Robinson Secondary School Names Acting Principal

A former Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) principal, John Ponton, will be the new acting principal of Robinson Secondary School when retiring principal Dan Meier retires on April 1.

According to a post on the Robinson PTSA website, Ponton will serve as acting principal from April 1 to June 30.

Meier announced his decision to retire back in January after 10 years as principal of Robinson.

Ponton worked as an FCPS educator for 31 years before retiring as principal of Annandale High School in 2011 after six years in the position. He has also worked at Marshall High School and JEB Stuart High School where he was the assistant principal.

Ponton's wife, Sharon, is currently a Health and Physical Education teacher at Stuart and the Head Girls’ Volleyball Coach, according to the PTSA article.

The article further states that the search for finding a new, permanent principal has been extended and FCPS plans to re-advertise the position in late spring, with an effective date of July 1.

We had a small pool of applicants for the Robinson position when it was advertised in early February. Following the resume screening, only 3 applicants were recommended for the panel to interview. Typically 5-8 are recommended for panel interviews. The Robinson interview panel had 16 members – 6 parents; 6 staff; 1 student; 2 FCPS principals, and the Cluster 6 Director. Following the panel interviews, each individual panel member recommends a candidate to the Cluster Assistant Superintendent to consider for follow-up interviews. The recommendations from the panel members did not indicate broad support for any of the 3 applicants.

To read more about Meier and his time at Robinson, read the Robinson student newspaper.