Region 3 superintendent Dade takes position in New York

Terry Dade, who has overseen Richmond Highway-area schools as assistant superintendent for Region 3 of Fairfax County Public Schools, has been hired as superintendent for the Rochester City School District.

Dade, 42, has been with FCPS since 2010 and has served as Region 3 superintendent since 2015. The schools in Region 3 are part of the Edison, Hayfield, Lee, Mount Vernon and West Potomac pyramids.

Rochester made the announcement on Monday, and Dade tweeted later in the day about his new job.

“Humbled and honored to join the Rochester family as their new Superintendent!” Dade said. “We will achieve amazing results for our students through unsurpassed collaboration.”

Dade had also been a finalist for superintendent jobs in Beaufort County, South Carolina and Columbus, Ohio, in the past year.

Rochester has a little under 30,000 students in its schools currently, which is less than what Dade oversaw in Region 3. But Rochester faces a number of challenges, including low test scores, a poor graduation rate and high levels of poverty among its students. It has been called the “worst school district in the state” recently.

During his tenure as Region 3 superintendent, Dade oversaw the operations of all the FCPS schools in the region. He also had final say on the hiring of the current principals at Mount Vernon High School, West Potomac High School, Sandburg Middle School and a number of elementary schools.

Dade’s position in FCPS officially becomes vacant on July 1. Mount Vernon school board representative Karen Corbett Sanders, who also serves as chair of the board, said a national search will be conducted. She’s hoping that a replacement for Dade can be found quickly.

“I have urged [FCPS] to do a through and expedient search,” Corbett Sanders said. “I would like the search done in a way that we have minimal if any vacancy time.”