George
Wood

George Wood is the Principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio.  He has published numerous papers and articles on the role of public schooling in democracies.  He is the author of Schools That Work, A Time to Learn and editor of Many Children Left Behind.

George Wood serves as Director of The Forum for Education and Democracy.  His 30 year career in public education has included work as a public school teacher of social studies in Michigan and a full Professorship of Education at Ohio University.  Currently he is Principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio where he has served for 14 years.  During two of those years he was on-leave as he and his students and staff worked in Los Angeles to establish Wildwood Secondary School.

During his career in education, Dr. Wood has published over 40 papers and articles on the role of public education in a democratic society.  His two most well-known works are Schools that Work (1992, Dutton) which chronicled the outstanding work of teachers and schools in underserved areas and A Time To Learn (Dutton, 1998; 2^nd edition, Heinemann Books, 2005) which told the story of the work at Federal Hocking High School.  He is also editor of and an author in Many Children Left Behind (Beacon, 2004). 

Federal Hocking High School is a rural school serving a poor region of Appalachian Ohio.  In spite of the challenges faced in this region, the school has received numerous awards under Dr. Wood’s leadership including an Ohio’s Best Award for the school’s internship program, designation as a First Amendment School by ASCD and the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Project for the school’s work in promoting active democratic citizenship, and being named one of the first five Coalition of Essential Schools ‘Mentor Schools’ in conjunction with the work of the Gates Foundation.

 Dr. Wood additionally directed the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative’s Small School Leadership Institute.  The Institute supported the professional development of new leaders for the new small high schools launched in Ohio through a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant.  At the end of the three year project, approximately 80 new small high schools were opened in the urban areas of Ohio.

Dr. Wood has been asked to serve on numerous boards and commissions, including the boards of The John Dewey Society and the Coalition of Essential Schools.  A public speaker on education and democracy, George has been featured as a key note speaker in conferences around the country, including providing a keynote address to the 2003 Coalition of Essential Schools national Fall Forum.  He has also been invited to speak internationally, including a conference on democracy and education in Portugal.

 Above all else, he is most proud of the over 1400 graduates he has stewarded through Federal Hocking High School and his two sons, Michael, a graduate of Earlham College (2005) and currently working as a campaign operative for the 2006 elections and John, who refused to take the state-mandated tests for graduation in Ohio and is a student majoring in Environmental Biology at Warren Wilson College.  His wife Marcia provides him with all his best ideas, gleaned from a career as a kindergarten teacher serving children in rural Appalachia.

Virginia Eves

Virginia Eves’ involvement in education not only spans more than three decades; it also includes hands-on experience for all grade levels; elementary through community college.  Virginia is well prepared for her present assignment as Project Manager for Secondary Schools Innovation and High School Reform in the San Diego School District. As Project Manager she has oversight of and liaison for twelve alternative education programs in addition to three comprehensive high schools redesigned into fourteen small schools. 

In prior assignments Virginia served as an elementary teacher, special education resource specialist, GATE team leader, counselor, head counselor, guidance department supervisor, middle school vice principal, high school vice principal, and high school principal.  Virginia’s most recent position, Principal of Madison High School in San Diego, CA, brought attention to her extraordinary leadership abilities. 

Under her guidance the National Association of Secondary School Principals named Madison High School a “Breakthrough High School” in 2006.  It has been Virginia’s “never satisfied with the status quo” attitude that fuels her determination to continually find new and innovative techniques and strategies that help create a better environment for both student learning and student interaction.  Her innovations at each site have been based on current educational research and sound instructional practices.  Most recently Virginia implemented both an award-winning pre-engineering academy and a state-of-the-art visual and performing arts program at a San Diego high school which led to an $800,000 district-funded renovation of the Performing Arts Center at that site.

Virginia has adopted Napoleon Hill’s motto, “Conceive, Believe, Achieve” as the guiding standard by which she continues to move forward in her educational endeavors.