James Madison High School Principal Mark Merrell Announces Retirement

School may be out for the summer, but one email delivered Monday is still sending waves throughout the James Madison High School community.

Mark Merrell, who spent the last 29 years working at JMHS, including the last 14 as the school’s principal, announced his retirement Monday via an email to all members of the Madison family.

Here’s the email in its entirety:

Dear Madison Community,

After more than 31 years in FCPS, including 29 at Madison and the past 14 as the principal, I have decided that it is time for me to retire. The decision has weighed heavily on me and I have thought about it for a very long time. I plan to work through July, and my final day at Madison will be Friday, July 31st 2015.

I have spent over half my life at Madison High School and would not trade the experience for anything. During my time at Madison I have been fortunate enough to work with wonderful colleagues who have been dedicated to the Madison Community and most importantly to the students at Madison.

During the 14 years that I have had the honor and privilege of serving as the principal of Madison I have forged wonderful relationships with a number of Madison families and hundreds of Madison students. Thus, it is the people in Vienna and at Madison that I will miss the most and I hope you realize what a special place Vienna and Madison have become.

I plan to remain in Northern Virginia at least until my youngest daughter graduates from high school. After taking some time off, I hope to continue to work part time doing something related to education. Thank you all for the greatest experience that any one person could ever ask for, and I hope I have been able to leave Madison High School a little better off than it was before I got here. I will always bleed red and black!

Respectfully,

Mark A. Merrell

Vienna Patch will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.