On Monday morning, SVVSD Deputy Superintendant Dr. Jackie Kapushion announced to the staff of Frederick High that the principalship of their school would change. Dr. Brian Young is stepping down as principal of Frederick High to assume the principalship of Mead High School. To fill the void left in his absence, Dr. Russell Fox will become the new principal of Frederick High.

Dr. Brian Young started his career in SVVSD as a science teacher and assistant principal at Sunset Middle School. He then became the principal of Coal Ridge Middle before becoming Frederick’s principal in 2016. For the last 11 years of his career, he has worked in the Frederick-Firestone community, making connections with families and town leaders–a bond that will be hard to leave behind.

“The first sporting events will be really difficult for me,” Dr. Young told us. “I’ll honestly just root for both teams and for everyone. I may be wearing orange and black, by my heart will always be blue and gold.”

When Mead High’s principal position became vacant last week, district leadership believed that Dr. Young would be a perfect candidate to move into the leadership role at Mead. At the Monday meeting with Frederick’s staff, Dr. Kapushion listed several positive initiatives that Dr. Young spearheaded at Frederick, including the P-TECH program, Biomedical Program, and Advisory program (which has become the template for district Advisory classes).

“Frederick High has become a leader in this district,” Dr. Kapushion said, “and it’s that leadership and vision we want to share with Mead.”

With Dr. Young’s move to Mead High, Frederick Assistant Principal Dr. Russell Fox has been appointed as Frederick’s new principal. Before Dr. Fox came to Frederick, he served as Student Dean at Coal Ridge Middle School and taught English classes at Erie High. Dr. Fox was chosen by the district to assume principalship of Frederick High in part because of his success with increasing Frederick’s AP class enrollment and his leadership of the P-TECH program.

“I couldn’t ask for a better team of teachers and staff to work with.  I am thankful to have learned from Dr. Young, and I am excited to help take FHS to the next level”  Dr. Fox said.

With Dr. Fox moving to his new permanent position as principal, Frederick’s Dean of students Jennifer Santos will move into Dr. Fox’s old Assistant Principal position, and Frederick will need to hire a new Dean. While these make for a lot of changes to the school’s leadership, the school district has no doubt that Frederick will be as strong as ever next year.

“You all have shown great leadership in your building,” Dr. Kapushion told the Frederick staff. “That’s why we know Frederick will continue to be successful. If we felt that moving Dr. Young would hurt the school, we wouldn’t do it. Instead, it’s a compliment to the strength of this school community that we can make these changes.”

Still, change is always hard emotionally, and Dr. Kapushion acknowledged that it’s normal for students and staff to feel sad that Dr. Young is leaving Frederick. “I’ll still visit,” Dr. Young said. “I’m still in the district, and my email will be the same. I’ll still be there for everyone at Frederick even if I’m in a new building.”

While Dr. Young is excited about this new opportunity, he admits that it is bittersweet. “It’s the kids I’ll miss the most,” he told his staff. “I love this community, and I’ll always love my time as a Warrior.”