When I arrived in Falls Church City Public Schools in the spring of 2017, I knew there was something different about this school system from the others I had the privilege of serving. I didn’t know at the time what made this place so special. Still, I did know that the people who hired me had a set of expectations, level of commitment, and set of core values that were in alignment with mine which I took as a sign that I was the right person, in the right place, at the right time and I was excited to get started.

In my subsequent years of service in FCCPS, I’ve heard banter that there is a “Secret Sauce” and if there were some way to identify what it was, and then replicate it, schools across America could thrive. Just weeks after starting, I remember former School Board member Justin Castillo (who contributed a chapter to this anthology), asking if I had discovered the secret sauce yet. Of course, I hadn’t since it had only been a few weeks, but over time, things began to make sense to me, and I started to see things through a particular lens that began to define what that secret sauce was. Yet it was really hard to define.

So, fast forward to the fall of 2024. I asked a representative group in our school community to reflect on the following writing prompt:  What is the secret sauce of Falls Church City Public Schools?

I gave them until winter break to submit a 1500-3000 word personal narrative that supported their thesis statement with the writing stem of “The Secret Sauce in FCCPS is…” Of the 87 invited, 43 agreed to take this on and submitted their essays. What came from this exercise is beautiful, enlightening, thoughtful, heartfelt, and filled with love for our students, teachers, and community members.

With the support of my friend and longtime colleague Hope Katz Gibbs, we looked at each essay and tried to pull out themes to see how these essays made sense as a batch. We read, reread, and sorted again. In the end, the essays were sorted into three categories that, in our estimation, are the main ingredients for the FCCPS Secret Sauce. The categories are: The Little City. Teachers Make the Difference. And, Relationships Matter.

From this process emerged the collection you now hold in your hand. I want to thank the students in Ms. Gurgo’s class for many of the headshots in the book, along with the art that separates the sections. Also, thank you, Ms. Gurgo, for supporting this project. I also want to thank Dr. Stewart Robertson, former Superintendent of Falls Church City Public Schools, for participating and writing the Foreword to the book. Stewart: You are a great reminder that those who came after you stand on the shoulders of giants. You are the model of leadership we should all aspire to emulate.

I hope you enjoy reading all of the short essays in this book. It was a labor of love to put this together and in many ways, pays homage to the people in the community, from our students, to staff, to families, to the broader community that has always been supportive of the work of our schools. Thank you for the honor and privilege of serving as your Superintendent for the last eight-plus years, and I hope I added the ingredients needed to make the secret sauce sustainable for the future.

Carry on!