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Peter Noonan, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Service, Fairfax County Public Schools

COLUMN = EDUCATION

In 2006, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Superintendent Jack D. Dale named Peter Noonan, Cluster VII assistant superintendent and former principal of Centreville High School, as the new assistant superintendent for instructional services, effective August 1.

Prior to that, Noonan has served as assistant superintendent for Cluster VII schools, including the Centreville, Chantilly, and Fairfax High School pyramids. In this position, he initiated instructional and organizational change using professional learning communities, increased accessibility to educational technology resources for students and staff members, and school leadership development to support diverse learners.

Noonan served as principal of Centreville High School from July 2004 until April 2006, where he developed a principal’s round table for aspiring student leaders, initiated a freshman transition team for rising ninth grade students, and secured funding for an Honors and Advanced Placement Summer Institute. Prior to that, he served as principal of Lanier Middle School. Noonan came to FCPS in 2001 to serve as assistant principal at Langley High School.

Prior to joining FCPS, Noonan served as dean of students, assistant principal, and principal of several schools in Albuquerque. He began his career as a special education teacher at Roosevelt Middle School in Albuquerque, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 1993.

Noonan has made numerous professional presentations, including workshops on establishing professional learning communities, providing extra time and support for students, and integrating technology into education.

Noonan earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico and completed studies to earn the education specialist designation in educational administration from that institution. He was named a Danforth Scholar at the University of New Mexico. He also completed advanced studies of contemporary British and Shakespearean literature at the University of Essex in England.

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The best reason to start an organization is to create a product or service to make the world a better place.”

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You only live once. But if you do it right, once is enough.”

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Speaking more than one language is no longer just an asset in today’s job market; it is a requirement.”

– Tom Adams, CEO, Rosetta Stone

If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good.”

– Ajahn Chah

Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that’s exactly what nurtures creative thinking.”

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By your stumbling the world is perfected.”

– Sri Aurobindo

If people like you they’ll listen to you; if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”

– Zig Ziglar

No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.”

– Martha Beck, from "Leaving the Saints"

Part of your destiny is to live in the zone of maximum satisfaction.”

– Martha Beck

I’ve come to confirm that one’s title, even that of president, says little about how well one’s life has been led. No matter how much you’ve done, or how successful you’ve been, there’s always more to do, to learn, and to achieve.”

– Barack Obama

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?”

– Magical

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You take your life in your own hands, and what happens?
 A terrible thing: no one to blame.”

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The music is all around us. All you have to do is listen.”

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I’m not afraid of storms,
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The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.”

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Do you have the desire to create something new; the strength of conviction to believe your creation will be successful, and the reservoir of energy necessary to thrust it into the marketplace?”

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Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

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The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.”

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The world I believed in, back in my most innocent, uninformed, childish mind—is real.”

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Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had.”

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‎The biggest flaw in our existing theory of capitalism lies in its misrepresentation of human nature.”

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

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If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”

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If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.”

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He who wants to tear down a house must be prepared to rebuild it.”

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‎That which grows fast withers as rapidly; that which grows slowly endures.”

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Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

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The only dream worth having is to live while you’re alive and die only when you’re dead.”

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The fixity of a habit is generally in direct proportion to its absurdity.”

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I always maintained that the greatest obstacle in life isn’t danger, it’s boredom. The battle against it is responsible for most of the events in the world — good or ill.”

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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

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The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. The greatest failure is to not try.”

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To find what you seek in the road of life, leave no stone unturned.”

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