Principals of the past

Former Jefferson principals reflect on accomplishments, legacies

Geoffrey Jones? Elizabeth Lodal? For seniors, the second name may be familiar, but for most students, these two names are no more than words on placards above the library and college career center.

But these two educators are more than just a distant memory. Their innovations were instrumental in the school achieving #1 status in the recent U.S. News and World Report survey of American high schools. Their vision for this school remains a part of many existing programs.
TjTODAY reporters joined Jones and Lodal off campus on Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 to discuss their time here as well as their lives since leaving Jefferson.

Jones is most well known for starting the IBET program and encouraging mentorships and partnerships. Lodal is remembered for her distinct leadership style. She is the principal who shook up staffing, instituted Off Campus Lunch, supported the music programs, pushed the TJ Diploma and infamously referred to student dancing at soc hops as akin to “having sex standing up with your clothes on.”
“I saw [Jones] as more of a consensus builder. He wanted people to work together,” English teacher Roger Green said. “[Lodal] would support a dramatic departure from business as usual. They both took a certain amount of pleasure in ruffling feathers.”

Jones’ office at the Potomac School, where he is now Head of School, looks just like any other classroom. It’s in a nondescript hallway right across from a busy classroom of students. Jones’ door is wide open, a reflection of his avuncular presence. His office is furnished with floor to ceiling bookshelves, sink-into-the-cushions couches and a massive fish tank, all of which dwarf a modest corner desk. He’s the kind of guy who invites you to sit down and get comfortable.

Jones was the principal of Jefferson in its early years as a specialized science and technology school. He came from the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1988 with several plans for how to help Jefferson live up to its vision as a premier science and technology school with a research emphasis.

“He was really the school’s first long term principal. He would be here four or five nights a week meeting parents and trying to keep all the constituencies happy,” Green said.

One of the issues Jones had to deal with was how to create a multidisciplinary approach to science and technology learning. From this idea IBET, arguably Jones’ greatest legacy, was created.

The research laboratories that are a staple of senior year had existed when Jones arrived, but he wanted to find a way to better prepare students for the research project they would be doing senior year. He felt that freshmen needed to learn how to research, experiment and practice scientific writing from the beginning of their time at Jefferson.

“The tech labs had been envisioned from the start. But very quickly, we recognized that in order for seniors to be really prepared to do [the senior project], we needed to begin that [research and experimentation] process right from ninth grade,” Jones said.

Another one of Jones’ goals was to create relationships with companies and the private sector. Both the IBET and senior research lab experiences were meant to show students how to interact in the outside world with members of the community. These partnerships were crucial in obtaining the amount of funding that Jefferson needs to run its labs.

“[The research was] connected to practical, applied ideas and projects that were a part of our lives and a part of the lives of the community,” Jones said. “So, many of the projects took students into the community.”
Jones was not without resistance, however, in his road to improve Jefferson. At the time, many school systems were wary of sending students here for fear of losing their best and brightest.

“There were school systems in Northern Virginia that did not participate or limited student participation because there was a fear of a brain drain,” Jones said.
“Naturally there was going to be a jealousy [from other schools] because our school seemed to be taking all the smartest kids,” Pat Groves, former secretary to Jones, said.

There also existed a fear that Jefferson would simply become the best school in the area because it had the smartest students, but never rise above that.
“[We had to keep] the program open to the notion of continuous growth and learning,” Jones said. “It would have been too easy to settle into being the best GT center in Northern Virginia because we had the brightest kids.”
Jones remained as principal for 12 years before moving to The Potomac School in 2000.

The Potomac School was a change for Jones in that it is both private and a kindergarten through 12th grade school, which meant students could be taught certain research habits earlier in their learning process.

“Some of things we were doing in ninth grade at Jefferson, we’re doing in second and fourth grade here now,” Jones said, referring to projects like robots, a part of the ninth grade Tech curriculum at Jefferson.
“He was always available for parents, students and visitors. He worked morning, noon and night,” Groves said.
Fast forward to 2009, to Lodal’s home in McLean. The stunning music room and home movie theater appear to be constructed out of angles and straight lines, the epitome of modern architecture. They were, in fact, designed by an architect who has done work for Wolftrap. Half of the art displays are collections of contemporary art, and the other half are collections of Obama art �" magazine covers and portraits - which Lodal jokingly refers to as her shrine to Obama. Lodal’s silky southern accent fills the room �" “I am from Texas, you know,” she reminds us, as she takes us back to 2000, when she was hired as the interim principal.

After a long search, she was chosen for the position, which she remained in for six years. The first thing Lodal did when she arrived at Jefferson was to negotiate with the superintendent and the state government about Jefferson’s funding. After ensuring that Jefferson would receive state funding for a greater number of students, Lodal took a look at staffing.

She says she never trusted the staffing information that the school system’s personnel staff would send her and always recalculated. “I went off to Rice to be a math and physics major,” Lodal reminds us, pointing out that although she ended up concentrating in history and English, she still used her math background.

Lodal describes herself as a person willing to push boundaries. She draws inspiration from a quote she heard from one of the first female admirals who told her that she never asks permission, but she will apologize afterwards. Lodal brought this independent streak to her leadership at Jefferson, playfully referring to the school board as “the Kremlin.”

“The whole faculty knew that that I’d say, ‘The Kremlin says we have to do this or that -- but here’s what we’re going to do,’” Lodal said. “You have to make sure that you’re not letting them call the shots and ruin programs that are very difficult to build up.”

Lodal changed the Jefferson culture greatly during her tenure. She instituted off campus lunch by using field trip permission forms, as she had previously done as principal of McLean, by giving the Student Government Association (SGA) the control over the requirements. She believes teens will protect and respect the privileges they rightly should earn. She points out that seniors shouldn’t be treated the same as freshman, and that during all of the years of off campus lunch, she never had any serious problems. After Lodal left Jefferson, however, so did off campus lunch.

Lodal is also remembered as a champion for clean dancing at Jefferson soc hops. She says the issue is more about manners and civility.

“I say I’m a risk taker, but I have this combination of orthodoxy, for lack of a better word, and pushing boundaries. I mean you can look at me and you can see how I dress, I’m not a real wild, out there person,” Lodal said.

“When I saw [students or faculty] doing something that I thought was inappropriate or I heard them saying something that was inappropriate I would just walk up to the person and say ‘You have qualified for charm school’ and not another word and march off,” Lodal recalls. “Now this was for people who were cursing in the halls, doing public displays of affection, or being just mean to somebody.”
With regards to her comments about dancing, Lodal says “You just don’t want to embarrass your fellow students. There’s some things you need to do in your own privacy and in the dark.”

Since leaving Jefferson, Lodal has found more time to support political candidates that she thinks will really make a difference. Lodal, a Texan who grew up near George W. Bush and Laura Bush’s home, says she was “embarrassed” at President Bush’s leadership style. The first time she heard Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, she knew he was her candidate.

Since then, she threw herself into his campaign, hosting morning coffees for women and reaching across the partisan divide. “I said I want Republicans who are undecided, I want Independents who are undecided and of course, I want Democrats who are undecided,” --to garner support during the primary season. As further evidence of her enthusiasm, she has a life size cut out of Barack Obama and proudly points to a picture of herself with the President.
Both Jones and Lodal have returned to the school since leaving. Both refer to Jefferson as a work in progress, more of a continuously growing endeavor rather than a project with a definite end in sight.

“There’s no question in my mind that Jefferson has really become something very special,” Jones said. “It’s so hard, unless you’re on the inside, for anybody to understand how unique it is.”