersburg High School, the fourth principal in six school years at the 2,200-student school.

‘‘I’m very excited about the opportunity to serve the Gaithersburg community,” she said in an interview Tuesday afternoon, just after the Montgomery County school board approved her assignment. ‘‘I’m looking forward to working with the school team to provide an education that our students can be proud of and to continue the upward achievement trend already underway there.”

Maryland’s Principal of the Year in 2006, Collins has been at the 635-student Colonel Richardson High School in Federalsburg, in Caroline County, for the last seven years.

Collins is a native of Norfolk, Va. Her career as an educator dates back to 1989, where she started as a special education teacher in Norfolk.

From 1998 to 2000, she was principal at Techworld Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. She then moved on to Colonel Richardson, where she was assistant principal for a year before taking over in 2001.

She holds a master’s degree in counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and a Bachelor’s degree in special education from Old Dominion University in Norfolk. She is currently pursuing a doctorate from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Drawn in part by the reputation of Montgomery County Public Schools, Collins said the position holds great promise.

‘‘There are great things happening in the community,” she said. ‘‘When I visited the school, I just felt it as a place.”

Collins comes to Gaithersburg High as the school enters a crucial transition, having implemented a range of academic programs under Darryl Williams, who left the school last month to take the helm at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. Also, Gaithersburg High is due for major building overhauls in the coming years.

Williams’ sudden departure to Blair, the largest high school in the county, left many parents in the GHS community feeling slighted by the school system.

Parents have said they felt rushed to find an adequate principal in time for the school year, and yearning for a principal who will stay with GHS for the long haul.

After assembling a panel of two dozen parents, teachers, students and school administrators, candidates were interviewed last week.